Can a falling city ever recover its former prosperity? Zhusha ancient town in Wanshan District of Tongren, an old mine site retired from its work, carries a romantic memory that belongs to a unique era. The reminiscent signboards such as “State-run Vegetable Company” and “Supply and Marketing Cooperative” on the pedestrian street and the clunky black phones in the reception rooms remind people of the glorious days when people strived for industrial development in the early period of the People’s Republic of China.

On September 24, the international publicity group for the International Conference of Mountain Tourism and Outdoor Sports 2021 and the 16th Guizhou Tourism Industry Development Conference visited Zhusha ancient town to see how the industrial site became a novel cultural and tourism destination in Wanshan District, Tongren City, Guizhou Province. The group is composed of 25 representatives of the media outlets and the chambers of commerce.

Zhusha ancient town, making good use of the remnants of Guizhou Mercury Mine Site, has transformed the old factory buildings and dormitories into a pedestrian street full of nostalgia. The 970 km long mining tunnel, hailed as the “underground Great Wall”, has become a colorful “time tunnel”. The Soviet expert building has been turned into a special Russian restaurant. Recreational facilities such as the glass bridge, the zip line, and the water skiing facility over the breathtaking canyon offer visitors exciting experiences.

Wanshan is famous for its cinnabar deposits. Cinnabar was regarded as a treasure by the royal courts of all dynasties for its bright red color and great durability. It is also an important raw material for mercury smelting. According to Ming History, an official mercury smelting bureau was set up in Wanshan in the Ming Dynasty. In the 1950s, Wanshan mercury mine became China’s largest mercury industrial base integrating mining, smelting, and scientific research. Intellectuals and skilled workers here, full of vigor, dedicated their youth to its construction and made great contributions to the national economy during the hard times. Wanshan mercury was praised as the “Patriotic Mercury” by Premier Zhou Enlai.

Wanshan District is changed by cinnabar. Due to over 600 years of high intensity mining, the cinnabar resources were almost exhausted. In 2001, the mercury mine in Wanshan was closed down for running out of resources. Without the mainstay industry, it lost its position as China’s first county-level special region and became an ordinary district of Tongren City.

To awake the “sleeping site”, Wanshan cooperated with Ji Yang Group in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province in July 2015, which provided an investment of 2 billion yuan. They aimed to use the original mercury mine site and the cultural relics to develop a leisure and nostalgic town, named Zhusha(cinnabar) ancient town, on the theme of mountain industrial civilization. Therefore, it became the first town in China that transformed its exhausted mining industry into a sustainable cultural and tourist industry.

Wanshan District becomes popular for cinnabar. In 2019, the site of the mercury mine in Wanshan was included in the third batch of National Industrial Heritages. In 2020, the town received 3.38 million tourists, with a total income of 2.4 billion yuan. It became the most dynamic tourist hot spot as well as a landmark in Guizhou. The development also has influenced the lives of descendants of miners and poor households in Wanshan District.

Wu Jixi was a native of Wanshan District, whose grandfather and father were both miners. After the closure of the mercury mine, Wu Jixi went out to work in coastal areas for more than 10 years. With the development of the Zhusha ancient town, he returned to his hometown, getting promoted from an ordinary employee to management. Wu Jixi was happy that he could contribute to his hometown. Among the over 200 local employees, about 80% of them were descendants of miners. All the workers were happy to come back and work in their hometown. Wu Jixi thought that although the mineral resources were almost exhausted, the cultural and tourist resources still had huge potential.

In the Zhusha ancient town, the stalls at the gate, the exit of glass walkway and other places  are provided to residents and poor households for free, where they could sell tourist products. Besides, the town built an assistance mechanism with 750 poor residents in Aozhai Town and Huangdao Town. Besides, 30 million yuan of poverty alleviation fund was invested in the town, taking at least 8% of the income each year as poor households’ dividends and interest of principal. The average annual income is increased by over 1,600 yuan per capita.

After visiting the town, Zhang Jing, a reporter of the PR Newswire, said, “This is the first time I come to Tongren City. The scenery here is very beautiful. When I enter the town, I feel like traveling back to my childhood. The town can not only attract our young people, but also attract our parents to recall their old memories. PR Newswire always aims to ‘spread your stories to the world’. This time we have learned the culture, background information and changes of Wanshan District. We willspread these stories to the world.”