The essay written by the girl. [Photo/West China Metropolis Daily]

Despite years of rapid economic growth in major cities and coastal areas, people in China's mountainous areas like the Liangshan Mountains still live in poverty. The government has been making efforts to assist these areas by allocating special funds and support but results are not obvious due to the harsh natural conditions and poor economic foundation.

Liangshan has the largest group of people who belong to the Yi ethnic group, with more than 2 million Yi people.

In the aftermath of widespread drug-taking, drug trafficking and AIDS, many people have died, become handicapped or been jailed in Liangshan, which causes a deterioration in children's living conditions, Beijing Youth Daily reported last year.

The latest statistics available show that in early 2009, more than 10,000 people were infected with HIV in Liangshan. More than half of the HIV carriers were intravenous drug users. A large number of women in their 30s had been infected with HIV by their drug-taking husbands, the newspaper said.

The poverty of mountainous Liangshan stems from both its inaccessibility and the rising number of HIV carriers and orphans as a result of widespread AIDS. If no efforts are made to solve such problems, children from Liangshan might be willing to work in plants in coastal regions rather than stay at home, Beijing Youth Daily said.

Full text of the essay is as follows

Tears

My dad passed away four years ago.

My dad loved me very much when he was alive. My mom always tries her best to cook my favorite food for me. She must miss my dad very much.

Mom was sick one day, we went to the county, and then to Xichang (to see doctors). But all the money is gone, and her condition has not improved.

One day mom was too sick to get up. I cried in front of her and said to her: " Mommy, you will get better soon. I will support you and cook food for you. After you eat the food I cook for you, and you go to bed, you will surely get better."

But the next day, mom still could not get up and she looked very sick. I had to ask my uncle who just came back from fieldwork and we sent her to a county hospital together.

On the third day, I went to the hospital to see my mom but she was still not awake yet. I washed her hand gently and she then woke up.

Mom said to me while holding my hand,"My darling, I want to go home!"

I asked,"Why?"

"It is not comfortable here, I will feel comfortable at home."

So I brought mom home and we sat for a little while. Then I went to cook for my mom. But by the time I called her to eat the meal I cooked, she was already dead.

My textbook said there is a place called Sun Moon Lake (in Taiwan), that's formed with tears I shed for missing my mom.

Liu Yi

June 20,2015