As a cancer patient, Huang Yuanfeng has to direct the workers from a chair as he takes his medicine. Photo: IC

A mountain road cuts through jungles, rocks, cliffs and rivers, arriving at the village of Xiaojiangtun in Yongfu county, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. This road was paid for and built by a villager named Huang Yuanfeng, who suffers from debilitating cancer.

Xiaojiangtun has 140 villagers. For generations they have lived in this valley surrounded by towering mountains and swift rivers. Before Huang built his road, they had to walk for days to get out of the mountains.

Huang, 45, is a Xiaojiangtun native who spent 20 years as a migrant worker in urban areas. As a man who has seen the outside world, he knew how important a road could be for villagers.

Unfortunately, last May, he was diagnosed with cancer. He could  have chosen to first treat his cancer then build the road, but he decided to build the road first. Last December, he rented an excavating machine and hired a team of workers to start construction. It cost 170,000 yuan ($27,224) from his own savings.

As a cancer patient, he is weak and fragile. Sometimes he has to direct the workers from a chair as he takes his medicine. His father, wife and daughter all support him, with his daughter cooking him meals while he directs the construction.

Two months later, the road was finished. Said Huang: "I built this road for the villagers who can [now] transport and sell products to the outside. It will also bring tourists to my hometown."

Global Times

Huang does not go home during the afternoon. Instead, he rests on his bamboo chair for a bit, then returns to work. Photo: IC

 

His daughter cooks Huang a meal while he directs the construction. Photo: IC

An old villager passes the construction site with a load of kindling. Photo: IC

 

Huang moves away a tree root lying in the middle of the road under construction. Photo: IC