Desheng villager Hu Wenbin earns a living by maintaining solar farms constructed last year. Yuan Qingpan / China Daily

"I'm so dedicated to the solar panels now. We'd lose more than 700 yuan a day if they didn't function. I wipe the snow off in winter, otherwise, they don't work. We need them to get as much sun as possible."

Hu earns 3,600 yuan a year from this job.

"(It) keeps me active," he said. "My health is good."

His wife's is not. She needs treatments for joint problems.

But, in addition to his income, the couple can receive as much as 3,000 yuan in total from subsidies provided for the solar panels.

"I'm content," Hu said. "I'm happy. This money is stable. We have security."

The native of the northern port city of Tianjin was not previously satisfied with life in Desheng, especially when he moved to the area at age 10.

"I cried when I first came here," he recalled. "It was so poor. Winter was so cold. I kept saying 'I want to go home'. Now, I don't want to return to Tianjin."

Blizzards covered the houses, he recalled. "We wouldn't know if it was day or night because the snow blocked the windows.

"Our sheep and cows would climb the snow to the rooftop. Their hoofs would snap through the roof. That injured the livestock and damaged the roof."

Extreme fluctuations in temperature during the warmer seasons made it difficult for crops to survive, according to Hu: "There wasn't enough grass to herd."

Summer brought sandstorms, so the government planted trees.

"The trees stopped the sandstorms. But then the droughts came," he recalled.