On Douban, a popular online review site, the most popular book related to succulents is Plant Succulent with Er Mu, which is given a score of 8.2 out of 10. Its author, Xiao Jie, 34, who goes by the name Er Mu online, is also a well-known succulent blogger.

Like Jin and Zhu, Xiao abandoned a career, his in international trade, in favor of succulents and took that zeal even further by selling his home in Weihai, Shandong province, to rent 2,500 square meters of land on a small hill in the suburbs and build his own garden.

This odyssey began in 2010, he says, when he was attracted by a kind of succulent called black mage.

"I used to think all the plants were green, and the black-colored succulent surprised me when I saw pictures of it on the internet. There were also animal-shaped plants like what we call baby bear and rabbit ear that gave them an air of mystery and I wanted to know more."

Like Jin Tianying, Xiao kept his succulents, of which he eventually had 100, all bought on Taobao, on the balcony of his apartment.

"They were not as cheap as they are today, ranging in price from 5 yuan to 10 yuan, and I was intrigued to know what would happen to these lovely little plants after a long time if you took very good care of them."

He posted photos of his plants on his blog and gave regular updates on how they were doing.

Succulents can vary widely in appearance depending on the season, some displaying vibrant splashes of color in autumn and some bearing flowers in spring. His pictures quickly attracted thousands of views and before long his blog had received a million visitors, he says.