He lived like a local. They mostly ate half-cooked rice with some hot pepper. Only when there was a successful hunt was there meat.

Zheng's research of the Jinuo ethnic group was related to their modernization, and that confused him a lot at first.

"I remember one evening in the 1980s, when I sat on the balcony of a local's residence. There was no electricity. I watched the stars all over the sky, and the firelight from the fire pits in people's houses. Thinking about the status of these villages, I found it really difficult to imagine how the group could be modernized," recalls Zheng.

But changes do happen. At the end of the 1970s, with help from local government and other institutions, planting techniques for Wurfbainia villosa, better known locally as sharen, were introduced to the Jinuo Mountain, and people gradually mastered the skills.

According to Zheng, at the end of the 1980s, the mountain became the second largest production base for the plant in China. Following that success, rubber and tea industries were later developed in the area.

In 1984, the first trade fair was held in the Jinuo Mountain area. Before that, people lived mostly in a self-sufficient manner, and sometimes businessmen from other places would visit Jinuo villages to exchange mountain products with salt, medicine and iron tools. Jinuo people themselves, though, had never sold their products at a market.

The fair marked a milestone for the group on the march toward a commodity-based economy, according to Zheng.

With the development of the local economy, roads were laid between villages and electricity infrastructure was installed. Brick buildings replaced the bamboo and wooden buildings, and modern necessities like television sets, computers and cars are now a part of everyday life. In 2019, it was announced that the Jinuo ethnic group was officially lifted out of poverty.

That same year, at a seminar discussing the development of the Jinuo group over the past four decades, Zheng attributed its progress to the value it places on education and ability to master new skills.

"Stressing education and being able to master new techniques seems to be a strong inborn awareness of Jinuo people," says Zheng.