BEIJING: A light mist drifting from surrounding hills lingers in the county and then disappears slowly after sunrise. Early birds—sanitation workers, students going to school in twos and threes, dog walkers and morning exercisers—waken up the streets and parks. Music from loud speakers accompanying square dancers in clusters here and there flows in the air, mixing with the aroma of food wafting from restaurants serving breakfast.
This is a typical morning scene in a county in north China. The county, Zuoquan in Shanxi Province, is named after a general of the Communist Party of China-led Eighth Route Army, who was killed by the Japanese invading army here in 1942. Symbols of the heroism can be spotted here and there in the county, from the statue of Zuo standing in the county center square to a bridge named the Red Army Bridge not far from it.
The rolling Taihang Mountains, where the county is nestled, provided ideal geographical advantages for guerrilla forces during wartime, but have hampered the development of modern transportation. Despite the rapid sprawl of China’s express railway network in recent years, the county has no access to even a regular railway. The closest express railway station is a 1.5-hour car ride away.
–The Daily Mail-Beijing review news exchange item
