An aerial view of Atuleer village in Southwest China's Sichuan province, where more than 400 people in 72 families live. [Photo by Chen Jie/photoint.net]

The steel ladder was completed in November 2016, and 19 similar cliff villages in Liangshan Yi were surveyed. More than 2,900 students from 19 cliff villages were eligible for free boarding at the school.

In June 2017, the cliff village started to see tremendous changes. The newly renovated Le'er primary school was about to be finished; a 300 million yuan ($44 million) tourism industry investment contract was signed and a 4G network was introduced to the village.

The cliff village is a typical example of poverty in Liangshan. In the future, as the tourism industry develops, the local villagers will relocate or stay in the village as travel service personnel, which will lead to completely wiping out poverty there.

Chen Jie, a journalist for 18 years, is the chief correspondent of Beijing News. He is a four-time winner of the China News Award and won third prize in World Press Photo Award as well as other honors.