She led villagers to bore through a mountain to reach the world

The small village of Mahuai in Southwest China's Guizhou province was not easily accessible for years because of a mountain.

Deng Yingxiang, the village's Party secretary, knows well the pain of the isolation from her own experience.

"My first child was ill one night. But it took us so long to cross the mountain that he died because we could not get him to the hospital in time," says Deng.