China to replace treacherous 2,625-foot ladder to school with stairs

[WhiteTara]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/27/village-where-children-climb-cliffside-ladder-may-get-stairs.html

?ve=1&tl=1

A series of dramatic photos showing kids putting their lives on the line by climbing a 2,625-foot bamboo ladder to and from school forced embarassed officials in western China to propose a quick remedy on Friday: a set of stairs.

The 15 children ages 6-15 climb up the cliffside ladder to return home from the boarding school every two weeks. It's their only way to get home.

The hardship faced by residents in the village of Atuleer in Sichuan province underscores the vast gap in development between China's prosperous, modern east and parts of the remote inland west that remain mired in poverty. The 72 families who live there are members of the Yi minority group and subsist mainly by farming potatoes, walnuts and chili peppers.

snip

It quoted local residents as saying that in addition to the safety issue, the ladder-only access exposed villagers to exploitation because traders knew they would be unable to carry unsold produce back up the cliff.

[niyad]

1. so how did the school get built? why was it built there? is there a village or something at the

top of the cliff?

none of this makes any sense.

[WhiteTara]

2. their village is on top

and the main activity takes place at the bottom of the cliff. That's what I understood from the article.

[enid602]

3. stairs

How can you build a 2600 foot long stairway? A funicular might make more sense.

[HuckleB]

9. A funicular might make more sense.

Still... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/08/11/extreme-staircases_n_3896079.html

[Hekate]

10. You're thinking like a prosperous Westerner. The ladder is made of bamboo...

...which grows wild and is a common building material. I've seen photos of bamboo scaffolding being used around modern building projects. Cement and steel building, workers scrambling outside on temporary bamboo scaffolds. And that was in a big city

These folks are way out in the boondocks. I doubt the government would allocate complex resources to building a funicular for 15 children and a passel of farmers. A stairway should make things a bit easier -- if it has a series of landings and isn't just straight up and down like the bamboo ladder.

[liberal N proud]

4. Brings all new meaning to the phrase, I had to walk up hill to school

OMG

[RKP5637]

5. K&R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[jberryhill]

6. Meh. When I was a kid, we climbed it barefoot in the snow

These kids are going to be so pampered and spoiled after they get steps.

[WhiteTara]

7. And if they get a road

they'll just get fat!

[Rex]

8. In the meantime, the Communist party keeps spending money

on projects that are nearly worthless to the local communities. Now China has vast ghost cities, where very few people can afford to live there.

One day their house of cards is going to crash and hopefully NOT take the rest of the world with it.

[Hekate]

11. Yes, there certainly is that aspect to the fabled workers' paradise

[jmowreader]

12. It would be easier to build a new village that's not atop that cliff

And it's not like China is short of land!

[WhiteTara]

13. Well, tradition and all

keeps people doing the same thing over and over. But you're right, it would make more sense...Sort of an Alice's Restaurant sort of way.