Shi took up the post of a forest ranger in 2016, making him responsible for the care and protection of the trees in Jiange.

He said that although the government has put strict protection measures in place for the cypress trees, the lack of daily care sometimes led to incidents where the ancient trees were injured.

"Here, a passing truck scraped against this tree damaging the bark," Shi said, patting the trunk of a 1,300-year-old cypress tree as if comforting a family member who'd fallen ill.

"The Cuiyun Corridor cypress road where we are right now used to be part of National Highway 108," he said.