A rural ideal

To date, local villagers have cultivated 10 hectares of marigold and a 13.3-hectare demonstration zone where rice paddies and fish coexist.

When visitors stroll among the rice paddies, the fragrance of marigolds permeates the air while fish jump to catch bugs from the surface of the water. In winter, the straw will be bundled and turned into artworks of various shapes and sizes. Visitors can get a panoramic view of the whole rural scene from a specially erected sightseeing platform.

Travelers have been flocking to the village to enjoy the natural colors and scents of autumn, especially during August and October, according to the local authority.

However, as visitor numbers began to surge, problems of accommodating them soon followed.

"We had limited reception capacity for the tens of thousands of travelers coming here right after the colorful paddy field scenery took shape," says Kou Cunlin, head of the village.

Li led a team to study rural houses that lay idle across the village. Owners were paid by the village cooperative to rent them and turn them into distinctive homestays.

The idea is to retain all the benefits within the village.

Kou helped with Li's initiative and they managed to find seven idle tobacco flue-curing houses and six livestock facilities.

Those old houses were renovated with new paint and fresh exteriors, while keeping most of their original structures and surrounding environment.

Public toilets, a sewage treatment station and auxiliary pipelines have also been developed to improve the experience of visitors, as well as conditions for the villagers.

The move has encouraged more villagers to offer up their old properties to be repurposed.

"There are about 40 households that have expressed interest in renting out their old houses to the village cooperative," Kou says.

At the same time, a company was established by the village cooperative to use the rural tourism profits to develop a collective economy and pay dividends to villagers.