Born and bred in Anji county, Zhejiang province, 40-year-old Ye Haihu has a different definition of "beautiful countryside", a label that made his small, secluded hometown the pride of the nation in 2012.

In September, the 1,000-year-old town became the first county-level town in China to be recognized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme for its effort to become "one of the world's most green towns".

The last time this town grabbed global attention was at the beginning of the 21st century, when Taiwan-born US film director Ang Lee chose its thick bamboo forest, the largest in China, as the setting for his Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.