Man plants trees to rise from ashes of poverty

DONGXIANG, Gansu - When asked how much money he had spent on building a new house, Ma Yongxiang answered, "180,000 yuan ($28,000)".

He gave his proud reply while sitting in the living room of his newly built house, which has nine rooms and two yards.

Ma is middle-aged and lives in Dongxiang, in the remote mountains of Northwest China's Gansu province. He has worked to get rid of his poverty by planting prickly ash, which produce the popular ingredient Sichuan peppers. With the assistance of local authorities, he has helped nearly 10,000 of the plants to take root in nearby mountain slopes.