Meet the witnesses to a rural metamorphosis in SW China

Yu Shu’ai grew up in one of the villages lying by the Qingfengling reservoir in Anzhuang Township. Due to poor soil quality and uneven landform, almost all reservoir dwellers in the area had to scrape a living on barren farmland. Yu’s family was one of them, but had never expected that life could turn downright harder.

In 2012, Yu’s husband died of an illness. The medical bills had drained all her savings, leaving her and her son in financial strain.

Yu’s life was given a restart in 2014, when the Anzhuang local government invited Yu to join one of the township's poverty relief projects, which aim at improving housing and employment conditions for impoverished residents.