SW China's Guizhou impresses int'l journalists with green, high-quality development

The practices and highlights of the green and high-quality development of southwest China's Guizhou Province have deeply impressed international journalists, who enthusiastically recorded and reported on the province's experience in advancing Chinese modernization.

Eurasian journalists from 10 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Armenia, recently took a six-day tour of four cities and autonomous prefectures in Guizhou under the Belt and Road Youth Friendship Exchange Program - Eurasian Media's Trip to Guizhou launched on Oct. 26, gaining profound insights into the development of various fields in the province.

The Belt and Road Youth Friendship Exchange Program - Eurasian Media's Trip to Guizhou is launched in Guiyang city, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Oct. 26, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Tu Min)

Boasting of a superior natural endowment and comprehensive policies, Guizhou is considered a treasure house of nature, cultural gem, and promising place of opening up.

In recent years, Guizhou has innovated its development approach, maintained a holistic strategy centered on high-quality development, and strived to grow into a demonstration zone of comprehensive reforms in the large-scale development of China's western regions, a model of consolidating poverty alleviation outcomes, an outstanding innovator in further developing the digital economy, a pioneer in ecological civilization construction, and a new benchmark of an open economy among inland areas of the country.

Green development has been the defining feature of Guizhou’s high-quality development. For years, the province has embedded green development into the development of various industries, continuously achieving new breakthroughs in high-quality economic growth.

Eurasian journalists taking part in the Belt and Road Youth Friendship Exchange Program - Eurasian Media's Trip to Guizhou visit Guanshan Lake Park in Guiyang city, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Qian)

Last year, the proportion of the green economy to Guizhou's GDP reached 46 percent.

During their visit to Guanshan Lake Park in Guiyang city, capital of Guizhou Province, journalists were fascinated by the picturesque park and a beautiful greenway outside the park.

With a total area of more than 5,500 mu (366.67 hectares) and a forested area of 4,160 mu, Guanshan Lake Park is surrounded by clear waters and colorful forests, and dotted with pavilions and towers. It serves as the "green lung" of Guiyang.

"This park is very tasteful. The air is fresh and pure. Everything is amazing," said Serghei Joludi, a journalist from NOI, a Moldovan news agency.

The red-brown greenway outside the Guanshan Lake Park connects 15 pocket parks of Guiyang like a necklace. With a planned length of about 400 kilometers, the greenway integrates the features of ecological protection, green travel, and fitness and leisure activities, among others, playing an important role in the city's efforts to create a sound living environment with accessible natural beauty for citizens, according to Cao Yang, head of the Guanshan Lake Park branch of the Guiyang Bureau of Ecology and Environment.

Photo shows a night view of the Huangguoshu Waterfall in Anshun city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Qian)

At the Huangguoshu Waterfall scenic spot in Anshun, Guizhou Province, international journalists experienced an engaging night tour of the famous Huangguoshu Waterfall, an innovative nighttime tourism attraction that has enjoyed great popularity among tourists since it was launched in June 2021.

"The place looked really like a fairyland when the waterfall lit up," said Umatkul Bralkieva, a journalist from Kyrgyzstan. It is rare for such a precious natural landscape to be effectively protected while being creatively showcased, she noted.

By adorning the scenic spot with colorful neon lights and staging a dazzling light show from the front square to the waterfall, the scenic spot has successfully created China's first canyon-based immersive night tour, protecting the ecology while providing visitors with a mesmerizing visual experience completely different from the daytime experience.

Because of the night tour, the Huangguoshu Waterfall scenic spot became one of the four featured night tour destinations in Guizhou's inaugural nighttime tourism consumption season.

In Huawu village, Xinren Miao township, Qianxi city, Guizhou, journalists marveled at the natural scenery and efforts made by local authorities to attract more tourists.

"It's like a traditional Chinese landscape painting," said Paruir Siniavskii, an Armenian journalist as he looked out from an observation platform, feasting his eyes on the stunning scenery.

