China on the move: China's tree man

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While others were growing rice, Chen Dayu chose to work on planting trees. Chen Dayu spends most of his time looking after his saplings and flowers.

For twenty years. it's been something of an obsession for the 66-year old farmer.

It all started with a simple idea, right after the launch of opening up and reform.

Chen Dayu said, "When I traveled for work, I found the natural environment in many cities was better than here in Beidahuang. So I decided to go into gardening and cultivate more and better breeds to improve the environment here."

But for a farmer with only four years of education and no experience of planting, it was far from easy.

After years of failures and hundreds of thousands of yuan in debts, Chen Dayu's perseverance paid off.

He succeeded in crossbreeding saplings that could withstand the cold of the Northeast.

Chen Dayu has spent two decades improving the natural environment on the farm. His focus is saplings and flowers which are adaptable to the local climate. Today Chen is one of Heilongjiang's foremost experts on gardening and breeding.