Bighead carps and a kind of small shrimp are also shipped live from the Danjiang River Reservoir-they are tender and fresh due to the clear waters that lend them their unique flavor.

The water quality at Danjiang River is also crucial since it's the origin of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which was developed to irrigate the arid regions of the country.

More than 300,000 people were relocated as part of the project and the dam was raised and reinforced before the reservoir started to pump water northward in 2014.

Liu's family was among them-they had lived next to the Danjiang River for generations, but were forced to move to higher ground three times over the past 50 years.

"My great-grandfather moved the first time. And when I was born in 1982, our family moved for the second time. In 2011, we moved for a third time," Liu recalls.

Liu grew up near the river. He remembers catching small fish and shrimp in the nearby waters and having his mother make them into a beautiful dish for him.