As peasant farmers till the earth, hundreds of feet above their heads on a rocky outcrop the white head leaf monkeys, unique to that part of the world, leap and swing with death-defying abandon. But hemmed in by encroaching human cultivation, the last 700 face extinction. Encouraged by China's new capitalist mentality, local peasants use monkey conservation land to grow sugar cane; a cash crop that has turned around the economy in the region but damaged the monkeys' habitat. An elderly villager even admits that the monkeys are still killed to make a medicinal local beverage. But one man is taking a stand trying to protect the species. ABC Australia follows Professor Pan Wenshi in his quest to instil a new attitude towards conservation.

Produced by ABC Australia