Village basketball competition adds vitality to SW China economy

GUIYANG, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Over the past week, Ou Yantong was busy with entertaining tourists who came to watch the finals of the Village Basketball Competition of China (CunBA) held from October 25 to 28 in Taipan Village, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Ou, who lives in Taijiang County that the village belongs to, used to open a craft store in Kaili, capital city of the prefecture. During the 2022 Chixin Festival, which falls on the sixth day of the sixth month of China's lunar calendar, she came to Taipan Village and watched basketball games there for a week.

Taipan has more than 1,100 villagers, and two-thirds of them enjoy basketball. Basketball competitions are arranged on the Chixin Festival to celebrate the harvest. "The competitions lasted from day to night, and the stands were full of spectators. We had to squeeze in, and it was difficult to get out," Ou recalled.

Eyeing the bustling crowds, she thought of renting a shop front to open a restaurant in the village. Last December, her restaurant started to receive orders.

With an area of 180 square meters, the restaurant could receive a total of nearly 100 tourists at the same time. During the basketball event, the maximum daily income exceeded 20,000 yuan (2,730 U.S. dollars), Ou said.

As the basketball competition went viral on the internet for its festive atmosphere and down-to-earth nature in 2022, more tourists visited the village. This July, she rented the second floor of the shop front and expanded to five private rooms.

The increasing flow of tourists has also driven the local economy. The village planned nearly 100 stalls around the court to provide food, agricultural products and other services for spectators.

Liu Xiaolan from Taipan opened a small accessory store at home in order to take care of her children. This year, when there were competitions, Liu rented a stall to sell local snacks and beverages, with daily income reaching 2,000 yuan.

In the village, new shops selling drinks with local specialties as well as crafts came into being. In a CunBA-themed beverage shop which opened this week, three shop assistants were busy with orders. "Many young people came here and bought a drink to watch the competition. All the seats in and outside were taken," the shop manager said.

Data shows that during the competition days, the occupancy rate of hotels in Taipan reached more than 90 percent, and the average daily income of restaurants reached more than 28,500 yuan.

Yang Dezhao, head of Taijiang County, said that thanks to the village basketball competitions, in 2022 the county received more than 1.5 million tourists, and achieved tourism revenue of more than 1.8 billion yuan.

In the first three quarters of this year, the number of tourists and tourism revenue of the county increased by 60.46 percent and 91.63 percent year-on-year respectively.

The rural basketball game has not only changed local people's lives, but also brought them long-term economic development. On October 25, a total of 17 projects were signed in the county, with a total investment of 1.12 billion yuan.

In many small counties, due to a lack of large enterprises, the economy has become sluggish, which has made it more difficult to attract enterprises. Wang Jun, Taijiang's deputy county chief, said that despite having fewer than 150,000 long-term residents, the county has introduced four top 500 enterprises of China and other listed enterprises to start businesses here.

"In the past, when we went out to attract investment, people didn't know about Taijiang County. However, when we go out now, and we introduce ourselves as the hometown of 'CunBA', we immediately arouse investors' interests," said Wang.

In the first half of 2023, the GDP of Taijiang County grew by 7.7 percent year on year, ranking first in the prefecture for six consecutive quarters and ranking top among Guizhou Province.

"Village basketball games have become a powerful engine for the county's economic development," Wang added. ■