For Miao, Li ethnic groups in Hainan, efforts to build green economy paying off
Hainan has long impressed visitors with its enchanting tropical sea views and quality hotels at its coastal resorts. But now the allure of the island province’s mountainous central areas is also unfolding — rich and colorful ecological resources, along with the traditional culture of native Li and Miao ethic groups. It’s a splendid mix of national and world intangible cultural heritage.
Qiongzhong Li and Miao autonomous county, in the center of Hainan, is one of the regions that has been transformed thanks to new infrastructure, comprehensive poverty alleviation efforts and the development of ecological civilization in recent years.
Located in the heart of Hainan’s ecological systems, Qiongzhong attracted more than 1.32 million tourists last year with its beautiful natural environment and rich ethnic culture and lifestyles, which are vividly on display in every village and public location around the county.
Of Qiongzhong’s 216,700 residents, 51.9 percent are of the Li ethnic group, and 7.1 percent belonging to the Miao. Surrounded by mountains, including Wuzhi Mountain — the highest peak in Hainan at 1,867 meters — and Limushan, the mother mountain of the Li people, the county had long remained secluded and economically backward. By the end of 2017, 3,883 of its 74,386 households were still impoverished.
However, in the past five years, especially since 2015, when President Xi Jinping launched a nationwide poverty reduction campaign and vowed to end extreme poverty by 2020, the county has accelerated its efforts to improve incomes and develop ecological civilization in line with the plans of the central and provincial governments, said Sun Zhe, Party chief of Qiongzhong.
She said the county has launched many green projects to protect the island’s precious ecological systems.
One major project was the countywide rural daily life wastewater treatment project, which was launched in early 2016 to protect the headwaters of Hainan’s three major rivers — the Nandu, Changhuang and Wanquan — which supply drinking water on the island.
Farmer Wang Minglan, 60, from Dabian, the county’s first demonstration village for the project, starts her daily work cleaning the garden at the village entrance and monitoring the operation of her village’s wastewater treatment facilities, around which lush wetland plants such as cannas, calamus and grass grow vigorously. Wang earns a monthly salary of 900 yuan ($140).
Nearby is a pond of about 660 square meters that is filled with treated water in which fish abound. Farmers can use the resources for rice cultivation, free of charge.
“Any adult resident could do the job, but we choose those who are comparatively poor to take care of the daily wastewater disposal system,” said Wang Zhongling, head of a local company in charge of the treatment. The system can handle 25 tons of wastewater daily — 100 percent of the village’s output — Wang said.
Dabian village’s 64 households belong to the Li ethnic group, the original inhabitants of tropical Hainan. The village, once poverty stricken, untidy and foul-smelling, has changed.
“The project, which is run by a public-private partnership, has effectively controlled the pollution of local water resources.” said Li Guoqing, a senior official in charge of publicity for the CPC Qiongzhong county Party committee. “It will cover all the villages in the county in two years. Qiongzhong’s practice is expected to be promoted to all villages across the island province in the near future.”
Also of importance are projects that have opened access to things such as electricity and natural gas. Built for farmers with county loans at low interest rates, the projects have reduced air pollution, cut consumption of firewood and helped foster green low-carbon lifestyles, Li said.
Wang Jingjing, an official who is taking care of Dabian village’s once-poor families, said: “Farmers not only have enough power to run their electrical appliances, but can also earn extra money — as much as 3,000 yuan a year per household — by selling part of the electricity they generate with solar panels back into the State grid.”
Wang Suqiang, a Dabian resident who cooked for more than 30 years with firewood gathered from the mountains, said he likes cooking with natural gas better. The gas was made available last year.
“Living in a much more beautiful environment now, I can see the importance of not chopping wood,” he said.
Under medium-sized palm trees, Qiongzhong farmers are growing the Chinese herbal medicine Alpinia oxyphylla, or raising honeybees, sheep, geese or chickens.
The “economy under the trees” — a popular practice of growing crops or poultry in rural areas, has become an important means to help the farmers escape poverty, with targeted poverty relief support from the county government, publicity official Li said.
Official data show that more than 4,000 households raised 610,000 honeybee hives last year, producing 457.5 tons of honey worth 36.6 million yuan. Qiongzhong’s honey products and green oranges have earned national collective geographical trademarks thanks to their unique local ecological nourishment.
Farmers are improving their lot through rural tourism businesses, such as Li- and Miao-style household hotels, restaurants and stores.
Construction of ecological civilization has markedly improved the communal spirit of residents, Li said.
“People now have more public consciousness, care more about their living environment and are happy to attend various lectures teaching how to raise silkworms and grow fruits or other crops.”