Going nuts

The branding of Mount Kuaiji's ancient Chinese torreya nuts has brought fame and fortune to the local community. But the new class of entrepreneurs must maintain a delicate balance with nature, Sun Yuanqing reports.

When Luo Guanjun was growing up in the Mount Kuaiji area in Zhejiang province, he found it hard to appreciate the beauty of the nearby forest. The trees were a symbol of his family's poverty: He'd seen a huge sack of torreya nuts that had taken two years to grow and process exchanged for just a few rice coupons.

At 16, Luo left his home in Zhaojiazhen in the Mount Kuaiji area to seek his fortune elsewhere. Working in a clothing factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, he learned about branding and quality control. Five years later, he returned to the torreya forest to put these ideas into practice.