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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/21/chinese-authorities-make-perilous-cliff-face-school-run-safer
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Chinese authorities make perilous cliff-face school run safer Chinese authorities make perilous cliff-face school run safer | |
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Authorities in south-west China have come to the aid of schoolchildren who had to climb an 800m cliff to get to and from school – by installing a thin steel ladder at the site. | Authorities in south-west China have come to the aid of schoolchildren who had to climb an 800m cliff to get to and from school – by installing a thin steel ladder at the site. |
Atuler, a mountainside hamlet nicknamed “cliff village”, is located on a plateau in the Chinese province of Sichuan and is home to the Yi people, a minority ethnic group also found in Vietnam and Thailand. | Atuler, a mountainside hamlet nicknamed “cliff village”, is located on a plateau in the Chinese province of Sichuan and is home to the Yi people, a minority ethnic group also found in Vietnam and Thailand. |
Fears arose for the schoolchildren after images of their 90-minute descent to the school at the bottom of the cliff went viral earlier this year, following their publication in a Beijing newspaper. | Fears arose for the schoolchildren after images of their 90-minute descent to the school at the bottom of the cliff went viral earlier this year, following their publication in a Beijing newspaper. |
Api Jiti, the head of the 72-family impoverished farming community, told Beijing News that “seven or eight” villagers had plunged to their deaths after losing their grip during the climb. | Api Jiti, the head of the 72-family impoverished farming community, told Beijing News that “seven or eight” villagers had plunged to their deaths after losing their grip during the climb. |
Until now, wooden ladders were the secluded village’s only way to reach the outside world, with children forced to scale the rock face to get down to their school. | Until now, wooden ladders were the secluded village’s only way to reach the outside world, with children forced to scale the rock face to get down to their school. |
Residents reported that the ladders were hundreds of years old and only replaced when one of them was found to be rotting. | Residents reported that the ladders were hundreds of years old and only replaced when one of them was found to be rotting. |
So perilous was the climb that a Chinese reporter who was once dispatched to the village burst into tears as she attempted the ascent. | So perilous was the climb that a Chinese reporter who was once dispatched to the village burst into tears as she attempted the ascent. |
The photographer behind the original pictures, Chen Jie, described the moment he first witnessed the schoolchildren, aged between six and 15, scaling the cliff. “There is no doubt I was shocked by the scene I saw in front of me,” he wrote, adding that he hoped his photographs could help change the village’s “painful reality”. | The photographer behind the original pictures, Chen Jie, described the moment he first witnessed the schoolchildren, aged between six and 15, scaling the cliff. “There is no doubt I was shocked by the scene I saw in front of me,” he wrote, adding that he hoped his photographs could help change the village’s “painful reality”. |
Jiti said there had been insufficient room to build a school on the mountaintop. The government subsequently promised to take action, and the region’s Communist party secretary said a steel staircase would be built to connect the deprived hamlet with the outside world while a permanent solution was found. | Jiti said there had been insufficient room to build a school on the mountaintop. The government subsequently promised to take action, and the region’s Communist party secretary said a steel staircase would be built to connect the deprived hamlet with the outside world while a permanent solution was found. |
The ladder was finally put in place earlier this month. | The ladder was finally put in place earlier this month. |
While the climb remains difficult, locals said the ladder has made a significant difference, and the climb now takes an hour less than it used to. | While the climb remains difficult, locals said the ladder has made a significant difference, and the climb now takes an hour less than it used to. |