Mountain road leads to better life

Residents of Xiazhuang, Chongqing, used to risk their lives whenever they ventured out of the mountain village.

Surrounded by steep cliffs about 1,000 meters high, there was only one pathway out of the village, and it took villagers three days to walk to the main town.

In the four decades to 1997, 23 people had died from falling off the cliff while cutting firewood or commuting to the county seat, and 75 people had been injured or disabled while doing the same activities, village head Mao Xianglin said.