Village full of delightful surprises

When a group of international visitors to China was invited to attend Hunan Satellite TV's Lunar New Year celebration on Jan 18, a few of them were perplexed. The venue was to be a village called Shibadong and for many the choice seemed strange at best.

The visitors were contestants in Chinese Bridge, a Chinese-language proficiency competition, all of whom have a fairly good understanding of China. Indeed a few had ventured into various rural areas of China and they knew what remote towns and villages look and feel like. But Shibadong?

For one thing, several in the group worried about having no phone signal in the village, in Huayuan county in the Xiangxi Tujia-Miao autonomous prefecture of Hunan.

"If I don't reply to your messages it means there's no signal there," Mohamed Jihad, an Egyptian studying at the Communication University of China, messaged his fiancee.

"Don't worry about me."

It soon turned out that their qualms were ill-placed, because Wi-Fi is accessible in the village, and the hotel they stayed in was much like any other standard hotel in China. In fact the room views were better than one might expect in most city hotels.

"They've kept some of the traditional Chinese architecture, but certain aspects of the village are very advanced," Saminirina Dinatahina Princia from Madagascar said.

"They even have express delivery, mobile payments, banks ... almost everything there is in big cities."

Slater Rhea, a musician from the United States, said he had been to many parts of China, including villages in Hunan province, but Shibadong village was very well developed compared with anything he had seen before.

"I was shocked to see that not only is there a paved highway through the mountains to come here, but also, the internet and cellphone service here is excellent... Even though I'm out in the country, I don't feel that I'm far away from civilization."

On the bus ride to the village the group gasped at the scenic beauty they saw. The village sits in the mountains, and this day it was masked by a thin layer of cloud.

"It reminds me of Madagascar, because its scenery and the local lifestyle are quite similar to the small village where I lived as a child," Saminirina said. "Greenery everywhere, fresh unpolluted air."

Even though the village has modern facilities, the locals retain their simple yet cozy countryside lifestyle, Saminirina said.

The way the locals raise their free-range chickens and keep warm by the fire reminded her of her childhood, "a life that cannot be enjoyed by urban dwellers".

The locals, young and old alike, also impressed the visitors with their hospitality and down-to-earth character.

They were extremely welcoming, Slater Rhea said.

"In some sense I feel like I've come home, since everyone treats me so warmly."

Even the village children were full of surprises.

"It amazed me when some of the children there started to speak to us in English, because I thought they wouldn't have particularly good educational resources," Mohamed Jihad said.

On hearing stories of young people who work in the village, he was greatly impressed by that of Liu Su, someone who studied overseas and "chose to come to Shibadong village in order to make contributions to the country. I'm really moved by his choice."

In the village square the visitors took part in an internet live streaming performance by one of the locals, Shi Zhichun, who was selling local products.

Rhea said: "Because of the targeted poverty alleviation policy, they have the chance to develop their local trades and sell their local crops and connect to the outside world, bringing money and development here and sharing with the rest of us their outstanding local products.

"I think it's a wonderful success story, and I feel very happy for these people. I hope their situation and the conditions here will continue to get better and better."