Roads, rails transform lives in the west

XI'AN - For centuries, the only connection between Mashuping village and the outside world was a narrow, meandering path deep in the mountains. Now, a highway has ended its isolation.

It takes just five minutes to walk from the village in Shaanxi province to the Yanhuang Highway, which opened this week. The road, stretching 828.5 kilometers along the west bank of the Yellow River, cost 6.9 billion yuan ($1.05 billion).

In the past, it was not easy to transport construction materials to the village, so many residents lived in cave homes. Children had to walk for hours to get to school, and if a villager became ill, they would be carried by stretcher to the nearest road, where they could be taken by car to hospital.