Cliffside road opens up secluded village's charms to the world

The village of Xiyagou in the southeastern Shanxi county of Lingchuan, which is located at the junction of the Taihang and Wangwu mountains, is a perfect example of a typical Chinese secluded habitat as described by Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) poet Tao Yuanming in his Peach Blossom Spring.

Peach Blossom Spring is a fable that tells readers of the chance discovery of an ethereal village where the people led an ideal existence in harmony with nature. The village, featuring farmhouses and farmlands along a stream, was surrounded by mountains with no road connectivity to the outside world, allowing the villagers a tranquil life.

Indeed, the residents of Xiyagou had lived in this secluded village peacefully for many centuries. However, such a sheltered life is not what the villagers desired. They had a strong aspiration to be linked to the outside world and the aspiration is shown in another famous Chinese legend of The Foolish Old Man Who Removes the Mountains, which is also said to have happened in the region.

The story goes that an old man called Yugong, or the foolish old man, pledged to remove the mountains that isolated his village and called for great efforts of many generations of his descendants to complete the mission.

Over thousands of years, the legend has become a precious cultural legacy among Shanxi residents. Similar attempts at improving access to isolated villages have frequently occurred in the province.

This was especially true in the case of Xiyagou village, where people had been isolated from the outside world for centuries.

A change took place in the early 1980s when local officials and residents agreed to build a road to link it to the outside world.

Song Zhilong, 67, was the former Party secretary of the village. He recalled how the road was built.

"We had mobilized almost all the resources of the village. In addition to investment from the county government, many families contributed their savings to the project.

"The job to build a road on and through the cliffs was by no means easy. As the natural conditions didn't allow the use of explosives, we cut through the cliffs inch by inch.

"The total length of the road is only 7.5 kilometers but it took us about 10 years to complete," Song said.

After its completion in 1991, the road was listed as one of China's top 60 new landmarks by the then National Administration of Tourism.

The road, which is known as "cliff-hanging road" among tourists, immediately turned the village into a popular attraction in Shanxi.

"Many tourists came to see the new engineering miracle. When they ventured far into the valleys and mountains of Xiyagou village, however, they would experience additional wonders," Song said.

The village's offerings to tourists include rising cliffs as high as 1,000 meters, streams, waterfalls, deep ponds and caves, as well as a peach blossom spring-style village featuring ancient stone houses, stone bridges, flagstone pavements and old folk traditions that have disappeared in many parts of the country, according to Song.