Sun Xianjiu is a retired primary school teacher living in a
remote valley near the Dadu River in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture in southeast China's Sichuan Province.
His village is at the foot of the Gongga Mountain (7,556 meters
above sea level). It boasts an agreeable climate, productive
farmland and picturesque forests and glaciers.
In 1935, the Red Army crossed the Dadu River, despite its
enemy's fierce firepower, and marched northward by way of the Ganzi
area.
But the torrential rivers and steep mountains that once
blockaded enemy troops have also served as a barrier to the
villagers' communication with the outside world.
Sun said it used to take villagers more than two hours to tramp
over hill and dale to neighboring Caoke Township, which was
connected to Shimian County by a bumpy mountain road.
"Our village used to have the reputation of being a bachelors'
village," Sun said. "Our girls preferred to marry outside while
outside girls would not come (to the village) because of our poor
standard of living."
Because of the poor condition of the road, the villagers had to
use the surplus grains they grew to feed their pigs. But
transporting the pigs was a big problem.
Villagers had to carry the pigs on their backs to the township
and it was common for them to fall off cliffs or into rivers.
When the rainy season came, floods would damage simple bridges
and transport would come to a halt. Villagers usually had to store
supplies for half the year.
The 63-year-old retiree was saddened as he recalled that one or
two children fell into the rivers and drowned on their way to the
primary school in the township nearly every year.
But everything changed when a country highway was built in 2002,
connecting Sun's village to the township and the county.
It now takes villagers 10 minutes to arrive at the township by
vehicle.
"Nearly every family has a motorcycle and we just bring
everything we want right into our homes," Sun said.
"Girls began to come (to the village) and the 'bachelors'
village' no longer exists," Sun said with a smile.
Many villagers have become rich through the transportation
business. They carry local products, such as traditional Chinese
medicinal herbs, to cities and counties and bring back daily
necessities.
Sun's family owns three vehicles a Hyundai car and two light
trucks.
"My family's car is a fashionable brand," Sun said proudly.
The Tibetan prefecture plans to spend 4.5 billion yuan (US$550
million) on transport infrastructure construction, an increase of
38.2 percent over the past five years.
"The fund on building highways comes from three sources
government subsidy, bank loans and a highway maintenance fee," Xie
Nengjian, an official with the Sichuan Bureau of Communications,
said.
(China Daily August 14, 2006)