Hanging by a Line: Residents of one village in Yunnan rely on zip-lining to get around

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In china's southern Yunnan province, villagers put their lives literally on the line just to move around. CGTN's Frances Kuo reports.

In the mountain village of Lazimi in China's southern Yunnan province, the life of residents seemingly hangs by a thread. When the village's ethnic Lisus need to cross the river to get to the other side, they put on a harness -- attach themselves to a cable -- let gravity take over -- and say a prayer.

Cha Huilan frequently makes this nail-biting zipline trip to buy medicine for her sick mother. During the journey, she holds onto her two-year-old child for dear life.

CHA HUILAN VILLAGER "it's inconvenient. But we have to use it. Transportation here is inconvenient. If we don't use it, then we can't get across."

The river is menacingly named "Nu" -- translated to "angry" in Chinese. To the residents, the zipline is the only viable form of transportation, the rapids below are too rough to navigate. And the isolated area lacks proper roads and bridges.

CHA HUILAN VILLAGER "if they built a bridge then that would be nice, but for now we can't get over there."

And when it rains, slippery conditions make the trek even more dangerous.

YU ZHENGTOU VILLAGER "and at that time, it's difficult to use the zip-line."

It's believed 20 to 30 villages in the Nu river area still use ziplines to get around. Visitors -- for their part -- think they can get over just fine on the ground -- then run into trouble.

YU ZHENGTOU VILLAGER "What I'm saying is that outsiders can't really use the zip-line. It's difficult for them. Sometimes when the roads across the river are bad, their cars get stuck."

For the ethnic Lisus -- they're stuck with these treks for now, waiting for someone to throw them a lifeline. Frances Kuo, CGTN.