Citadel of hope

"Live streaming gives the village a lot of exposure," Shi says. "People outside have a place where they can buy the stuff they want, and the villagers, particularly the elderly, get a chance to sell their products."

He has also worked with public welfare organizations and his alma mater to host online and offline marketing campaigns.

The village has precious few university graduates, but two of them, Shi's cousin and niece, both of whom have professional experience in video making, have decided to join him in making short videos to publicize the village and its products.

He is keen to pursue a doctoral degree in order to provide a better platform for the villagers that can protect their interests.

In the days of Shibadong's great exodus as its young people headed for big cities to find work, those left behind, in addition to elderly people, were children, most left in the care of their grand parents.

One of them was Long Jinli, 21, who recalls that when she was small their house leaked when it rained, so living in a decent house with her parents became one of her childhood wishes. In fact it was more like a pipe dream, because visits by her parents were few and far between, largely because of the poor road access to the village.

Later, Long too would leave the village for a year to work in the cities, but her exile was short.