Before I arrived in Kangxian, one of the poorest counties in Northwest China's Gansu province, I thought many of the villages in the mountainous region would be dilapidated, with rows of half-broken houses, bumpy mud roads and livestock roaming everywhere. I abandoned that impression in the first few days after my arrival.

I arrived in Huaqio on May 1, the last day of the three-day May Day holiday, when the village was crowded with tourists. Sitting at the foot of mountains, a new tarmac road connects the village to a highway about 10 kilometers away.

In the village, paved roads are lined with various kinds of trees and flowers, and a suspension bridge and a stone bridge straddle the river. Houses, two or three stories high and with specially designed curved roofs, are dotted behind trees or green meadows.