Rural tourism brings prosperity to village in China's Zhejiang

Thanks to the development of rural tourism, Hengshanwu, once a village with muddy roads in east China's Zhejiang Province, has become a national-level livable and beautiful countryside, and a key rural tourist destination.

In the past, roads became muddy when it rained in Hengshanwu village, Lingfeng neighborhood of Anji county, recalled Cai Mingfu, Party chief of the village.

"When I began to work as an official in Hengshanwu in 1998, the village's annual collective income was less than 90,000 yuan ($12,640)," Cai added.

Photo shows a restaurant in Hengshanwu village, Anji county of east China's Zhejiang Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Liwei)

Things began to change in 2003 when Zhejiang launched its Green Rural Revival Program to comprehensively improve the living environment of villages and the quality of rural residents’ lives. In the same year, Hengshanwu village started to implement the program by building paved roads, removing illegal buildings, and treating wastewater to improve the rural living environment. Gradually, the living environment in the village improved.

Hengshanwu then decided to develop rural tourism by leveraging its sound ecological environment.

The village invited designer Chen Gu to return to his hometown to design a B&B cluster. "We emphasize differentiated development and respect the original appearance of houses and their surroundings," Chen said.

Chen added that the cluster has so far attracted 19 B&B hotels and become a photogenic spot for social media.

"Last year, the cluster recorded over 350,000 tourist visits. During this year's five-day May Day holiday, the daily revenue exceeded 40,000 yuan," Chen said.

The B&B cluster adopts a development model that integrates companies, the neighborhood, cooperatives and rural households.

Lan Qingxia, a post-95s B&B hotel owner, said her home was once the remotest in the village, but now her home-turned B&B hotel is the most popular one. "It's not easy for tourists to get a room in my hotel during holidays and festivals," Lan said.

Huang Dong, who once worked in Shanghai, returned to run a restaurant, making huge profits.

Jin Yufang, a local resident, works in a B&B hotel after training, and earns extra income of 54,000 yuan a year.

In 2022, Hengshanwu village received 700,000 tourist visits, with its tourism revenue reaching 108 million yuan. The village's collective operating income and per capita net income of rural residents stood at 7.52 million yuan and 55,045 yuan, respectively.