A tea project at Rushan's Nanhuang town has 65 hectares to grow tea and other crops. It also has advanced facilities to produce tea.

"Many tourists, especially students come here to learn the tea culture. They can also learn farming work at our base," says Xu Bin, who is in charge of the town's tea project.

"We aim to build the base into one integrating the functions of tourism, entertainment, field study and product promotion. In this way, our products will gain more markets, which will bring a higher income to local farmers, as well as to our project," says Xu.

Local statistics showed the income of farmers in the villages along the route has grown year-on-year by around 10 percent.