A village can soon lose its vitality if the young and middle-aged villagers leave to make money in cities. Left behind are only children and the aged. Against the background that more than 200 million villagers are seeking their fortunes in urban areas, is it surprising that many villages are unable to maintain the vitality they used to have?

In my recent trip to Dongxiang autonomous county in Northwest China's Gansu province, I found that thousands of young and middle-aged villagers in this remote mountainous area spend most of their time in urban areas or else picking cotton as migrant workers during the harvest season in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the west of China.

Despite the cancellation of taxes on agriculture, it is still hard for villagers in Dongxiang to earn much money by farming their terraced land on mountain slopes. They rely on the mercy of heaven for enough rain for the harvest. But odd jobs in urban areas can at least help them earn some cash.

One student said that she missed her father very much, as her father has been absent from home for three years working in the Xingjiang Uygur autonomous region. Another said that he had not seen his father for two years.

Another student said that he had been to Xinjiang twice with his fellow villagers. He earned 1,200 yuan ($181) the first time and 3,000 yuan during his summer vacation in 2010. He was saving the money for his future studies. He said that he wanted to be a teacher if he could finish his college education.

As far as the income of villagers is concerned, they are much better off than before and the government has done a great deal to improve their living standards and the rural economy on the whole.