BEIJING — When Liang Qichao wrote "If the youth are strong, the country will be strong" in his essay "The Young China," the great polymath considered China's youth to be a source of hope.

The remarks were made at the nation's darkest and most uncertain hour at the turn of the 20th century when Western powers mocked China for being an old empire in decline.

Though written more than a century ago when his hopes were dashed after a failed attempt to modernize China, Liang's words remain relevant today.

China is no longer a nation that suffers humiliations at the hands of European powers. The world's largest developing country is, more than ever before, closer to realizing the goal of national rejuvenation.

Today, the Chinese youth are encouraged to be well-prepared to join the socialist cause, grow into individuals of value to the society, and become the backbone of the nation.

The story of "cliff village" may shed a light on what the Chinese government has done to promote the younger generation's moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic grounding in addition to good work skills in an all-around way.

The village nestles atop a cliff at an elevation of 1,700 meters in Zhaojue county of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan province. A rattan and wooden stick ladder was the only way out for the locals.

In 2016, photographs of a dozen students in line climbing down the ladder to school went viral, garnering widespread attention.

Mou'se Lazuo was among those students seen through the lens. Lazuo, then 13, did not start school until age 11 when she was believed to be tall and strong enough to climb down the ladder every day.

The local governments earmarked 1 million yuan (about $149,300) to renovate the ladder in late 2016, with a 2.8-kilometer ladder made of over 6,000 steel bars erected months later.

In May 2020, the Lazuo family was among the 84 registered poor households of the village that were relocated to the county seat of Zhaojue, bidding farewell to their century-old adobe house atop the cliff.

"Cliff village" is among hundreds of thousands of villages in China that have vanquished poverty. Thanks to China's resolute poverty alleviation campaign, 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages had been removed from the poverty list by the end of 2020.

Creating conditions for children in poor and isolated areas to get better education is just one of China's achievements in poverty eradication.

Take Xinjiang for instance. With support from the central government, it has taken all necessary measures to develop the education sector and ensure that people of all ethnic groups equally benefit from educational advancement in the northwestern Chinese autonomous region. In Hotan, Kashgar, Aksu, and the Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture in southern Xinjiang, free education is available from kindergarten to senior high school.

From ensuring equal access to education, healthcare or even preferential support for all ethnic minorities, to turning meager, dirt playgrounds into standard soccer pitches and improving various school facilities, China is providing unparalleled care to children and youth, and striding forward on a new journey of building a modern socialist country.