The countryside is a spiritual home where the curling smoke rising from the kitchen chimney and flowers blooming from the sweat-soaked soil. The comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization has attracted more people to come back to their hometown. Recently, the World Tourism Alliance released the WTA Best Practices of Rural Revitalization Through Tourism 2021. In fact, from 2018 to 2021, many cases from villages in Guizhou were compiled in this report are a vivid illustration of rural revitalization through tourism. For instance, Hongjiang Village has transformed from a “hollow village” to “a photogenic village for social media” after the artists moved in, and Zunyi Huamao Village developed red tourism with local cultural characteristics. These villages are presenting a new style of beauty in rural revitalization.

Creation makes a wonderful “chemical reaction” to the countryside

The natural landscapes get more “fashionable” when art and creativity collide with the original ecological countryside. Hongjiang Village has made use of the local resources and proposed the development positioning of “Non-heritage Hongjiang, Art Hongjiang, Artisan Hongjiang and Ecological Hongjiang”. Hongjiang Village invited artists from the United States, Spain, Switzerland and China here to renovate old houses into art workshops with living rooms, which fully activated the dilapidated houses, turning “old houses” into “cultural and creative ones”. In this way art and villages get a wonderful “chemical reaction” in Hongjiang.

Guizhou’s Dangxi Village is a traditional Miao village with ethnic characteristics. Relying on the experience of developing, producing and promoting cultural creative products on the online tourism platform, Dangxi Village took into consideration three elements of “indigo dyeing”, “Miao silver” and “travel” and created a unique ethnic style traveller’s handbook for indigo dyeing. With the cover made of fabric dyed by Rongjiang’s craftsmen and the clasp hand-made with Miao silver, the handbook shows the delicate beauty of ethnic handicrafts. Moreover, a natural aroma of grass and wood can be smelt while using the handbook. The handbook is promoted through online travel platforms and also hits shelves in online stores for sale, helping the local people to gain more income.

Red culture and ethnic customs make villages distinguish from each other

Each village has its unique characteristics. Based on local culture, Zunyi Huamao Village in Guizhou Province intends to protect and inherit red culture and local traditional culture. It has built Gouba Conference Exhibition Hall and Memorial Square, a pottery street, a special pottery clubs, a root carving art center, an ancient paper-making museum and a craftsmen commercial street and develops more than 10 kinds of interactive experience programs. Themed of red culture, pottery culture and folk culture, the village has fully integrated a project of party members’ home and farmers’ cultural home, a remote-learning classroom, a moral lecture hall, a library, a basketball court, a fitness field and a cultural publicity column to enrich the cultural life of the masses. The promotion of industrial prosperity and the building of the beautiful countryside has got over 600 local people employed with an average annual income increase of 150,000 yuan.

The poor households in Pingzhai Township, Yangmei Township, Yushe Township, Shaomi Township, Faer Township and Duge Township got relocated to Haiping Yi Village of Thousand Households in Yeyuhai Mountain Tourism Resort. Relying on the ethnic tourism scenic area, the farmers are encouraged to participate in the development of tourism commodities, ethnic chorus and catering services industry. Liupanshui Yiyuan Ltd. has recruited and trained a total of 545 local farmers from 109 households to perform Yi songs and dance and sitcoms and engage in cultural activities such as bonfire parties. In 2018, 137 households underwent the “Three Changes” Reform and become shareholders, receiving dividend income of over 193,000 yuan in total. In that sense, the average household dividend income were more than 1411 yuan. In 2019, 202 households joined this scheme and got the average household dividend income of over 1800 yuan by the end of this year.

Various tourism industries make rural travels colorful

With the prosperous development of tourism, an increasing number of people choose to make rural travels. Longshan community in Longshan Town of Guizhou Province has wonderful natural landscapes with a strong atmosphere of ethnic minority. Guizhou Yunlong Tourism Group has invested in the construction of Longli Water Township Ecological Tourism City. Since its opening in September 2020, this ecological tourism city has introduced a large cultural tourism brand Longxiang Water Town - Guixiu, which has led to the rapid development of agritainment and homestays. At the same time, with the launch of key tourism projects like Longmen Martial Arts Culture Town, “Cloudy Waterfall”, Lotus Wetland Park, Longli Prairie, the tourism industry has been prospering, gathering popularity and attracting people. In recent years, Longshan community has received a total of more than 4 million tourists, making an income of more than 30 million yuan.

Having seen the new changes of different villages, Liu Shijun, Secretary General of the World Tourism Alliance, said, “We aim to tap into the excellent local culture and aesthetic values to create a new scene featuring cultural and tourism integration. The original landscape of villages and excellent traditional culture are huge treasures, harboring potential and resources for development. For village planning and construction, we focus on protecting the original historical relics, fully exploring and developing the village’s historical culture and intangible cultural heritage skills, and integrating modern convenience and aesthetic elements to achieve positive inheritance and development.”