Tea tourism road revitalizes Miao villages

During this year’s five-day May Day holiday, a road winding through the rugged mountains of Jishou City, Xiangxi Prefecture attracted numerous visitors.

This road runs northward from the city center of Jishou, the capital of Xiangxi Prefecture, with a total length of 100 kilometers. 33 villages are connected along the road, with Sima River, Qiabi River and Jilue River passing through villages. The Baotou-Maoming Expressway, Hangzhou-Ruili Expressway, Longshan-Jishou Expressway and 209 National Highway meet here.

Over the past three years since it was opened to traffic, 58 urban and rural passenger lines have been operated here, making it the most beautiful tea tourism road. Integration of tea and tourism revitalizes green economy

The “Xiangxi Mountain Band” composed of 6 young men returning to their hometowns has made Hangtuo Village popular on social media.

It takes 30 minutes to drive along this road from the urban area of Jishou City to reach this small mountain village. In the past, due to high mountains and steep roads, building materials like cement, sand and stones could not be transported to the village, so about 100 old houses with pure wooden structures have been preserved here.

Today, relying on green resources of deep mountains, Hangtuo Village has become a well-known Internet-famous village. Starting from Hangtuo Village, and then heading northeast for over ten kilometers, you will arrive at Aikou Village.

Mo Hongli runs a tea house in the village and is good at selling tea leaves. When working outside, she was promoted to a sales director from a salesperson. Mo Hongli now serves as the chairman of Aikou Golden Tea Planting Professional Cooperative.

“In March, we purchased 10,000 kg of fresh tea leaves in the village to make dried Mingqian tea, which can sell about 500 kg every year,” said Mo Hongli. “Thanks to its unique natural resources, tea has been grown here for generations. After the opening of the tea tourism highway, we improved supporting facilities, optimized production lines, built a tea factory and signed agreements with several tea growers.” Mo Hongli said that this year, tea tourism is popular among students, with more than 900 study tour orders placed.

“With more mountains and less land, we used to struggle with three meals. After the development of the tea industry, the per capita annual income of the village has exceeded 30,000 yuan.” Xiang Tianshun, secretary of Aikou Village, said that with the integration of tea and tourism, the transportation is now convenient. The tea planting area in the village has increased from 130 mu (about 8.67 hectares) to 20,000 mu (about 1,333 hectares), and the annual output value has exceeded 100 million yuan. It has become a demonstration village for rural revitalization in the prefecture, attracting many migrant workers to return home.

Now, 74,000 mu (about 4,933 hectares) of tea has been grown along the tea tourism road, with 21 villages planting over 1,000 mu (about 66.67 hectares).

Rural road facilitates people’s travel

Today, there are 58 urban and rural passenger lines running on the road, connecting 116 village groups in 159 villages. About 80,000 villagers in over 20,000 households can take the bus at their doorsteps. With convenient transportation, an endless stream of tourists come to this village.

“Before, it took two to three hours to the town for a meeting. Now, it only takes 13 minutes to the downtown,” said a local villager. As the road opened, Yang Zaitong, a villager from Pingnian Village who had been wandering outside for half his life, returned home. He has transformed his ancestral home, which has a history of over 200 years, into a rural museum, opened a farmhouse and run homestay inns. He has also developed the tea garden into a tea tourism experience base. Yang Zaitong registered a Douyin account and takes short videos every day to promote his hometown.

Rural tourism is booming, and tourists flock in droves here to taste delicious farm dishes and fragrant golden tea.