A mountain miracle cut in stone

Lifeline: A villager patrolling the Gaoliu canal in Shengji town, Bijie, Guizhou province. Before the canal existed, people had to fetch water from the river, a perilous five-hour journey along a steep cliff. — China Daily/ANN

Gaoliu (Guizhou): More than 60 years ago, villagers in Gaoliu, Guizhou province, used to peer down from their hillside homes and recite a sarcastic ditty about how they were hungry and thirsty but couldn’t reach the large river below.

It took them five hours on foot to travel from their village in Shengji town, Bijie, to fetch water from the Chishui river, the sheer karst cliff making the journey perilous.