Hope flows into rural areas

In the first 50 years of his life, Xiao Kecheng carried water in iron buckets for more than five hours every day from the foot of the mountains to his home in one of China's poorest villages in Gansu province.

Things got easier in 2010, when tap water was supplied to Gaoshan village in Tianshui.

"The water brings hope to the village," the 59-year-old villager said, adding that the local water project helped boost farming and livestock breeding.