Tourism transforms Dong village

As China achieved its goal of eliminating extreme poverty in 2020, a total of 817 household and 3,484 individuals who were living below the poverty threshold in Zhaoxing were lifted out of poverty by participating in industries related to tourism.

This tourism-driven development approach also helped over 15,000 people in surrounding towns shake off poverty.

It was in the same year that Zhaoxing was connected with a high-speed railway and expressway, attracting nearly 300,000 tourist visits that year.

Now Zhaoxing is only 5 kilometers from the nearest high-speed rail station. Last year, Zhaoxing attracted more than 1 million tourist visits from home and abroad, with a total income of over 1 billion yuan ($137 million).

According to Tang, the Dong ethnic village is more than a tourist destination, as it is also home to local households. Therefore, many tourists are drawn to the village for the slow pace of life and the simplicity of the local people, with some tourists even returning four or five times.

So far, the village has developed more than 320 homestays and over 50 restaurants, with the villagers' per capita annual income exceeding 40,000 yuan.

Ying Yongxiu is the owner of one homestay that brings her family a net annual profit of 500,000 yuan.

In 2018, Ying decided to renovate her family's two-story wooden house into a homestay, despite skepticism from her family members and neighbors.

In Zhaoxing, villagers have to apply for approval to renovate the stilt wooden houses, a symbol of the Dong ethnic culture, for the purpose of preservation.

Following the design plans and construction standards provided by the government, the new building has a brick-concrete structure, but the exterior and railings, and the walls inside are all clad in wood, keeping it compatible with the nearby houses and giving it a unique Dong cultural appeal that tourists like.