Picture that launched a thriving tourism trade
A spectacular bright yellow blanket of rapeseed flowers stretches to the horizon in spring; clear creeks offer water activities in summer; the mountains are cloaked in red leaves in autumn and folk custom events are all the go in winter.
It may seem that Wuyuan, a county in the northeastern corner of East China’s Jiangxi province, has a lot to offer for tourists, while it is diversifying and investing more money in attracting international visitors and keeping them longer.
“When people think about Wuyuan, most think of rapeseed flowers, so every spring tens of thousands of visitors swarm into the villages for them,” says Ge Jian, director of the Wuyuan County Tourism Commission. “But Wuyuan has much more than that. It has manors, canyons, ancient villages and the Huizhou culture. It is also different depending on the season when you come.”
Wuyuan was established in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618907) and is one of the cradles of Huizhou culture, which was nurtured by trade and bears the hallmarks of its many different clans and Confucianism.
However, because of the county’s remoteness and poor transport, it was virtually unknown to outsiders just 14 years ago. There was no airport and no railway, so the only way to get there was by road and, for many, that meant taking a bus.
“Many people even called it Maoyuan because they did not recognize the character wu,” Ge says, referring to the unusual character for the initial syllable in the name. “A few photographers passing through were enchanted by its beauty and stayed for a while.”
Little more than a decade after it began to open up it has become a role model for China’s rural tourism. It was recognized as the country’s first rural tourism experimental area in 2011. Last year 8.4 million tourists visited the county, 36 percent more than in 2011, and revenue from the industry was 4.3 billion yuan ($706 million), 48 percent more than in the previous year. More than 16,000 villagers who used to work in cities are now able to work closer to home, in the tourism industry.
One of the most surprising things about all of this is that behind it all is a photo. In the early 1990s, Chen Fuli, a photographer from Hong Kong, went to Jiangling village in Wuyuan to do a photographic project. A photo he took of rapeseed flower blossoms looking like a gigantic, luxurious brocade cascading from hilltop to valley won an international award in 1999.
Referring to Jiangling, Chen used the expression “China’s most beautiful village”, a catchphrase that has stuck. After his rapeseed photo drew widespread attention to Wuyuan, the flowers became a symbol of the county.
In 2001, former president Jiang Zemin, whose ancestors lived in the village, visited, putting it in the public spotlight again. From 2001 to 2003 the annual number of those visiting Wuyuan rose to 1 million from 247,200.
Apart from its attractive flora, the county also features Hui-style buildings that include black roof tiles and white walls. They are decorated with exquisitely handcrafted wood, brick and stone sculptures. With the passage of time, rain and moisture have penetrated the white walls of these buildings that dot the hills and have given them the watered down look of ink paintings.
The county is a drawcard for photographers. More than 30,000 art students from about 200 art schools pour in to hone their painting skills.
However, the county’s path to success with tourism has had plenty of potholes.
“At the start we had an inkling that tourism would be a good industry for Wuyuan,” Ge says. “But people usually associate tourism with great mountains, rivers or deserts. The question was whether Wuyuan with its countryside views and ancient villages would really interest a lot of people.”
Because of the county’s isolation, turning it into a tourist attraction entailed building infrastructure, including roads and amenities from scratch. Farm owners began to offer accommodation including farmhouse activities, tourism operators sprang up and families all over the county began to look for a piece of the action.
“In that fast-growing, unregulated phase, many small villages and companies developed scenic spots,” says Zhan Bin, head of the brand promotion department of Jiangxi Wuyuan Tourism Ltd. “There were no standards for ticket prices, no guarantees of service quality, and cutthroat competition was everywhere, which harmed the industry and Wuyuan’s reputation.”
Into that chaos came Jiangxi Wuyuan Tourism Ltd, which was set up in 2007, with registered capital of 188 million yuan. By buying and merging tourist operators, the company was able to bring most of the county’s tourism resources under one umbrella, with a unified management structure. One of the company’s selling points was that villages and villagers would work together and share the profits.
“The effect of standardized management was obvious,” Zhan says. “For the first six months in 2008, ticket income doubled that of the whole year of 2007.”
Wuyuan has developed three travel routes with more than 20 scenic spots. There are now more than 200 hotels and 3,320 farmhouses available for rent. Every village family is said to have an annual income of at least 60,000 yuan.
Zhan says revenue from sales of tickets for scenic spots accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the industry’s revenue. “Most visitors come on sightseeing tours and only stay for one or two days, so businesses such as restaurants, hotels and organic agriculture can’t make money. “We want to reduce the proportion of income from ticket sales and increase the proportion spent on things such as souvenirs, organic agriculture, restaurants and hotels.”
Ge says encouraging tourists to take longer, more extensive trips would be good for the county but it first needs to make big changes to make that feasible. For the past two years it has been developing and diversifying its scenic spots and putting on more local folk custom events. One project being developed is Huangling village, where old Huizhou-style houses in the mountains have been transformed into modern hotels, while preserving their old facades. Traditional Hui folk activities are also being developed, such as tea ceremonies and opera.
While Wuyuan is well known throughout China, it is still little known in the West, Ge says. Nevertheless, nearly 420,000 people from overseas visited the county last year.