Located at the crossroads of three rivers, Huawu village is endowed with a beautiful natural landscape featuring picturesque mountains and waters. It has built a resort characterized by a well-designed camping base between canyons.

Eurasian journalists take photos of handicrafts of the Miao ethnic group in Shidong township, Taijiang county, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Qian)

Covering an area of 100 mu, the resort, named Huaduli, is on a cliff overlooking beautiful mountains and waters as well as the Yachi River Bridge, which had won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal, a prestigious award dubbed the "Nobel Prize of Bridges,” according to an executive of the resort.

Equipped with more than 40 tents, the resort provides tourists with experiences like leisure activities, sightseeing, and customized study tours, as well as new products integrating tourism and sports services, such as a sightseeing tour on water and rides with a paraglider, helicopter, and more, said the executive.

Since it was put into operation in May this year, the resort has become a new calling card for local tourism, helping many villagers secure employment in their hometown and increase their income.

Photo shows an aerial view of the Jiuzhou ancient town in Xixiu district, Anshun city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Qian)

Besides its breathtaking natural landscapes, Guizhou's diverse ethnic cultures carefully preserved yet continuously developed by different ethnic groups inhabiting the province have piqued great interest among international journalists.

When the journalists arrived at Shidong township, Taijiang county, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou, they immediately noticed Tai Chunhua, a local woman who wore a traditional attire of the Miao ethnic group.

Bombarded by questions like "On what occasions do you wear traditional Miao costumes?,” "How long does it take to hand make such a costume?” and "What do the patterns on the clothes mean?,” Tai, who is a prefecture-level inheritor of Miao embroidery, discussed with the Eurasian journalists the exquisite costume in detail.

"This is made of the traditional cloth of the Miao people through over 10 processes. And the patterns were embroidered on the cloth stitch by stitch," explained Tai, gladly showcasing her attire.

In an effort to carry forward and promote Miao embroidery, which has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage of China, Tai has led local embroiders in integrating traditional patterns and ornaments, symbols, among other iconic elements of the Miao ethnic group, into embroidery, successfully creating popular Miao embroidery products like handbags and notebooks.

"The costumes and embroidery products of the Miao ethnic group feature bright colors and strong ethnic characteristics," said Tofik Mamedov, a journalist from Turkmenistan. It was his first experience with the Miao culture and was deeply impressed, the journalist said, adding that he bought some handicrafts as gifts for his friends.

Eurasian journalists experience big data applications at the exhibition center of the National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Qian)

Strolling down the stone-paved alleys, Eurasian journalists encountered the strong local flavor of indigenous areas through ancient architecture, traditional Chinese opera, and local delicacies, experiencing the slow-paced life of the Jiuzhou ancient town in Xixiu district, Anshun city.

As the cultural core of central Guizhou, Jiuzhou ancient town still maintains some living habits, customs and traditions passed down from over 600 years ago.

"I like the traditional clothes here. I feel like a dancer and want to dance when I'm in them," said Catherine Gulua, a Georgian journalist. After watching Huadeng Opera, a type of traditional Chinese opera, she tried on the traditional costume of local people, and was captivated by the costume’s beautiful colors and delicate silver decorations.

Guizhou is also one of the areas in the world with the most number of hyperscale data centers. Its abundant computing power has become a unique high-quality resource.

Photo shows an aerial view of a resort characterized by a well-designed camping base between canyons in Huawu village, Xinren Miao township, Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Qian)

At the exhibition center of the National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone, Eurasian journalists experienced first-hand China’s achievements in the development of next-generation information technologies represented by the internet, big data and artificial intelligence (AI).

As China's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone, Guizhou has endeavored to build a modern industrial system led by the digital economy, and pooled its resources to cultivate 100-billion-yuan-level ($13.92 billion) backbone industries of data centers, smart terminals and data applications, accelerating the digital transformation of the real economy.

Guizhou has ranked first nationwide in the growth of the digital economy from 2015 to 2021. The main hub of China's national integrated computing power network, a project involving a total investment of 1 billion yuan, is under construction in the province.