Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of special reports that China Daily is publishing. The reports focus on efforts to eradicate poverty and raise living standards in the country's rural areas, especially among members of the nation's ethnic minority groups.

When he was elected head of his village six years ago, Hu Jihua vowed to lift every one of the 4,000 residents - many of them disabled - out of poverty, and fulfill a personal dream at the same time.

The 38-year-old, who stopped growing at 1.4 meters tall as a result of a rare, congenital spinal disorder, was desperate to demonstrate that "anything a healthy man can do, I can do better".