Highways help villagers in Gansu out of poverty
When Yang Shengxiang first arrived at Jinhe, a village in Guazhou county, Gansu province, in 2003, all he could see was barren saline-alkali soil surrounded by the endless Gobi desert.
Local farmers led a hard life by growing corn and wheat, until Yang, then 21 years old, taught them how to grow Chinese wolfberry, or Goji berry on the poor soil.
As of 2021, with the construction of the expressways, they managed to transport their Goji berry products to Beijing, Russia and the European Union.