Century-old pear trees blossom in Baoshan village, Lishui. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

In Baoshan village in Yunhe county, administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province, more than 20 pear trees that are a century old or more bore some 1,000 kilograms of fruit recently.

Three years ago, Baoshan village had about 500 old pear trees. However, due to its remote location, most villagers chose to leave their hometown in search of jobs and few were left behind to look after the orchards. As a result, the trees were plagued by disease and insect pests and many died every year.

But in the second half of 2017, Yunhe began an environmental project to protect the pear trees of Baoshan village.

A range of measures have since been taken to help them, such as fertilizing broken roots, registering each tree and giving technical guidance to local pear farmers.

So far, 211 hundred-old pear trees have survived, of which 207 have blossomed and borne fruit. As an added bonus, the pears have increased the income of the villagers by more than 200,000 yuan ($29,680).