Improved ecological environment brings prosperity to village in SW China's Guizhou

At sunset, You Rongwen, a villager in Huawu village, Xinren Miao township of Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province, docked his boat at a pier and helped tourists get off the boat.

The beautiful scenery of Huawu village, Xinren Miao township of Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Jiequan)

The 48-year-old has been making a living from water, like other local villagers have been, since he was young.

The Liuchong River is a first-level tributary of the Wujiang River, the longest river in Bijie city, and an important ecological barrier in the upper stream of the Yangtze River.

Huawu village used to be surrounded by cliffs, and local villagers relied solely on walking to get out of the village, and shouting to communicate. The poverty rate in the village was 63.6 percent.

The beautiful scenery of Huawu village, Xinren Miao township of Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Jiequan)

You started to help his father fish in the Liuchong River when he was a child. Due to overfishing and the discharging of wastewater into the river, the river was severely polluted in the past.

In 2017, the "river chief" mechanism was introduced and the Liuchong River embraced an opportunity to become better. A joint effort consisting of many people, including river chiefs, lake chiefs, forest chiefs, road chiefs and forest guardians was launched to patrol and protect the river and areas along it. Fishing nets were shut down and finishing was banned along the river.

The beautiful scenery of Huawu village, Xinren Miao township of Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Jiequan)

Against this backdrop, You needed to look for another job which would also be related to the river. He believed operating sightseeing boats would be an option. In August 2017, You was trained to operate sightseeing boats organized by the maritime bureau of Bijie city, and obtained a training certificate, becoming the first man in his village certified to operate sightseeing boats. You and his brothers bought two boats and began providing sightseeing services along the river.

In 2020, You became a river guardian. "We hope more than anyone else that the environment of the river can become better," said You.

The beautiful scenery of Huawu village, Xinren Miao township of Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Jiequan)

Eight members of You's family have obtained licenses to operate boats. "As long as there is a need to patrol the river, we can respond to it and play our roles," said You.

To further protect the Liuchong River, Huawu village created a garbage collecting team and designated five villagers as river guardians.

The beautiful scenery of Huawu village, Xinren Miao township of Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Jiequan)

Today, the water quality of the Liuchong River has reached Grade II and above, the second-highest level in the country's five-tier water quality system. The sound ecological environment has provided tangible benefits to local villagers in their development of rural tourism.

Last year, Huawu village recorded nearly 200,000 tourist visits and tourism revenue of 100 million yuan ($13.96 million). The per capita income of local villagers stood at 25,000 yuan.