Looking at eyes in the skies

Lush grasslands. Snowy fields. A small workshop. The Great Wall.

Liu Jia has seen it all through his "third eye"－h(huán)is drone.

"I love this thrill," the full-time drone operator says.

Liu, who was born in 1986, fell in love with drones even before they became popular in China. When he worked as a public servant, he spent his spare time helping his friends record weddings and travels with a drone.

Recognition of his talent spread through word of mouth, and companies started to seek him out.

Liu quit his job to devote himself to filming with drones in 2016.

His work covers everything from commercial videos to mini-films.

Drone operator has become a popular profession due to its creativity and relaxed workload, especially since the boom of internet advertising, short videos and automated agriculture.

More Chinese farmers are turning to drones for sowing, fertilizing and artificial pollination.

"Agricultural drones are up to 80 times more efficient than manual laborers," says Zhang Qiang, who works with an agriculture-automation company.