From a rocky road to scenic tourism

Lin Shaoyun, a farmer who lives near the city of Yixing, Jiangsu province, remembers the days when villagers blew up mountains for their resources.

"It was because the local people earned their daily bread by blowing up the mountains to sell stones in the 1990s," said Lin Shaoyun, who works for the Zhangyang village committee of Hufu township.

"The village had more than 100 factories to mine the mountains, make glazed tiles and produce cement. The money poured into the village as more mountains were blown up."