Natural causes

But mother nature also played a major role in deciding the fate of the orange growers.

In late 2012, citrus greening disease hit the southern part of Jiangxi province, and within two years one-third of the citrus trees in Xunwu county died.

The disease, also known as Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), is caused by a bacteria and results in bitter, misshapen oranges with a mottled appearance.

"Since 2012, as more citrus trees were affected, farmers have no longer been willing to grow navel oranges and our income has declined rapidly," Huang said. "Our local economy has been going backward."

Farmers turned to other crops, and got used to living on lower incomes.

"It was the worst news, and the consequences are still affecting the locals' lives today," Huang said. "To ensure better water quality for all the people depending on the Dongjiang River, villagers in Xunwu have made enormous sacrifices, including giving up their ancestral homes."

In 2015, Zhu Meifang, 49, a farmer who lived in the small village of Taihu on a mountainside in Xunwu county, received an order from the local government to leave his land. Along with two other villages close to the reservoir, they were ordered to vacate their farms, as their farming practices were directly damaging the water source.

"I'd been living in Taihu for more than 60 years, and it is also my ancestral home. I was reluctant to leave, but to my surprise my family members, especially my sons, were happy to leave the mountain," Zhu said.

"I found most of the younger generation in our village was willing to move. In fact, life is quite inconvenient there as the local infrastructure is pretty poor. I understand them and, like me, the majority of villagers decided to move," he added.

At the end of 2015, a total of 1,153 people in Taihu had moved to the Xunwu township where the local government had built new houses and community facilities for them.

Villager He Jiabin, 56, said his son not only got a job there, but also married a local woman.

"I am quite satisfied with where I live now, and younger generations are even more pleased," he said. "Everything has become easier since we moved here. Our new community is close to the industrial zone where people can easily find a job," he added.

Huang said all the farmers had made sacrifices to ensure a better life and environment for others.

"We believe there is no gain if there is no pain," he said. "I hope more people can understand what we did, and treasure the fruits of it."