Rural tourism helps poverty alleviation in SW China

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Southwest China's Yunnan Province has been trying to make the best use of local landscape, to help poverty-stricken people in mountainous areas.

The practice, though not the most important measure in poverty alleviation, has shown its effectiveness.

Yingjiang, a far-flung southwest county in the province, is making efforts and has many examples in the sector.

In Longmenzhai Village, some 34 kilometers north of the county town, Yu Genjin and her family are managing an agritainment restaurant.

She usually welcomes guests by singing songs of Jingpo ethnicity in Yingjiang County.

With the countryside restaurant, Yu now lives a life she couldn't have imagined just a few years ago.

Yu Genjin and her family got out of poverty through running a countryside restaurant at their home in Yingjiang County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. /CGTN Photo

She said when she got married and moved to Longmenzhai Village in 2011, everything was backward.

"At that time, we lived with our livestock in a stinky house that had muddy floors. What's worse, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit this area in 2014. But luckily, with help from government and others, we rebuilt and renovated our home," she said.

Pai Deliang, Yu's husband was then a migrant worker with an annual savings less than 360 US dollars, but now he helps his family-run new business.

"Everything changed especially in 2016, when we began to build and run this farm restaurant," he said.

Now the couple receives visitors mainly from neighboring cities and towns and has earned a total of more than 14,000 US dollars last year, five times more than 2016. This is only one of the agritainment trials for poverty alleviation in Yingjiang County.

In Xiamengpi Village, some 20 kilometers away, the same situation is seen.

Organizing and managing countryside travel is seen as one of the effective measures to help poverty-stricken people in remote but beautiful mountainous areas in Yingjiang County. /CGTN Photo

The village was the epicenter of the deadly 2014 earthquake, which destroyed 80,000 homes. It was rebuilt in a more hospitable surrounding.

Besides the government-funded agritainment projects that aimed to lift people out of poverty, citizens looked outside for other tourism ideas. Villagers took the initiative to promote themselves through showcasing items like hand-made folk costume and wares.

One lady, Jiang Chengmei, told us what she and other fellow villagers are trying to do to make a better hostel and scenic area management in their village, particularly their costumes.

"It took us one or two months to make such a costume with our Lisu folk style signifying fortune and harvest," she said.

Local government, companies and charity groups help turn poor but beautiful places in Yingjiang County into agritainment attractions. That's one of the efforts in rebuilding people's homes after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck in 2014. /CGTN Photo

Last year, she made ten, and sold them for over 280 US dollars each.

For her, poverty has become history. The average annual income per person in the Xiamengpi Village has reached over 1,000 US dollars, three times more than two years ago.

Now, even in tourist off-season in winter, life is good thanks to growing traditional cash crops.

These people used to be migrant workers and earned little money elsewhere, but now, they do jobs at their home, and believe their hard efforts will get more reward.