Protective development injects new life into village

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Protective development injects new life into village

(Xinhua) 17:13, October 09, 2013

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Tourists taking pictures of ancient buildings next to a construction site, materials piled up next to an old tree with a surveillance camera attached to it -- Huangling Village is being transformed.

Located in east China's Jiangxi Province, Huangling is under the administration of Wuyuan County, a popular tourist destination known for "the most beautiful countryside" in the country.

According to the local tourism commission, more than 450,000 tourists flocked to Wuyuan during the Golden Week holiday (Oct. 1-7), turning "the most beautiful countryside" into "the most crowded" one.

For tourists, Huangling offers ancient Hui-style buildings, rare trees and idyllic scenery.

Despite this, Huangling has gone through much hardship.

Dozens of houses in the village have been destroyed by mudslides, with serious damage in 1997 and 2001, according to the Wuyuan government.

"Some of the villagers had to live in dilapidated houses due to geological hazards, and there was a perennial shortage of water in the area," said Cao Qiansong, head of the village.

Tourism has therefore become a solution for many villagers.

Wu Xiangyang, owner of Wuyuan County Cultural Development Ltd., has been engaged in tourism development for more than a decade and has been working with the local government.

Through an equity swap deal with Wu's company, 77 households have moved out of the village to new homes in flat areas of the county, with each new home an average of 200 square meters.

With the villagers moved out, Wu and the local government are turning the village into a vibrant tourist destination.

Huangling has about 100 old buildings of Hui-style architecture that feature black roof-tiles and white walls with detailed carvings.

"We have also spent 100 million yuan (16.33 million U.S. dollars) on another 40 similar buildings in the Wuyuan area, disassembled and transported them, to be reassembled here," said Wu, who plans to build a Hui-style architecture conservation and exhibition park.

Wu has invested in local infrastructure, tourism development and promotion.

In the village, a female performer in her 60s dries slices of orange pumpkin and purple eggplants on flat round bamboo baskets that are placed on wooden holders out of a window. In the mountainous area, she is illustrating how past generations used to live.

Flat space for drying crops was never possible in mountainous Huangling Village. Therefore villagers dried crops on bamboo baskets outside their windows.

"I used to dry crops for storage [for winter], now I do it for performance," said the lady surnamed Cao, who used to live in the village. She is one of many former villagers who are now earning from the tourism trade.

"Huangling Village received about 20,000 tourists during the week-long National Day holiday. Not a big number, but I believe the village will be part of the upgraded tourism industry in Wuyuan," Wu said.