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CHENGDU, Sept. 13-- Two years ago, the only electrical appliance in Ashuo Niuniu's house was a light bulb. But today, her family spends over 50 yuan (about 7 U.S. dollars) on electricity bills per month. Ashuo Niuniu's family lives in Ahou Village in Daliang Mountain in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Located in one of China's poorest regions, the village was not connected to the power grid until 2007. "We had to spend hours climbing the mountain to enter the village," said Wang Xiaobing, an official with the local power supply company, who was in charge of the installation of the village's power facilities years ago. However, even with access to electricity, villagers still lived poverty-stricken lives. Without a stable power supply and electric devices, the villagers had to use pits in the ground to cook and warm themselves, which filled their houses with heavy smoke within minutes. "When the village was first connected to the power grid, the power supply was not stable, sometimes unable to even power a light bulb," said Wang, now dispatched by the state-owned company to the village to lead the local people out of poverty. As the country promotes its largest-ever poverty alleviation campaign, the village has seen changes at an increasing rate. The power grid in the village was upgraded in 2016, while it gained access to 4G network services in 2018. The road to the village was rebuilt and the impoverished villagers were relocated to new houses, which were equipped with electric cookers and washing machines. | 
