GUIZHOU'S SCENERY, ETHNIC DIVERSITY A DRAW FOR VISITORS

By Li Xin ( China Daily )

Updated: 2019-09-30

Local villagers have benefited from recent social welfare measures, Li Xin reports.

Southwest China's Guizhou province attracts visitors with its untouched scenery, ethnic diversity and kindhearted people, rooted in the region's cultural legacies and traditions formed over thousands of years.

Yaoshang Ethnic Culture Village, also known as Shiqian Gelao First Village, is one such charming destination in the province. Its picturesque landscapes, rich historical heritage, 90 percent forest coverage as well as remarkable poverty alleviation efforts in recent years are among tourist attractions.

The village is defined not just by its view but also its local customs such as the "saying spring" and the Gelao puppet show.

More than 600 years ago, after the people surnamed Deng in Jiangxi province moved to this village, they set up kilns to make pots, cans, urns, and other utensils, from where the name Yaoshang is derived.

"Before 2003, Yaoshang village was poor. There were 50 or 60 singletons over the age of 30, with a per capita income of less than 700 yuan ($98.22). In the morning, villagers carried over 50 kilograms of charcoal and walked more than five kilometers of mountain road to nearby county. Fifty kilograms of charcoal would sell for 40 or 50 yuan," said Zuo Yan, a local villager.

Before the development of the village's tourism industry, the region was remote and hard to get to - it was one of the poorest and most isolated areas in China.

Zuo said that in the past, parents would tell their children, "If you don't behave, I'll send you to Yaoshang." The situation has been changed today, to encourage children, parents will say, "If you study hard, I will take you to Yaoshang at the weekend". These two sentences describing Yaoshang's past and present have become the epitome of Yaoshang people's happy new life. Snacks are an important part of village culture, especially fairy tofu, which is made from premna microphylla and plant ash. Locals consider premna microphylla a fairy leaf, which inspired the name of the delicacy. Fairy tofu is made by rubbing the plant, adding its juice to the plant ash for five minutes to form tofu, before stirring in your favorite ingredients.

To address poverty in the region, the county's Party committee and government since 2003 have decided to prioritize tourism. Adopting the principles of "government guidance, department cooperation, bundling funds and mass participation", Yaoshang's tourism infrastructure has been greatly improved.

Now, most villagers run some form of agritainment business, a combination of agriculture and entertainment.

Yaoshang people have been able to make great strides in poverty alleviation through tourism, and the village has become a model for poverty alleviation in Shiqian county. Poverty alleviation through relocation is a policy developed by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, which is considered as a No 1 project and one of the "four tough battles" to win the fight against poverty.

Tongren city, located in the Wuling Mountains, is an area of extreme poverty. It is a big city with a large population, where only through ecological migration can locals begin to enjoy better, more fulfilling lives.

Wanshan district is emblematic of the government's relocation policy. The district has consistently promoted the transformation of urban development in places like Wangjia Garden, which covers an area of about 663 mu, or 44.2 hectares, with a total construction area of about 475,200 square meters and total investment of 2.03 billion yuan ($284.41 million). It's a cross-regional relocation site where work first began in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, all structures in the garden were medium and high-rise buildings, before 16 new, 18-story buildings were built.

Last year all of the complex's buildings were multi-storey, and today it is home to 18,379 people from 4,232 households from Sinan, Yinjiang and Shiqian.

"My husband died of illness and I was unable to survive alone with four children," said Pan Xueqin, a local resident of the Wanshan district. In September 2018, she moved to Wangjia community and is now an embroidery worker there. "Our government asked me to move here. The government gave me a job and it was convenient for my children to go to school. My life became significantly better."

Amenities in the area have been improved, and the "joint office, employment security, balanced education, public service and grassroots Party building" principle is implemented to ensure the move is seamless for all involved. There is a convenient service center, micro-factory industrial park, school, health service station, supermarket and new era civilization practice center, all to help the people who have been relocated.

To achieve the next stages of the development of Party organization, public services, social security, employment, training, industry and pair support, a 6,000-sq-m micro-factory industrial park has been built at Wangjia Garden. It has helped encourage labor-intensive enterprises to set up micro-factories providing jobs for relocated people nearby, and to achieve a mutually beneficial environment for both employment and family care.

(China Daily 09/30/2019 page18)