Rural residents embrace changing way of life

TAIYUAN - Over the past six decades, Li Shixi, a rural resident from North China's Shanxi province, has experienced many changes in his life. He was once a poor farmer, but now he works in the tourism industry.

Li, 68, was born into an impoverished family in Qikou township in Luliang, an ancient dock on the Yellow River, China's second-longest. He helped his parents, who were farmers, when he was young. However, he didn't want to become a farmer.

Li left school and moved from the poor rural area to the city of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, to get a job, like hundreds of thousands of others who left their hometowns and flocked to the cities.