"The river is a green Luo belt, and the mountains are like jasper hairpins." In the golden autumn season, the east bank of the Li River in Guilin, Guangxi, is still full of greenery and picturesque scenery, and there is an endless stream of tourists who come to check in.
Walking into Qianjing Village, I saw that the white-walled blue-tiled houses were clean and tidy, the exquisite paper-cut lanterns were hung in front of the houses, and the wall paintings were the scenes of the people of all ethnic groups singing and dancing, and the villagers were smiling and greeting the tourists, and a picture of ecological harmony and beauty, livability, business and travel was presented in front of you.
Qianjing Village has implemented the relevant requirements of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the construction of beautiful villages, and implemented the integrated development project of ethnic villages and rural agriculture, culture and tourism, and the dilapidated ancient villages in the past have gradually "come alive" and "become rich".
Aerial photograph of the dive village. Source: Guilin Yanshan release
Protect and develop, let the village "come alive"
Live along the Li River and drink the same river water. With a history of more than 300 years, Qianjing Village has witnessed the struggle of the Hui, Han, Zhuang, Yao, Miao and other ethnic groups to produce and live together. In the early years, although there were more than 60 ancient houses, due to the lack of arable land per capita, many villagers went out to work, and the ancient houses fell into disrepair and gradually became dilapidated.
"We have invested a total of more than 8 million yuan to carry out the renovation and upgrading of ancient houses, retain nostalgia by showing the material and cultural landscape of the countryside, and make ancient alleys, ancient villages, and ancient houses 'come alive'." Zheng Daojuan, secretary of the party branch of Qianjing Village, introduced.
Green bricks, green tiles, laneways, patios, panes...... The old and dilapidated houses that were once uninhabited have been gorgeously "transformed" in the renovation, and the charm of traditional houses has been retained in their original form.
On April 10, 2024, people of all ethnic groups held a grand celebration on the stage of the new era civilization practice in Qianjing Village. Source: Guilin Yanshan release
Shaowen Building, Osmanthus Restaurant, Camellia Workshop, Bamboo Pavilion, Tofu Workshop...... The traditional buildings that carry the memories of rural production and life have been renovated, so that the nostalgia of the distant hometown has reappeared, and the villagers shouted "childhood is back".
After the restoration of the antique style, Qianjing Village continued to promote the organic combination of agricultural civilization and modern civilization elements, and created paper-cut art landscape sketches and traditional cultural landscape walls in the public space of the village and important nodes of the lanes in the village, fully demonstrating the beauty of Chinese culture.
The new look of the dive village. Source: Guilin Yanshan release
Rescue protection is only the first step. Innovative development is an important part of rejuvenating the ancient village.
Relying on the beautiful natural scenery on the banks of the Li River, Qianjing Village excavates rich folk resources, introduces more than 10 private enterprises to sign contracts and cooperates, develops new business formats such as art sketching, characteristic homestays, travel photography, and intangible cultural heritage research, and creates a cultural and artistic village integrating cultural and tourism formats and original ecological rural life, so as to promote the high-quality development of cultural and tourism integration.
Under the collective wisdom of cadres and entrepreneurs of all ethnic groups and entrepreneurs from all walks of life, the excellent traditional Chinese culture and modern fashion elements are blended here, and the century-old village is full of new vitality.
Industrial development, let the villagers "get rich"
"Greenways, squares, and roads around the village have been built in the village, and the overall appearance of the houses has been improved, and the village has become cleaner, attracting many tourists to experience farm life. The number of tourists is increasing year by year, making our lives more and more hopeful. Villager Bai Yuanlin said.
According to Luo Xue, director of the office of Lijiang Town Tourism Investment Co., Ltd. on the east bank of Guilin Lawn, there are currently more than 100 people employed in the company, and more than 90 bamboo raft workers alone, with an annual income of between 25,000 and 40,000 yuan.
The Qianjing Village on the bank of the Li River attracts many tourists. Source: Guilin Daily
After tasting the sweetness, the cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in Qianjing Village became more and more energetic, took the initiative to integrate into the surrounding tourism market, developed leisure and sightseeing picking agriculture, and shared the dividends brought by the integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism.
