A tourism development company was founded in Dawan in 2019, and the village received 300,000 tourists. Last year, 400,000 tourists visited, bringing in around about 80 million yuan, according to the local government.

"We also planted more tea trees and traditional Chinese medicinal herbs," Yu said.

Dawan is now home to 330 hectares of tea. "The favorable policies of the Party and the government opened a new door, one that lead me out of poverty," Chen said.

He added that he was thrilled to meet Xi in 2016.

"I will never forget chatting with General Secretary Xi Jinping that day," he recalled. "He sat in the front yard of my house for a meeting with the villagers and officials and asked me if I had any wishes, and I said I hoped my income would double that year. That wish was later more than fulfilled."