In that year, the local government started to build a brand new community in the village, with dozens of two-floor houses, to resettle the poverty-stricken villagers.

In May 2017, Chen moved into his new 70-square-meter house. He got 90,000 yuan in compensation for giving up his old house to the local government for tourism development.

Chen said he paid 50,000 yuan for the new house, saving the remainder.

"We also increased plantation of high-quality tea leaves and traditional Chinese medicine herbs," Yu said.

Though the villagers now raise more than 1,600 goats and nearly 1,300 cows, Chen sold his goats in 2017 and got hired by a local tea production firm opening in the village.