THE HIGHWAY OF HOPE

By Yuan Yuan

Among the celebrated s c e n i c s p o t s i n southwest Yunnan Province， Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture is not on the frequently mentioned list. In the past， a lack of transportation infrastructure used to prevent many tourists from catching a glimpse of the regions breathtaking vistas， so they were known only to niche travelers.

With over 98 percent of the land being covered with undulating mountains， valleys and rivers， transportation infrastructure has long been on the regions development agenda but such projects have been hard to implement on the ground. Cliffs， frequent falling rocks and landslides have made road construction there a life-and-death endeavor. Several simple roads built over the past decades have been of poor quality and in constant need of repair.

Under these conditions， a road stretching 300 km linking Lushui， the seat of the prefecture and two other counties， Fugong and Gongshan， in the prefecture， has received intense attention since its construction began in August 2017. It is a dual-lane road winding along the Nujiang River， the main river in the prefecture. The picturesque views along its path have led to it being dubbed the Beautiful Road. On December 30， 2019， vehicles began using the road to travel between the previously remote regions. The road has shortened the travel time from Lushui to Gongshan from over 10 hours to less than five.

New home along the way

The construction of the road was concurrent with a large population relocation project in the prefecture. Listed as one of the six regions in China most severely impacted by poverty， the local government in Nujiang has prioritized relocating people from remote mountainous areas into urban areas where they can have better access to education， medical services and economic opportunity. At the time the road construction started， approximately half of Nujiangs rural poor—100，000—needed to be relocated.

Yu Dong， a 26-year-old man living in Weilaba Community， a new community around the starting point of the road in Lushui， moved to his new home in August 2019. At that time， the road was still under construction.

His family used to live in a village over 10 km away. “The old house was a stilt house built on a hillside. It leaked during the rainy season and was very cold in winter，”Yu told Beijing Review. There are four people in Yus family. Based on the allocation standard of 20 square meters per person， the family was given an apartment of 80 square meters.