Children climbing on the ladder of the mountain. (via Beijing News)
It sounds like something our grandparents might say to
remind us how easy modern life is, but for the 15 children stuck living
on Liang Mountain in the remote reaches of southwestern China, the
800-meter (about 2624 feet) cliff between their homes and their
elementary school in a nearby community is a very real obstacle to be
overcome.
These children belong to the Atule’er village of Liangshan Prefecture
in Sichuan Province, a community of 72 people from the Yi ethnic
minority. Seventeen ladders made of vines and wood connect the village,
isolated from the outside world by nearly vertical cliffs, with the
ground far below, the state-run China Central Television reported.
May 13th, home of a villager, with cliff right behind his backyard door. (via Beijing News)
Making the journey to and from school takes about three hours, but it
doesn’t happen every day. The children, chaperoned by parents, carry
heavy packs of school and personal supplies to stay at the school for
ten days at a time.
Because of the extreme difficulties involved in their transit, they
are allowed a five-day rest between school stays. Travel is cancelled in
the event of inclement weather.
Children climbing on the ladder of the mountain. (via Beijing News)
The trek can be deadly. The last death was reported April 27, when a
villager fell off the cliff. According to the villager’s Party
secretary, Apijiti, he has known about ten people who died this way. He
himself had a close call on his first visit to the village, but was
saved by a local who grabbed his shoulder.
Villagers have tried other, safer methods of traversing the cliffs,
but in the end found themselves limited by their poverty. A cable car
was built and soon disassembled after just a few months of use because
the village could not afford electricity to run it. The cost of a safe
new road would also be prohibitive– about 40 million yuan ($6.3
million).
Internet users on several Chinese internet platforms commenting on
the sorry state of the ethnic minority village in Liangshan criticized
the massive gap in wealth between different economic classes in China.
Children climbing on the ladder of the mountain. (Screenshot via Beijing News)
“All the money has gone to impress foreigners,” one comment reads.
“Look at your own people, who are so poor, but no one comes out to say
anything. My motherland, how can I love you like this?”
Said another: “We report these poverty-related issues year after
year, but they never get solved. Students in the city enjoy a far better
life, but are still expending tons of money for yet more improvements.
Is it really healthy for us to have such a huge gap between rich and
poor?”
Others criticized the aid China gives to foreign countries as a means
of impressing or pressuring them: “this hardship doesn’t count, people
in North Korea and southern Africa are waiting for our help.”
One user made a direct accusation: “Arrest a couple corrupt officials
in Sichuan, then you’ll have [the money needed to build the road.]”
People in Liangshan’s 1,600 villages have been especially
poverty-stricken in recent years due to erosion that has destroyed much
of their harvest. Relocation is impractical due to the lack of available
land nearby, so many have been deserting the region altogether.
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