"The people were 'like a tray of loose sand' and never followed their village head, who had debts and drank to forget about them. Since I knew little about the village, I initially turned to local officials."

He persuaded more than 20 leading residents to help him, and listened to their suggestions. He divided them into three groups to oversee the villagers.

After learning about the people's needs and skills, Buha obtained 30 million yuan from the PAP. The money was used to build a kindergarten, bases for chicken breeding and beekeeping, greenhouses, a Yi embroidery workshop and other projects.

"It was much easier to build the infrastructure than to develop businesses in the village, which lacked talent and technology," he said.

"For example, if one chicken got sick, it would infect others, so we needed to consult experts and find the cause before more birds died."

Nearly all the women knew some basic Yi embroidery skills, so Buha traveled to nearby Zhaojue county to find experts and companies who could help.

Last year, more than 100 women joined the embroidery workshop, each earning an extra 2,000 yuan.

Mabiburi, a member of a beekeeping cooperative, works at home and also in a vegetable greenhouse.

Last year, he earned about 50,000 yuan. His wife, who has a back condition that prevents her from working on farmland, is a part-time embroiderer at the workshop.

When Mabiburi was 11, his father died. A year later he dropped out of school to work on a farm.

The 38-year-old speaks little Mandarin. Until 2016, he made a living by traveling around the country and working on the construction of high-voltage power lines. His monthly salary could reach 10,000 yuan, but only for two or three months each year.

"I was stressed because my wife was alone and unable to care for my sick mother and our four children. I had to travel frequently between home and work. Now, I am happy because I am working near home with my family," he said.