School closures causing villagers to leave

Langdonggou is typical of rural villages in Yanchi, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region - the residents are either older than 60 or younger than 6.

Villager Zhu Yaoshan said the young people leave the arid land to make a living in cities.

But now people are also leaving for another reason. Ever since the only primary school in the village was merged with a school in a town 10 kilometers away, children have had to board at school.