Village’s facelift turns round fortunes

A “FAIRYTALE village” in east China’s Jiangxi Province has caught public attention for its work creating rural tourism.

A village painted in various colors seems to pop out of nowhere among lush green mountains near Dexing City.

Qiu Shui’e is making a local specialty, as tourists swarm to Huangzhushan Village. “I used to do nothing on weekends,” Qiu said. “But now I cater to a large number of tourists.” On one side of the walls of Qiu’s house is a giant blue penguin jumping out of water, and on the other side, a farmer picks honey from a beehive.

“The government invited many professional painters from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to decorate our houses last year,” Qiu said. “They wanted to create a fairytale village to attract tourists.”

Villagers like Qiu relocated to the area almost 50 years ago, when their former homes gave way to a reservoir. From 1970 to 2017, locals mainly depended on growing rice and potatoes. Currently there are 405 registered residents in Huangzhushan, but half have left for better-paying jobs.

“Barely anyone visited our village in the past, because ours was just a plain village by the highway,” Qiu said. “There was nothing special here.”

But the ordinary village had a big facelift last year.

In answer to the Jiangxi provincial government’s call to “beautify rural areas,” the local government decided to transform the village into a tourism spot to bolster the local economy.

About 39

hectares

of flowers were planted, in addition to stone paintings, a giant windmill and a bunch of cute scarecrows in various colors. Artists were invited to use 3D paintings to cover the 65 houses in the village, along with small decorations in front of the houses.

Last October 1, the village opened as a “tourism village.” Thousands of tourists visited. Since then, they have kept coming, and the villagers have all become involved in tourism, with many making food.