China’s last cave tribe resist government attempts to move them on and let the tourists in
Struggles of living in barren, isolated Zhongdong are outweighed by protection against the elements and the uncertainty of life elsewhere, villagers say
It had been raining for a week as April drew to a close. Taking advantage of the natural irrigation, Luo Dengguang and his wife, like other villagers in Zhongdong – which means ‘middle cave’ – were busy sowing corn seeds in small patches among the rocks.
Found in southwest China among the karst hills of Ziyun county, in Guizhou, one of the country’s most poverty-stricken provinces, the cave is home to an entire village, all of the Miao ethnic group, leading an agrarian lifestyle controlled by its distinctive light and weather.
Despite the barren soil, the lack of road access and their meagre income, Luo and his fellow villagers, labelled the nation’s last cave tribe, have resisted the local government’s offer to help them move.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a very good life,” said Luo, in his forties and already a grandfather.
“But here in the cave we don’t need to deal with the coldness in the winter or the heat in the summer. Government officials have come here many times, but we just don’t want to move.”
Zhongdong’s poverty trap
Pledging to end poverty by 2020, the Chinese government has been clearing remote mountain villages by offering farmers new homes in towns, relocating 8.3 million people over the past five years.
More than 30 million people in mainland China – about 2 per cent of the total population – were still living under the poverty line by the end of last year, official statistics showed.