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Finding a foothold

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Pan Jiumei sometimes wishes she were a man.

For the 48-year-old chief of Jiangtang village, respect from her fellow villagers does not come naturally.

When conflicts arise there, she sometimes dreads intervening because villagers often shout sexist remarks at her.

'They would say: 'Long hair, no good!'' Pan said. 'They wouldn't dare shout if I were a man.'

The villagers were initially sceptical of her ambition, but they eventually came round to recognising her ability, she said.

'I'm fair. I don't drink or smoke, and I'm not corrupt,' she said. 'My work ability is as good as a man's, if not better.'

To better people's livelihoods in Jiangtang - an impoverished village in Guangxi cut off from the world by mountains - Pan dreams of building a paved road and improving access to water.

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