Editor's note: The Sichuan-Tibet Plateau, a beautiful region that reaches toward the heavens, is a place showered with blue skies, covered in white clouds, and dotted with snow-covered mountains, but recently, something truly remarkable has been materializing among the households that call this place home. A groundbreaking historic change has been reshaping the land and its people. From today on, we will publish a series of stories to tell you those changes. 

The road system not only serves as a newly laid foundation for Jiaju to continue developing its tourism industry, but is also the beginning of a new "road"toward poverty alleviation and a better way of life for the 15 villages along its path.

It is the key to using the area's beautiful scenery as a means to earn a profit, and today, a countless number of new business opportunities are being explored by locals.

Gui Hua herself has not only raised money to expand her business to more people, but also to look into developing a locally recognized chain.

Her inn has become a three-star countryside hotel, and she has opened other branches not too far away.

Today, The Three Sisters has become the largest reception house of its kind, able to receive more than 20,000 tourists a year, with a net profit of more than one million yuan (0.15 million US dollars).

"The poverty-alleviation policy has done wonders, and the Chenghua Tourism Circuit has been a golden ticket for us villagers to shake off poverty once and for all!" Gui emotes.

Looking to Gui as an example of success, other Jiaju locals have been starting their own residential businesses and embarking on their own paths toward a better life.

Uncle Ba'an lives right next to the new thoroughfare, and his family of six used to have a collected income of less than 1,000 yuan (151 US dollars) a year.

After the road was opened, tourists poured in, and so, his family decided to start their own tourist reception business.

Today, the family has already built two new Tibetan-style houses with their increased income.

"In the past, the chance of us ever having 10,000 yuan (1,511 US dollars) all at once seemed to be an impossibility, but now, we earn more than that every year through our new houses. We never knew that such a life could be a reality, and we never dared to ponder the idea!"
 

Editor:Tommy Tan.