Tourism spikes in once-obscure Ziyuan
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Ziyuan, a relatively unknown place to tourists, boasts a rich cultural heritage and ample natural wonders.
The county is under the administration of Guilin city in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It includes 14 ethnic groups, among them the Miao, Yao, Zhuang and Hui people.
Each group has formed its distinctive clothes, food, architecture and festivals, as well as special customs and lifestyles. The combined population of these groups is nearly 40,000, accounting for about 22 percent of the county’s total population.
Ziyuan has a profound historical background.
The discovery of Xiaojin site, which is an important Neolithic site located 13 kilometers away from the county, proved that primitive tribes once lived there some 6,500 years ago.
Carbonized rice grains discovered on the site are of great significance to studying the origin of rice farming and the spread of rice-growing culture.
Ancestors of Ziyuan had created cultural civilization of different characteristics, such as ancient tomb groups in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-581) and ancient residential complex in Zhongfeng town.
Serving as a stop of the Long March, the Red Army’s epic military expedition between 1934 and 1936 as it fought the Kuomintang regime, the county has many red tourism resources.
In 2017, 15 Long March-related sites were listed as cultural relic preservation units by the Guangxi government.
Ziyuan also published three books depicting the military expedition and established a Long March cultural exhibition hall.
In addition to historical resources, Ziyuan is abundant in intangible cultural heritage items.
A total of 25 items, including the Bajiaozhai temple fair, Miao and Yao dress embroidery, water lantern festival and the production process of a traditional appetizer made with tea and mixed ingredients, are recorded into the county-level intangible cultural heritage list.
Among them, the water lantern festival is also a national-level intangible cultural heritage item.
With its rich culture and unique landscape, Ziyuan has forged ahead in developing its tourism industry.
The county’s forest coverage rate reaches more than 82 percent, with several rare and endangered tree species growing there.
The Ziyuan fir, for example, is a Class-A protected plant in China and is categorized as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Known as a key scenic area in Guangxi, Ziyuan county boasts tourists attractions such as the Wupai River, the Baoding waterfall and the typical Danxia landform Bajiaozhai scenic area, which was included on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2010.
The Wupai River is an ideal destination for tourists who enjoy outdoor activities and adventure, rafting in particular. Clear and rapid currents, thick forests, waterfalls and traditional villages of ethnic groups all make rafting in the river an unforgettable experience.
In 2018, the Wupai River was honored as one of the world’s most beautiful rafting places by the International Rafting Federation.
In 2015, Ziyuan was listed as a famed travel county in Guangxi thanks to its efforts in developing the tourism sector.
Since 2016, the local government has prioritized the county’s tourism development.
Authorities have invested more than 10 million yuan ($1.41 billion) in hiring tourism insiders of universities and companies to plan tourism development, which involves sectors including the general guidelines, key poverty-stricken areas and rural areas.
In 2018, it invested more than 13 billion yuan into construction to support operations of projects, relevant departments and markets.
The county has also highlighted the infrastructure and facilities in recent years.
According to the local government, more than 80 million yuan was invested in implementing the county’s constructions such as roads, parking lots, public lavatories and sanitation over the past three years.
Nearly 3,400 poverty-stricken households engage in tourism businesses, with an annual per capita income of more than 5,000 yuan.
From January to November last year, the county has received 7.43 million visits, up 10.45 percent year-on-year.
The tourism revenue reached 5.05 billion yuan, an increase of 14.44 percent over the previous year, official data showed.