In pics: Macaques enjoy life at new home in E. Yunnan

In late June, ranger Wang Haisi was busy with feeding the rhesus monkeys at the Wanfengshan eco-protection area in east Yunnan’s Luoping County. 

"Now there are more than 300 monkeys in the area. I have to feed and check the monkeys twice a day. The number of monkeys is increasing." Wang Haisi, a Yi native, has been familiar with the monkeys since childhood. 

Once, local ecology was damaged by desertification, and it was rare to see wild species in the area. Since the Wanfengshan reserve was set up in Luoping County, eco-protection has been strengthened, with the macaque population amounting to 2,000 countywide.

Wang Haisi was hired as a full-time ranger in 2016, and he works on protecting the monkeys in the area. "The monkeys need to be fed regularly at certain sites, or they could go out of the mountains and damage crops in nearby villages." Wang Haisi said. 

Thanks to poverty-relief in recent years, the Xiaozhai village near the nature reserve has also been beautified, coupled with new roads, yards and toilets. The poverty project is said to have consumed 1 million yuan.

Reporting by Yang Zheng and Cha Zhifuwen (Yunnan Daily); trans-editing by Wang Shixue