It's three days by bus from Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming to Gongshan Derung and seven more hours to the township of Dulongjiang. That's if you're not hampered by landslides in the rainy season. In winter the journey is simply not possible. Residents in Xianghong village, the farthest in the township, still relie on horses to carry goods and have to walk one week to reach the township government. It's a beautiful sheltered corner of China but the locals have been left economically disadvantaged.

China Daily's Hu Yongqi went to investigate.

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Story: Hu Yongqi

Photographs: Wang Jing

Editor: D J Clark

Producer Flora Yue