news: For 300 years, these villagers lived 2,600 feet up a far off cliff. Now they're during a development

news: For 300 years, these villagers lived 2,600 feet up a far off cliff. Now they're during a development

The two-hour climb was the villagers' only because of access the surface world, which that they had to carry farm produce down the cliff to sell at the closest market miles away. In recent years, local authorities replaced their hand-made ladders with a steel one that featured handrails, drastically shortening their period of time .

This week, however, 84 households of Atule'er left the ladders behind permanently , resettling in apartment blocks closer to the town center of Zhaojue county, 75 kilometers (46 miles) away, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

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Their new apartments range from 25 square meters (269 square feet) to 100 square meters (1,076 square feet), and have modern kitchens, toilets, running water, electricity and gas, according to state broadcaster CGTN.
My children will attend school easily, and hospital services are getting to be convenient too."

Not all villagers are relocated, however -- about 30 households are becoming to remain .

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Atelier has become a tourist attraction in recent years. In 2019, 100,000 visitors generated nearly 1 million yuan ($140,878) for the village, according to Xinhua. Further development will service that industry, with officials going to build a car to carry tourists up and down the cliff, the state-run news site Paper.cn reported.
Eradicating poverty

Before the coronavirus hit, the Chinese government had pledged to lift all of its 1.5 billion people out of poverty by 2020.

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The clifftop villagers' resettlement may be a component of that broader drive, which they are not alone. Some 18,000 impoverished residents -- or quite 4,000 households -- have moved into the sprawling new urban development from 92 remote villages within the region, according to Xinhua.

Villagers are moved to apartment blocks 46 miles away.

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with a mean per capita income of 6,000 yuan ($845) last year -- above China's official 2019 poverty line of three ,747 yuan ($527). But the drive is additionally aimed toward improving the living conditions of rural people with low incomes.

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