The border region of Jiangxi and Hunan provinces was the base area of the Red Army in the early 1930s, the rugged mountain terrain helping them stave off attack until they embarked on the epic Long March of 1934-35.

 

Afterwards, however, the same mountains have been more of a hindrance than a help for locals trying to communicate with the outside world.

 

"Due to topographical reasons, many villages do not even have a narrow road for bikes or motorcycles," said Xi Fangbai, deputy director of the provincial communications department.

 

This is changing thanks to a rural road construction project due to end later this year.

 

The Ministry of Communications is investing 300 million yuan (US$37.5 million) in a road network that will link all major villages in seven counties of Jiangxi Province.

 

The area is one of the places that benefited from the decision, while the provincial government has also given 180 million yuan (US$22.5 million) to supplement to the project, Xi said.

 

"We have completed more than 2,500 kilometers so far," he said.

 

By the end of next year, all major villages in the seven counties will be accessible by road, 95 per cent of which will be cement, a better kind for vehicle transportation, he said.

 

The rural road will bring benefits to local people, a good example of which can be found in Dalong Town.

 

The area around the town produces 300,000 pieces of bamboo every year. A plant that needs to be cut every four years to make it grow better, bamboo is a major source of income for local villagers.

 

"We had to hire people to carry the bamboo out of villages for sale in the past, because the only road to the outside was only wide enough for walking or riding a bicycle," said Lai Jiahong, the local Party secretary.

 

Labor cost then was 1.5 yuan (19 cents) per bamboo, but once the 12-kilometer road linking the town to five surrounding villages was built, transport costs dropped to 0.6 yuan (8 cents) per bamboo.

 

Therefore, the new road will save at least 270,000 yuan (US$33,750) in bamboo transportation costs each year, Lai said.

 

The farmers will not only enjoy increased earnings, but will also be able to communicate more easily.

 

"When I married my husband four years ago, he carried me on a bike and rode three hours to his home in another village more than 30 miles away," said a woman surnamed Liao, 25, who has a three-year-old son.

 

Now she can visit her parents in Yuantou village more often by riding a motorcycle, which only takes 40 minutes.

 

By the end of this year the village will be served by public transport. Children will no longer need to walk a whole day on the muddy road to high schools in the town, Lai said.

 

(China Daily August 1, 2006)