Continuing efforts

In Liangshan, there are many villages like Atulie'er located in deep mountains. More than 70 percent of the prefecture is mountainous. Poor transportation has hindered economic development, making the region one of the poorest in China.

However, unfavorable geographical condition is only one of the causes for its backwardness.

Hou Yuangao, a researcher with the Minzu University of China in Beijing and a Liangshan native, believes underdeveloped education is chiefly blamable for poverty and other problems in Liangshan. He thinks the most important thing for local people is to get out of isolation and improve their level of education.

According to a report by state broadcaster China Central Television in 2018, in Zhaojue, the average education was 4.4 years, and the nine-year compulsory education had not been realized until around 2007. Many villagers of the Yi ethnic group cannot speak standard Chinese and have difficulty in communicating with non-locals because of the language barrier.

Various levels of governments have increased investment in education. Since 2016, 15-year free education has been offered in ethnic minority regions in Sichuan, including Liangshan, covering the period from kindergarten to high school.

According to local newspaper Liangshan Daily, in 2019, the enrollment rate in primary schools in the prefecture was 99.35 percent, and 94.51 percent in junior high schools.

In recent years, as the government worked on targeted poverty relief with unprecedented determination, the development seen in Atulie'er is also being replicated in other villages in Liangshan.

Measures have been taken to develop specialty industries, improve education and medical services, construct infrastructure and if necessary, relocate residents to places with better natural conditions.