In 1999, Chu Shijian, the former head of the Hongta tobacco group in Yunnan, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence was later reduced to 17 years. He was released on medical parole, in 2001 or 2002, as sources differ. He then leased about 2,400 mu of barren hillside in the Ailao Mountains and planted oranges. He was 74 or 75 when he began.
In October 2012, his oranges went on sale in Beijing through the newly founded online grocer Benlai Shenghuo, under the name Chu cheng, Chu oranges.