Village in SW China’s Yunnan thrives on bird-watching tourism

Photo shows Shiti village, Yingjiang county, southwest China’s Yunnan province. (china.com.cn/Lun Xiaoxuan)

Shiti village in southwest China’s Yunnan province has brought wealth to villagers through the development of bird-watching tourism in recent years.

Located in the province’s Yingjiang county, Shiti is home to nearly half of all the known bird species in China and its forest coverage rate exceeds 90 percent. By rationally exploiting the natural environment, especially its rich resources of birds, the village has vigorously developed a local bird-watching tourism industry since 2016.

With support from the local government, the villagers started building bird-watching sites, working as “bird guides” for visiting birdwatchers, and providing them with meals, accommodation and other related services.

Xu Xiaolong is a “bird guide” in Shiti. He also runs a family hotel catering to birdwatchers with the assistance of the local government, receiving about 50,000 yuan (about $7,768.7) per year.

There are 24 family hotels in Shiti, with each of them able to earn a daily income of anywhere between 500 yuan to 1,000 yuan during the high season for bird watching, said Pai Zhonghua, Party chief of the village, adding that there are over 200 “bird guides” like Xu in Yingjiang county.