"My 11 years of effort seemed to be in vain. The loss was hard to calculate. It was really hard for me to accept at first, but gradually I did and persuaded myself to start over in my career," says He.

He converted his family home by the lake into a homestay in 2012. As the only homestay in Gusheng village at that time, He was drawing an annual income of more than 40,000 yuan. Following the visit of President Xi Jinping to the village in 2015, visitor numbers grew even higher, and his yearly income grew to about 200,000 yuan.

Xi's visit also made him realize the importance of protecting Erhai Lake. "President Xi told us we must protect Erhai Lake, and I began to realize that we can only develop in a sustainable way to ensure the ecology of the lake. If the lake became too polluted, we would have difficulty even living by it, let alone developing its surrounding area."

Yang says the effort to control pollution and improve water quality started in 1996, and intensified following Xi's visit in 2015.

As a result, just as his homestay business started to develop good momentum, in 2017, all the restaurants and homestays by the lake were required to close to improve their sewage treatment facilities. He invested nearly 100,000 yuan, closing his homestay for eight months, which underwent repeated inspection, to bring the sewage purification system up to regulations and gain permission to reopen.