Bringing new hope to poorest people on plateau

Editor's note: This is the second of a series of special reports China Daily is publishing on efforts to eradicate poverty and raise living standards in rural areas, especially among the nation's ethnic groups.

Sonam Tenzin has a clear understanding of what modern material wealth would mean to him: treatment and medication for his elderly, disabled mother, and his aunt and uncle; money to pay his mortgage; and a decent education for his two sons.

However, Sonam lives in Nyingchi, a prefecture-level city in the poverty-stricken area around the Yarlung Zangbo River basin, where making a living has never been easy.