Bamboo swaying, streams flowing, layers of green with the rustling sound in the wind, is refreshing. Walking along the village road for a while, you can see the sign of “the best tourist village in the world” shining next to the stone tablet of “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”.
Anji, named after “Peace and Happiness” in the Book of Songs, means comfort and beauty. It is a beautiful Jiangnan town located in the hinterland of northern Zhejiang. Yucun, Anji County is the birthplace of the concept of “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, which was listed in the first batch of “World’s Best Tourist Villages” selected by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in December last year. On the occasion of world tourism day on September 27th, the reporter came to Yucun again to feel the new pace of beautiful countryside’s construction.
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This is a rice field painting taken in Yucun, Anji County, Zhejiang Province on September 27th. (photo of drone). Xinhua News Agency reporter Cui Lishe
The National Day is approaching, and the villagers are busy with the farmhouse business. Most of the rooms in Luyuan Villa, a homestay opened by Hu Bin, a villager in Yucun, have been booked. “Most tourists come from the province and the Yangtze River Delta.” Hu Bin said, “Aiming at the characteristics of many aborigines in Yucun, we are trying to explore the integration of rural life into newly developed tourism products and bring different experiences to travelers who have lived in cities for a long time.”
In Yucun, based on the “beautiful economy” like Hu Bin, more and more villagers are opening farmhouse music. Behind Yucun’s selection as the “Best Tourism Village in the World”, it is the unremitting efforts to practice the concept of “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, and it is also a vivid portrayal of taking the road of green development and building beautiful countryside.
Yucun once suffered from “growing pains”. As early as the eighties and nineties of last century, relying on high-quality limestone resources can bring millions of yuan to the village collective, and the extensive economic development model can also make the people suffer from environmental pollution.
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In the past, Yucun suffered serious ecological damage due to mining, and the rocks were exposed. (data picture)
“When mining, the smoke and dust were all over the sky, and the guns were rumbling and devastated.” Yu Xiaoping, deputy secretary of the Party branch of Yucun Village, recalled, “A lot of lime slag was piled up in the foothills, and when it rained heavily in summer, mud and sand came down.”
Learn from a painful experience. The local government made up its mind to rectify pollution, change the thinking of economic development and intensify ecological restoration. Cement factories and mines were all shut down one after another, and Yucun began to vigorously develop rural tourism.
Chun Lin Pan, the owner of Chunlin Mountain Villa, became the first person to open a farmhouse after the mine was shut down. Although he faced a bleak business situation at first, with the environment and ecology getting better and better, his business is booming, and now his income has increased by more than ten times.
Protecting the environment means protecting productive forces. Green water and green hills have brought real money to the villagers in Yucun. Yu Xiaoping said that last year, the village collective income reached 8.01 million yuan, and the per capita annual income was 61,000 yuan.
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This is the scenery (drone photo) taken in Yucun, Anji County, Zhejiang Province on September 27th. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cui Lishe
Since being rated as “the best tourist village in the world”, Yucun has taken new steps in building beautiful countryside and exploring “beautiful economy”.
The Yucun Grand Scenic Area Tourism Integrated Service Center has been completed and will start operation in October. This comprehensive service center integrates many functions, such as vehicle transfer, travel consultation, leisure shopping, business reception, etc., which can realize “one village is rich” to drive “multiple villages to be rich together” and let the surrounding areas share the “flow” of the remaining villages.
The “Yucun Impression” library is under intense construction and will be completed before the end of the year. By then, it will become the first building close to “zero carbon” in Yucun, and continue to promote the concept of green and low carbon.
Just in September this year, Yucun also announced the recruitment of partners to the world, bringing in excellent talents and excellent projects, bringing more whimsy to mountain villages and bringing new growth points to rural tourism.
“As a homestay owner, we should constantly strive to improve the infrastructure and service quality, and let more domestic and foreign tourists come to our village to travel.” Chun Lin Pan said. (Reporter Cui Li, Wu Meng)
Editor in Charge: Zhang Ling