He has also contacted local e-commerce coaches - mostly college graduates who have been assigned to work as assistant village leaders - for advice about getting his produce to a wider audience.

"When we paved the road and gave them a new direction, the villagers' enthusiasm was stimulated," said Diao, the researcher. "They will seek every opportunity to improve their lives. Poverty in the past never destroyed their hopes of prosperity in the future."

Gu Qing, assistant country director of poverty, equity and governance at the United Nations Development Programme in China, said new measures must be devised to tackle the fundamental problems.

"To a certain extent, poverty reduction is like picking fruit on a tree. The low-hanging fruits of poverty-reduction have already been picked, so now we need to pick the high-hanging fruits and address the hardcore issues of poverty," she said.

While Fang Najia is hoping her family's prospects will further improve when her daughter graduates from college, Zeng Xueyi is still faced with uncertainty.

He has collected his honey harvest twice since summer began, but so far he hasn't been approached by middlemen from online sales channels.

"Making a living like this isn't as easy as it appears, but I will persevere - it's the new way," he said.

Contact the writer at zhangyuchen@chinadaily.com.cn