Remote hamlet in Yunnan province are optimistic about their prospects.
Jiang Wenying used to grapple with death every time she wanted to leave home. She lived in Erdaoping, a small village on a mountain top that is 1,800 meters above sea level and covers an area of 0.3 square kilometers.
The village, in Jiaopingdu town, in the Luquan Yi and Miao autonomous county, in Yunnan province, is surrounded by cliffs on three sides.
It is roughly 28 kilometers away from the nearest town, and the only way out of the village was a sheep lane hugging the mountain.
“I had to press myself against the mountain and hold on to plants when I took the lane,” says Jiang.
Most of the lane was only half a meter wide, allowing only one person or a small animal to pass at a time. Some parts of the lane were so narrow that there was not enough room for a person’s foot.
One slip could mean a plunge down a steep precipice.
“Before I went to the town only two or three times a year,” says Jiang, who married into the village at 19, and has her son and daughter who now work outside the village.
Perfect place for agriculture
Poor access to the outside world made it almost impossible for locals to trade. So, they lived off the land.
Fortunately, the ideal natural environment of the village makes it a perfect place for agriculture.
Its mild temperature at 25 C throughout the year, and precipitation is just right for peanuts, corn and tobacco.
The tiered land on one cliffside is covered in oily green barley in late December.
So, raising goats is easy as the animals can feed on the cliffs.
“I only have to release them in the morning and they would return at the end of the day,” says Jiang .
Each household owns 3 mu (2,000 square meters) of land on average where they grow vegetables, and raise chickens and goats that are more enough to feed them, says Zhu Haitao, a poverty alleviation official with the Jiaopingdu government.
When they needed to pay for their children’s tuition fees or someone fell sick and needed medical treatment, they would sell some livestock, says Zhu.
However, poor road conditions cut the village off from the outside world.
As a result, many of the youngsters left home to seek work outside.
Prospects for the young
Speaking about the prospects for the young, Jiang says: “Our children would not be able to get married if they stayed here since no one would come to the village.”
Now, only eight households remain in the village, and the population has fallen from 63 to 22.
Those who remain are aged between 45 to 85.
As for the locals’ economic prospects, Zhu says: “Earlier, it was hard for the locals to sell their fruits and vegetables to the outside world.”
Transportation problems also meant that their goats had to be sold much cheaper than the going market price.
As one local Xu Shunxiang says: “I did not sell a single goat in 2014.”
In 2015, she sold less than 20 earning only 6,000 yuan ($864).
The poor price made her give up the idea of selling her goats last year since it is not profitable.
However, when the local government wanted to move the eight households a year ago, the locals said no.
Jiang’s response to the plan was: “I am used to living here and those steep cliffs have grown on me after all these years.”
The rejection of the relocation plan left the local authorities with no choice but to build a road to improve the life of the locals. So, a road was created using 14-ton bombs at the end of June, 2016.
New hope to the locals
The local authorities spent 950,000 yuan on the road, which is 4.5 m wide and runs for 1.4 km.
Vehicles now can reach the village via the road. Power lines and water pipelines have also been put in place.
The new infrastructure has brought new hope to the locals, and they are already making plans to embrace new opportunities on offer. “I am thinking of raising more livestocks and cultivating more food (for money),” says Jiang.
Xu and her husband Yang Zongqian, who now raise 80 black goats, cattle and cultivate a 10 mu plot of land, are planning to sell livestock again.
As for the others, some are hoping that their children return for good, and help develop their farming business.
Separately, the local authorities are planning to help the locals rebuild their houses and grow ginger.
s for Jiang, she often sits by the new road in the village as she waits for it to be completed.
“I still can’t believe the road is being built. I want to see the progress with my eyes,” she says.
I still can’t believe the road is being built. I want to see the progress with my eyes.” Jiang Wenying,