At present, Qianjing Village has planted 1,000 acres of bamboo shoots and 50 acres of strawberries, together with 500 acres of seedless yellow peel fruit planted in the surrounding Ming Village and 100 acres of kiwifruit planting base planted in Lankou Village, successfully building a "beautiful Lijiang Pastoral Complex".
"When tourists come here, they have to have 'fun' before they want to stay." Zheng Daojuan introduced that the cadres and the masses worked together to make suggestions and develop projects such as bamboo raft tours on the Lijiang River and leisure tours on the greenway, and created characteristic homestays such as "Floating Life Half Day" and farmhouses such as "Lijiang Rest", attracting tourists to stay and stay with rich activity experience and comfortable accommodation environment.
Exterior view of Fusheng Half-Day Boutique B&B. Source: Guilin Yanshan Tourism
The broad prospects of rural tourism are obvious to all, and the young and middle-aged people who went out to work in the village are gradually returning to their hometowns.
Bai Zhibin, a villager, is one of them. He had been working abroad for more than ten years, and when he saw that the tourism development in the village had become large-scale, he chose to return to his hometown for development.
"It's so good, it's still good to be in my hometown! When I returned to my hometown, I was just in time for the opening of the Dacao Highway, and the natural scenery of 'seeing the mountains, seeing the water, and remembering the nostalgia' attracted an endless stream of tourists. "Bai Zhibin.
As a bamboo raft worker with nearly 10 years of experience, Bai Zhibin earns at least 2,000 yuan a month from only driving bamboo rafts. Other times, he grows rice, fruits and vegetables like the villagers, earning 30,000 or 40,000 yuan a year.
Embedding and integrating each other, so that life "blends"
"Whether it is celebrating festivals such as 'March 3', or holding activities such as jumping bamboo poles and carrying baskets of hydrangea, tourists from all over the world can integrate with us, and everyone can immerse themselves in it and share the joy." Zheng Daojuan said.
Qianjing Village closely focuses on the main line of forging the sense of community of the Chinese nation, and insists on giving the construction of Hemei Village the significance of highlighting the sense of community of the Chinese nation, the significance of maintaining unity and opposing separatism, the meaning of improving people's livelihood and uniting people's hearts, and realizing both "rich pockets" and "rich heads".
With cultural people, condense the soul of the soul. Qianjing Village fully excavates the excellent traditional Chinese cultural genes contained in local traditional customs, and tells the historical stories of exchanges and blending of various ethnic groups, ethnic unity, intangible cultural heritage, and traditional virtues in the form of paper-cutting and sculpture, so as to enhance the "five identities" of cadres and people of all ethnic groups.
Sneak through the village cultural corridor. Source: Guangxi Daily
Intangible cultural heritage experience, traditional sports of ethnic minorities, costume performances, sketching and photography art exhibitions...... The rich and colorful cultural activities not only enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the villagers and tourists, but also become the carrier of exchanges and blending of various ethnic groups, allowing the people of all ethnic groups to hold hands and connect with each other.
This summer, the practice group of Guilin Tourism University's "Serving the Grassroots· Forging National Unity - Drawing a New Chapter of Rural Revitalization", the Summer Social Practice Team of the School of Economics of Guangxi University for Nationalities "Youth Helping Modernization, Studying and Striving for Three Rural Areas", and the "Huacheng Yiying" Chinese Cultural Inheritance Group of the School of Creative Design of Guilin Institute of Information Technology have come to Qianjing Village to carry out summer practice and research, and the students have said that they have benefited a lot.
The members of the summer social practice team of the School of Economics of Guangxi University for Nationalities had in-depth exchanges with the villagers of Qianjing Village. Source: Guangxi University for Nationalities
Qianjing Village has given full play to its exemplary role to promote the implementation of the "Three Exchanges" plan, the youth exchange plan of all ethnic groups, and the inter-embedded development plan of the people of all ethnic groups, and promoted extensive exchanges, in-depth exchanges and in-depth integration of all ethnic groups.
The century-old village has not only regained its vitality and "lived", but also gradually "become rich" and "melted" in the concerted efforts of cadres and people of all ethnic groups, and has become a happy and beautiful home suitable for all ethnic groups to work and travel, and live in harmony.
Source: China Youth Network, China National Daily