Tourism transforms Jiangxi ancient village

A couple registered their marriage at a newly opened marriage registration site in Diaoyuan, an ancient village in Ji'an, Jiangxi province, early this month. The "tourism marriage registration "service is one of the many new ventures launched by the millennium-old village.

Located in Xingqiao town, Diaoyuan has over 1,200 residents across six hamlets, two of which are ancient settlements dating back 1,000 years. The village is now a national 4A-level scenic spot.

Designed in the layout of bagua, or Eight Trigrams, the village features 150 Gan-style buildings — which originated during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) — situated in winding alleys.

It might seem surprising that urban couples would travel far to marry in this village, which was established during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). But even more startling is the fact that just a few years ago, Diaoyuan was seeing young people leave the area in droves.

"The village now looks clean, tidy and poetic, but years ago, it was a different story," said Ouyang Huadong, the village Party secretary. "Lacking upkeep and filled with garbage, it was emptying out. Many villagers had left."

To revive the village, Ji'an's Jizhou district adopted a government-guided, market-driven model, upgrading over 120 ancient buildings through public-private partnerships. The local government also collaborated with tourism company Alor Valley to develop the village while preserving its heritage.

"We focused on blending history with modernity, creating a new rural tourism hub centered on aesthetics — scenic stays, cuisine and culture," said Yuan Yuqiong, deputy director of Jizhou's culture and tourism bureau.

Once a hollowed-out village, Diaoyuan is now a thriving agricultural tourism complex, featuring over 100 lifestyle and aesthetic experiences. New and longtime residents coexist, turning the ideal of a self-sufficient, communal village into reality.

The district's efforts quickly transformed the village into a social media hot spot. Last year, it drew 590,000 visitors, generating 18 million yuan ($2.5 million) in revenue and boosting regional spending by nearly 100 million yuan.

By mid-2025, arrivals reached 454,700, with earnings of 13.1 million yuan. Celebrities such as Sa Beining and Liu Shishi filmed here in May.

The villagers' lives have also been transformed. Over 1,000 now earn rental income after leasing land to the government under 20-year contracts. A cooperative allows them to convert property into shares, lifting per capita income by 40,000 yuan annually and adding over 300,000 yuan to collective revenues.

Sun Zhiming, Alor Valley's CEO, said: "When we first arrived, no one believed we'd planned 20 years ahead. Now, you see hope in their eyes — they're happy here."

Profitable village shops, he added, will also soon be run by the locals themselves.