Cable across gorge gives village a new lifeline

CHENGDU - Resting in a level spot between precipitous cliffs, and hundreds of meters above the roaring Dadu River in Sichuan province, Gulu village has existed in isolation and poverty for hundreds of years.

Chang Zhaolin is among some 400 Yi ethnic residents of the community, known as the "village on the ladder to the sky". The name "Gulu" is said to come from the sound of a rock falling from a mountain.

In the past, before the government cut a zig-zag path through the cliffs to the village, residents used a ladder to leave the village.