Before 1972, Guoliangcun (cun meaning village in Chinese), was a little known village in the Henan provice of China. Unfortunately, there were no roads leading to Henan, and it was locked in time in the mountains, with only a steep path of steps carved into the rock leading up to it (called the “sky ladder”). Building a road wasn’t considered financially viable by the government, so the village stayed locked in time.

Until, the villagers decided to sell their goats to buy mining tools, and started carving a road into the cliff-face.  Five years later, one of the most spectacular roads ever built was finished. The road itself not only allowed the village to reach the outside world, but as a result of the entrepreneurship of the villagers and beauty of the road – tourism has now started visiting the village… to see the road!

Further reading here: http://www.ssqq.com/archive/vinlin27a.htm