Villagers branch out to embrace olive oil riches

Determination

Despite the challenges, Liu is determined to continue her work to help local people because olive trees not only bring financial benefits but can also be of long-term environmental significance.

There are a lot of mountainous areas in Longnan where it is impossible to grow conventional crops, but they will support olive trees.

The trees help to clean the air because their leaves are green all year, while their root systems can also help to conserve water and bind the soil, thus reducing landslides and debris flows.

"As President Xi Jinping has stressed, lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. The trees can help make our local waters lucid and our mountains lush while bringing local people invaluable assets," Liu said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.