Connecting to prosperity

Guizhou's bridge network stands as testament to how improved accessibility helped erase poverty

Editor's note: The Communist Party of China Central Committee, with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the core, has led the whole nation to achieve great progress in all aspects. China Daily Global Edition is publishing a series of articles on the pursuit of progress to take a look at the changes over the past decade.

Leng Tongguai of Haiyuan, a village in the town of Haila in Southwest China's Guizhou province, rode his three-wheeled cart in mid-January to Kuangshan, a town in Yunnan province that is on the other side of the Niulan River, to sell potatoes, sweet potatoes and home-brewed cider.

With the money he earned, Leng, who is in his late 30s, bought goods such as rice and fish for Spring Festival, the one-week holiday that began on Jan 22.

"Since the zip line (over the river) was replaced by a bridge, it is easy for us to travel and to sell our produce," Leng said.

The zip line — a cable or rope with a suspended harness, pulley, or handle — was formerly the "road" in the air from one side of the Niulan River to the other, so that local people had a shortcut to the outside world.

"Years ago, we had to either take a boat or the zip line if we wanted to go to the market on the other side of the river," Leng said. "If we took a boat, we had to buy a ticket and go at the scheduled time. If we went on the zip line, we had to carry the home-brewed alcohol and other produce on our back."

Leng recalled that when he took an ox on the zip line several years ago, it fell into the river and was swept away.

Now, to reach the market whenever he wants, Leng rides his three-wheeled cart on the bridge over the river. "It is easy and fast," he added.