“Empty village” in E China’s Jiangsu becomes popular tourist destination

Jijiadun village, once a secluded “empty village” in east China’s Jiangsu province, has become a popular tourist destination thanks to the implementation of the country’s rural vitalization strategy.

Photo shows Jijiadun village, Jinxi township, Kunshan city in east China’s Jiangsu province. (People’s Daily Online/Zhou Yu)

Located in Jinxi township of Kunshan, the village surrounded by rivers and beautiful scenery began to implement a renovation project in order to advance rural vitalization in 2016, attracting many villagers to return to their hometown and start their own businesses.

“Now our village has become an entrepreneurship base and has been focusing on developing homestay businesses,” Wang Huiqi, first secretary of Jijiadun, told People’s Daily Online. Wang said all the homestay hotels in the small village have been built near rivers, which has attracted tourists from nearby cities of Shanghai and Suzhou, noting that Jijiadun received over 200,000 tourists between 2019 and 2020.

However, before the renovation project, many residents found jobs outside the village to make a living.

“Life was hard in the past in Jijiadun due to poor transportation, a lack of industrial development and low crop output,” said a native surnamed Wu, who is now a homestay hotel owner in the village.

Photo shows the exterior scenery of a homestay hotel in Jijiadun village, Jinxi township, Kunshan city in east China’s Jiangsu province. (People’s Daily Online/Zhou Yu)

Wu said he was a farmer and ran his own business outside the village, explaining that he decided to go back to his hometown to run a homestay hotel after he learned about the village’s implementation of the renovation project. Wu added that he felt obliged to help his hometown to develop.

Wu invited Japanese architect Shuhei Aoyam to design his homestay hotel, which has attracted over 40,000 visitors, including more than 10,000 designers, since this May.

According to Wu, young entrepreneurs in the village also include native designers, former corporate executives, manual workshop owners, and city dwellers attracted to the idyllic lifestyle.