New road blazes a path to a better future

The improved infrastructure has brought new hope to the life of locals in Yunnan province's Erdaoping village that is surrounded by cliffs on three sides. Photo by Yang Feiyue / China Daily

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.