A view of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs on the Tiantai Mountain in Luzhou City, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Liu in his sixties has been growing two hectares of medicinal herbs on the previously barren mountain for 30 years. (Photo/CFP)
A 66-year-old man has spent thirty years turning a barren mountainside in China's central Sichuan province into greenwood. Located on Tiantai Mountain in Luzhou, the area sticks up straight, giving the appearance of stone platform. And Tiantai literally means sky platform, which derives from the mountain's appearance. The mountain is also a historical relic of the Yi minority and popular tourist destination.
Liu sees the project as a way to invest his energy into mourning a fallen solider from his past. Back when he was a younger man, Liu lost the hearing in his right ear from a bazooka blasting near his face. But he believes he was lucky because he's still around today to tell the story. Many of his fellow soldiers who died "were just young boys. They hadn't even gotten married, and they sacrificed for their country." Moved by his comrade's loyalty and bravery, Liu began clearing a plot on the mountainside to plant eucommia seeds.
Liu claims currently there were over 200,000 growing. Encommia is a unique rubber tree native to China. Its bark is used for various medicinal purposes in Chinese Traditional Medicine. Liu says his small trees already have the "width of a bowl."
When Liu started his project, he said the path was extremely dangerous. "The better spots had wooden steps. If you weren't careful for a second, you could fall down the several-hundred-meter-tall cliffs."
