Money grows on trees for farmers

Grinning with pride, a Chinese farmer held out two precious walnuts - globes so precisely symmetrical that consumers in search of hand massages value them more highly than gold.

"Prices have skyrocketed," said Li Zhanhua, standing in the shade of the leafy green walnut trees that have made him a small fortune. "Years ago, we could never have imagined this."

Rolling a pair of walnuts between palm and fingers has been a Chinese pastime for hundreds of years.