55-year-old German Holger Perner is a PhD in ecology and a top orchidaceae research scientist. In 2001, he gave up the job at German Academy of Sciences, and went to Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan with his Chinese wife, where he came up with the idea of growing blueberry, blackberry, and Paris polyphylla to increase local farmers’ income.

In 1997 when Dr. Perner was 37 years old, he and several Japanese experts went to Sichuan for the first time. Love changed his course of life. He always says that if it hadn't been for Chengdu girl Gan Wenqing, who is now his wife, he would have returned Germany long before. After 20 years, Ngawa has become an indispensable part of his life.

Ecological protection and poverty relief are the two things Dr. Perner has been working on in Ngawa. He first helped the local farmers transform their traditional ways of using resources from the nature and taught them how to protect the environment.

After Dr. Perner found that it is very suitable and economical to grow blueberry in the alpine areas, he began to help local farmers grow blueberries in 2007. To “move” blueberries to Ngawa highland, Dr. Perner used the technology of plant clone. Compared to 700 to 800 yuan income the farmers get from growing one mu (667 square meters) of potatoes or corns, farmers can earn over 10,000 yuan growing one mu of blueberries.