CHINA: Over 100 villagers in remote Guizhou Province say they've found their paradise in a cave

The last known cave dwellers in the remote southwest China's Guizhou province are turning down government efforts of moving them into real houses. The last known cave dwellers in China are now enjoying new modern facilities put in lace by the local government, however, when given the opportunity to move out of the cave to live in brand new homes, they categorically refuse. Access to nearby villages is difficult, but they are used to it, they just walk where they need to go. It takes some four hours to drive there from provincial capital Guiyang, the last hour on a dirt road which clings precariously to the side of a mountain valley, high above a river. But the final way up to Zhongdong is to walk for more than a hour up a steep, rough stone path hewn out of the rocks. This morning, 20 people from different families left at 6:00 AM to get some concrete to build a well and only made it back 10 hours later. 1800 metres above sea level and two hours hiking each way didn't matter one bit . For them, a man's cave is their castle. The village of Zhongdong -- which literally means "middle cave" -- is built in a huge, aircraft hanger-sized natural cave, carved out of a mountain over thousands of years by wind, water and seismic shifts. In other parts of China people live in houses tunnelled out of hillsides, but Zhongdong is, according to the local government, the last place in the country where people live year-round in a naturally occurring cave. The villagers are all ethnic Miao people, supposedly related to Southeast Asia's Hmong, and one of several minority groups who live in Guizhou. Wang Fengguan lives here -- and he has no intention of leaving. Neither do any of the other 20 families in his village. "This is a good thing that the village heads are trying to do. They care about our living conditions. But we are so used to living here. It's warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We don't want to move out. " Wang said. Wang's family has lived for more than half a century, deep in the poor, remote southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou. But in the last few years life has improved considerably. Electricity has arrived via wires strung over the mountains, and there is a primary school, which like almost every other building in Zhongdong has no roof. It does not need one. Four houses now have televisions, some with DVD players, and some have washing machines. Satellite dishes are perched on outcrops at the cave's entrance and there is mobile phone reception. The school has revolutionised life, villagers say. The children happily chat away in clear, unaccented Mandarin, unlike their parents and grandparents who still struggle with China's official language or don't speak it at all. The government has built houses for the villagers in a valley below the cave, but they don't want to go, saying the houses are "not up to standard" and leak during the heavy rains which characterise Guizhou's damp climate. "This is a great place to live. If you are living outside, it's so much trouble when it rains. But if you live in a cave, then it's really convenient. We are very used to it," Wang Houzhong said. Life in the cave is tough. Villagers say they are lucky to make even 1,000 yuan (129 USD) per family a year. Women give birth at home, in houses with dirt floors and wood-fired hearths. The nearest hospital is a five-hour walk away. "It's impossible to move out. Not easy to survive else where. When there is no land, there is no food." Luo Yaomei said. Luo Yaomei has three children and all of them are migrant workers elsewhere but she can't move out. When and why the villager's ancestors moved into the cave is still debatable. Some villagers say they have been into for generations, others say they only moved in following the chaos that followed the 1949 Communist revolution, to escape bandits.

ITN Source | February 25, 2007

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