Beijing's rural areas now lead China in agricultural leisure tourism by tapping into Chinese culture to promote its traditions, according to Qiu Xiuli, author of the book "Jing Hua Xiang Qing" ("Sentiments Echoing through Beijing's Transforming Villages,) which details this progress.

Home to over 3,000 villages, Beijing's rural areas have undergone a remarkable transformation amid a wave of rural revitalization and new construction.

Qiu spent three years traveling over 2,000 kilometers through Beijing's suburbs, visiting nearly 100 villages across 13 districts, including Mentougou, Daxing, and Miyun. She conducted in-depth interviews with village leaders and grassroots locals, documenting each location with extensive photos and videos.

Qiu's reportage highlights places like Gubeikou Village in Beijing's Miyun District. There, local authorities have explored Great Wall culture and folk customs, building an exhibition hall on local history, border defense, trade, and traditions like temple fairs. This integration of culture and tourism has made the village a benchmark for cultural tourism development in rural Beijing.

Another example is Qiuzhuang Village in Tongzhou District. Centered around the culture of filial piety, it created a Filial Piety Museum. The village also organizes activities like "Elderly Day" and "Cook a Dish for Parents." By integrating core socialist values, it has been recognized as a National Civilized Village and a National Civilized Unit for Filial Piety.

At a recent Beijing book fair, Qiu discussed how her reportage was a conduit for promoting tourism in the Chinese capital's rural fringes, highlighting these areas as weekend getaways for young urbanites to experience intangible cultural heritage.

Li Chaoquan, deputy editor-in-chief of the literature and arts newspaper Wenyi Bao, praised Qiu Xiuli's new book as a significant work recording great changes in rural areas. "The villages she has chosen are highly representative. There are well-known villages like Hanjiahe, Guajiayu, Gubeikou, and Simatai, as well as many previously unknown discoveries. By visiting village history exhibition halls, she has gained a deeper understanding of the changes past and present in these villages. In her writing, she uses a comparative approach to reveal the epoch-making changes brought about by rural revitalization," said Li.