In the past, there was no electricity in her house. When it rained, she recalled, the bed and quilt would get wet and she and her husband would feel around in the pitch black room for leaky spots to know where to place buckets and basins to hold the rain water.

Arable land is so scarce and infertile in the village that residents find it hard to eke out a living by farming.

"In a bad year, the harvests of the whole year would be ruined," said Liu Jian, the first Party secretary of the village.

Bamu's family has 0.4 hectare of dry land, on which they used to plant corn, potatoes and buckwheat. The harvests were barely enough to feed the family. Rice was a luxury that they could not afford to buy.

When her second daughter was born in 2009, Bamu was gripped by the fear that her girl would never be able to leave the mountain, just like her.

She then made a bold decision: To go outside to work.