A “tower” built in cliff village for better life

Yang Yang, a 22-year-old man helped his fellow villagers sell their honey on a live-streaming platform. This seems mundane enough, but only a short time ago it was unimaginable in such a“Cliff Village.”

Standing on the newly-built steel ladder, Yang Yang communicates with his fans on a live-streaming platform.

Standing on a cliff in southwest China, Atuleer village was once an isolated and impoverished place and it first came to the public’s attention when it was connected to the outside world by a steel ladder. The steel frame, though it looks a little intimidating to outsiders, is much safer than its predecessor, a rattan one.

Villagers live here for generations with their braveness and talents and now they are embracing a better life brought by a newly-built signal tower. Behind this transformation is a group of determined people who lugged many tons of construction materials.

Workers lug construction materials along the cliff.

“Due to lack of facilities, construction materials could not be transported by vehicle. All of them, weighing 20 tons, were carried up the mountain by manpower,” said Huang Jizuo, a worker of the tower project.

After two months their hard work paid off. The village has access to 4G signal and the internet.

“Many young people can get a glimpse of the outside world by reading the news on their mobile phones. Walnuts, green Sichuan pepper and potatoes grown by villagers can be sold to customers online through the platform,” said Pachayouge, chief Party secretary of Atuleer village.

“The future is promising with more and more tourists.I am sure that our village will see further dramatic changes in the future,” said Yang Yang.

(Produced by "Aspire–Living Stories" team of China.org.cn)