A peach wonderland with bright prospects
Ascattering of courtyards, wide and clean roads, and babbling streams are set against a backdrop of jade-like foliage. Beneath a soft blanket of drizzling rain, Kala, a village in the city of Nyingchi in Southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region, lives up to its unique charm as the “Jiangnan of the snowy regions”.
Jiangnan is a reference to the prosperous regions south of the Yangtze River.
More than 1,200 wild peach trees make up the 44-plus acres of peach blossom groves in Kala village.
When spring arrives, the peach trees bloom one after another, covering the mountainside in a shade of rosy pink. The picturesque spring scenery of this snowy region has earned Kala the title of Tibet’s “peach blossom village”.
The village is also the host of Nyingchi’s peach blossom tourism and culture festival.
But about two decades ago, none of the locals realized the peach trees and flowers could be a resource for developing tourism and generating revenue.
“The wild peach trees have been here for hundreds of years and I was told the oldest one is more than 600 years old,” said Dawa Gyaltsen, a local resident. “In my childhood, though, people never associated them with revenue.
“The fruits didn’t taste good, so we never ate them. Their only practical function was using their branches as firewoods,” Dawa Gyaltsen said.
But tourists from the rest of the country visited the area by chance and were immediately enchanted by the beautiful blossoms, the scenery of the village and its vicinity, said Penpa, head of the village. He added that their word of mouth brought in an increasing number of visitors in the years to come.
“Kala first hosted the peach blossom festival back in 2002,” Penpa recalled. “At that time, pigs and cattle still roamed freely around the village, residents would set up stalls in a chaotic fashion, and the village looked quite run-down. For 10 years, the festival didn’t create any practical benefit.”
In 2014, with the help of officials
assigned to Kala under the Aid-Tibet initiative, Kala moved to build its brand as a “peach blossom village” and undertook renovations to improve the appearance of the village, according to Penpa.
It built a tourist reception office and gradually promoted projects to house livestock separately from humans. It promoted afforestation and greening, renovated courtyards, paved roads, and put plumbing and wiring underground.
When the transformation was complete, tourists began to flock to the village. Revenue from tourism grew year upon year, allowing residents to move toward prosperity by relying on the tourism industry.
In recent years, Kala village began to further expand its tourism industry by developing its “tourism-plus” growth model, Penpa said.
It built gardens for sightseeing and fruit-picking, upgraded local farm stays, developed cultivation bases for other species of flowers and plants, created programs for experiencing local customs, and introduced innovative products related to local culture while also developing specialty food made with peach blossoms.
“The extended tourist chain improved visitor experiences and left tourists more satisfied,” Penpa said. “In 2021, the peach blossom festival welcomed
a total of 140,000 tourists, generating a net income of more than 4.6 million yuan ($640,300), out of which a sum of 1.5 million yuan was set aside to be used for development. The rest was shared among the village’s 33 households, each earning dividends of close to 100,000 yuan.
In seeing the expanding tourism industry and growing revenue, residents have come to realize a good ecological environment is crucial for local growth, Penpa said. Their enthusiasm for promoting environmental conservation and protecting the ecosystem has become stronger than ever.
He said one popular practice in the village is the “green bank” initiative, a system used to award residents for environmentally friendly behaviors.
The green bank where residents earn points for recycling waste opened in early 2021.
“At Kala’s green bank, a paper cup of cigarette butts can be exchanged for 20 points. A pound of plastic bags will earn you 100 points, and 10 pounds of waste paper or cardboard are worth 300 points,” Penpa said. “This allows people to regularly exchange points for daily necessities, and offers cash subsidies for price differences.”
With this practice, the village has encouraged the habit of recycling among residents, cleaned up the village environment,
and promoted concerted efforts to build a beautiful countryside, Penpa said.
In 2022, the village committee linked up with the local branch of Agricultural Bank of China to take the innovative step of launching a green bank-related credit evaluation system, which established a green credit record for each village resident.
Based on the unique ranking system, residents with high points can build their credit rating for ABC’s small loans for farmers, and gain priority access to financial services including information filing and credit ratings, while also enjoying access to larger loan amounts, Penpa said.
“This step is enabling villagers to practically benefit from the fruits of environmental protection while also boosting their motivation and initiative for promoting ecological conservation,” Penpa said.
He added that the chrysalislike transformation of Kala village would not have been possible without the solid backing of Aid-Tibet, an initiative that involves the assistances offered by governments and people in various regions across China for Tibet’s development.
Since 2014, officials from South China’s Guangdong province assigned to Tibet under this initiative have offered leadership, planning, and development expertise.
After conducting an in-depth study in the village, officials from Guangdong came up with a plan to upgrade Kala’s peach blossom groves and turn Kala into a demonstration village for rural tourism development.
They acquired the support from landscape enterprises for designing the appearance of the village, raised funds from a diverse range of contributors for specific projects, and threw themselves into development work alongside local officials and residents. These efforts have helped to gradually create harmony between production and life in the village and the natural environment. The efforts have also pushed Kala’s development onto an accelerated trajectory, according to Penpa.
“Another great contribution from Guangdong’s officials and experts is their relentless effort to promote Kala’s tourism attractions among tourists in Guangdong,” Penpa said. “Today, Kala has become one of the favored destinations in Tibet for Guangdong people.”
The period between autumn and winter is the slack season for tourism in Kala, but Tseyang, a local resident, was as busy as usual.
She was busy fitting and decorating her newly constructed family inn with 16 rooms.
“We will get everything ready before the peach blossom festival next spring and open our new inn to tourists,” Tseyang said. “I believe there will be more tourists next year.”
Surrounded by the inns and lodges, the new village history museum, which began operation in March, is an eye-catching landmark in Kala.
The museum shows the village’s history to tourists through pictures and vintage items as well as multimedia displays.
“With the exhibits offering a sharp contrast between the past and present, the museum is a place that locals can take pride in and where visitors are offered an opportunity to take a glimpse into a history of transformation for an exemplary village in Tibet,” said Huang Haifen, a guide at the museum.