Ginkgo paradise
With 30,000 trees, Jiangdong village in Yunnan looks like a golden-hued forest in autumn
The Jiangdong village, surrounded by more than 30,000 ginkgo trees, including several dozen older than 500 years, turns goldentoned toward the end of each year.
The beautiful scenery attract thousands of tourists to the village, which is 40 kilometers from Tengchong city, in western Yunnan province.
Seen from afar, the village looks like a vast ginkgo forest.
The villagers’ homes, built in traditional style and enclosed by low and black walls built using the local lava rocks, are scattered along narrow lanes.
Tall ginkgo trees cover the courtyards, with their yellow leaves lying on the ground as well as on the roofs during autumn.
In the old days, every newlywed couple in the village would plant a ginkgo tree, known for its extremely slow growth, in their courtyard or field.
The tree was expected to bear fruit when the couple got old, so they would be able to support themselves by selling the nuts.
Ginkgo trees that can bear nuts are customarily handed down as family assets in the village.
In recent years, the village has seen tremendous transformation thanks to the development of ecotourism built around the ginkgo trees.
The village used to be secluded and poor, but its beauty was discovered by a bunch of local professional photographers.
To boost tourism, the local government implemented a comprehensive project to enhance the village environment and infrastructure in 2008 to allow it to host visitors.
Before that, the villagers did not have proper water supply, power and roads.
Separately, the local government also encouraged villagers to open restaurants and inns to accommodate tourists and provided funding to help them upgrade their homes.
Yang Zhuying, 52, was among the earliest in the village to open an agri-tainment venture — a rural inn and restaurant.
She started the business in 2008, and manages it with her husband.
Their children also help during the busiest season, when they can receive as many as 200 diners per day.
Her family of five earn about 140,000 yuan ($20,167) from the business annually.
“The venture has become the main income source for our family,” says Yang, who also sells local specialties, such as ginkgo nuts, to visiting tourists.
According to Yang, earlier she and her husband used to depend mainly on agriculture, including growing tobacco, and taking part-time jobs. But each of them could earn only a little more than 10,000 yuan a year then.
Also, according to Yang, in the beginning, the only economic benefit from the ginkgos was the nuts, which the local residents collected to sell to vendors. The ginkgo nuts produced in the area are popular for their special glutinous taste, which is believed to be the result of the local soil conditions.
But as tourism has boomed in recent years, the locals have developed more products from the ginkgo nuts.
Now, chicken stewed with ginkgo nuts is a famous specialty.
The nuts have also been made into snacks, and the ginkgo flower, which used to be discarded, is now sold at more than 200 yuan per kilogram.
Even ginkgo leaves are made into decorative hats and sold to tourists.
Zheng Siyin, a 74-year-old, looks after a stall near her home in the village, and earns more than 100 yuan a day during the peak season from selling things, including ginkgo nuts.
Her family has six old ginkgo trees, with the oldest being nearly 500 years.
She collected more than 200 kilograms of ginkgo nuts this year, with each kilogram yielding about 50 yuan.
“I am old and cannot do farming anymore. But I can still earn a little bit to help my children thanks to the stall,” she says, adding that the price of the local ginkgo nuts has gone up too thanks to demand from the tourists.
Meanwhile, both her sons are running an agri-tainment business, she says.
According to Huang Chaojin, the director of the local community committee, more than 150 agri-tainment businesses have been started in the village, and many villagers have opened shops selling specialties near their homes.
Last year, the total revenue generated by tourism in the village was 60 million yuan, and the average income of the villagers was 12,000 yuan, which is a lot higher than the surrounding areas, says Huang.
“Eco-tourism has greatly enhanced the lives of the villagers,” says Huang.
In 2010, 2,500 people out of the village’s 4,000 residents were living below the poverty line.
In comparison, the number has been reduced to 105 this year.
While seeking further development of tourism, the village has made protection of the ginkgo trees, especially the old ones, a priority.
“Now all the villagers are grateful for the benefits brought by the ginkgo trees. And they avoid hurting trees which are more than a 100 years old while renovating or rebuilding their houses,” says Huang.
“The harmonious coexistence of man and his environment, including the trees and wildlife, is now a village consensus.”