Yang Lina innovates cultural tourism in rural Jilin province

Since 38-year-old Yang Lina established her tourism company in Guangdong village of Helong city in Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, Jilin province in 2011, she has been striving to promote local tourism industry and help increase her fellow villagers' incomes.

Guangdong, a distinctive village with ethnic minority elements, has a population of which over 98 percent belong to the Korean ethnic group.

Tourists can easily identify distinct ethnic elements in the architecture, clothing and performances during their trip.

Attracted by its rich ethnic cultures and good prospects for its development, Yang invested 80,000 yuan into designing and decorating homestays in the village. She then began to explore rural tourism business models.

Now her company has developed into a comprehensive agricultural and cultural tourism enterprise integrating folk tourism, leisure agriculture, agricultural product sales and Internet Plus.

Over the past years, Yang has received many awards, such as the National March 8th Red Flag Bearer and Outstanding Youth of Jilin province.

"The village saw more than 400,000 tourist visits in 2022," she said. "It is expected to receive 100,000 more this year."

In 2017, Yang expanded her business to Naitoushan village in Antu county, building an all-season tourism destination combining folk culture with red culture and ice and snow culture in the village located on the foot of Changbai Mountain.

So far, Yang's company has provided over 1,000 job opportunities to residents in the two villages and contributed nearly 3 million yuan to the village collective dividend.

"I will continue to contribute my strength to rural development and I am full of confidence to do better in the future," she said. "We will continue to explore new business models and tourism products, which can integrate local folks, cultures and agriculture, as well as help my fellow villagers become richer."