"After using electric heating, our houses are much warmer, and there is no need to get up in the middle of the night to add firewood for heating," Yu said, noting that the fire prevention pressure on local forests has also been reduced.

Zhang Xianfang, Li's colleague, stressed that, at present, the local power company is taking a two-pronged approach to help the local residents — first, serving the household needs of each family with easier electricity access, and second, extending services to their businesses to help bolster the ecotourism.

He added that since 2014, the State Grid Hinggan Power Supply Co has reconstructed and built 58 kilometers of new power lines for shantytown renovation projects, and has newly added 18 power distribution transformers and eight box transformers affording 630 kilo-volt amperes.

Currently, the city of A'ershan under Hinggan League is guiding the local residents to "put down their axes and work as tour guides", and turn the local lucid waters and lush mountains into invaluable assets.

From a logger into a forest keeper, Yu said his 40 years of life as a forest worker have shown that A'ershan Mountain is becoming more beautiful, saying that "its ecology is getting better every year, and there are more and more small animals in the forest."

zhuangqiange@chinadaily.com.cn