Situated midway between the two economic heartlands, Huanjiang is poised to benefit.

The county, which is home to more than 70 percent of China's some 100,000 Maonan people and also to other ethnic groups, used to be entrenched in poverty.

Last year, local authorities announced that the county no longer had any poor residents－a result of the sweeping campaign to eradicate rural poverty.

This achievement marked a milestone in the history of the Maonan people, one of a few dozen ethnic groups with small populations in China that until recently have led slash-and-burn lifestyles.

"A flyover carrying the railway can be seen from my village," Qin said.

Thanks to the anti-poverty campaign, paved roads now reach rural families. Better transportation links, which have reduced costs, have prompted farmers to shift to cash crops such as tangerines, Qin added.

With the pandemic under control in China, heavy machinery resumed operating at more than 200 construction sites in Guangxi alone earlier this month, as workers raced to drill tunnels, build bridges and lay rail tracks.

Regional authorities said they plan to pump 850 million yuan ($131 million) into the rail project in the first quarter of this year. They hope the 500-kilometer bullet train line will be in use by 2023.The total cost of the project is estimated at 13.1 billion yuan.

When the link is completed, it will take less than two hours to travel from Nanning to Guiyang, which will be a boon for local tourism, experts said.

For locals, the railway has become a source of pride.

Tan Chunli, a railway worker from the Maonan ethnic group in Liuzhou, Guangxi, said she takes photos of the fast-growing rail line every time she returns home to Huanjiang.

"I hope the bullet train service will bring more visitors to Huanjiang to admire its breathtaking scenery," she said.