Ten years ago, Niujiaoshan Village had inconvenient transportation and limited information resource. It was a Miao ethnic village with an average annual net income of less than 800 yuan.
As the central government began conducting poverty alleviation and development programs, Long Xianwen, Party secretary of Niujiaoshan Village, led locals with the village cadres to use the barren mountains with an elevation of over 800 meters and good ecology to build tea gardens, develop the ecological breeding of livestock and poultry under the forest, and promote characteristic Miao village tourism.
The great barrier that once hindered development has become a great treasure trove for increasing income and wealth. Young people returned to their hometowns for employment, and villagers created a prosperous life at their doorsteps.
In 2016, the whole Niujiaoshan Village got rid of poverty. In 2022, the per capita disposable income reached 23,618 yuan, 30 times that of 10 years ago. And it developed into a “village with an output value of national rural characteristic industries exceeding 100 million yuan”.
The tea industry in Xiangxi is developing rapidly with intelligent technology , and tea making technology is constantly upgrading.
“This is the most intelligent and productive processing factory in the border areas of the four provinces, with a daily production capacity of up to 7,000 kg of fresh tea leaves. It can provide processing services for over 200,000 mu (about 13,333 hectares) of tea gardens around Jishou City. However, this tea making workshop covering an area of 7,000 square meters only requires two employees,” said a staff member from Xiangxi Secret Valley Tea Industry Co., Ltd.
The tea industry in Xiangxi is achieving scale and standardized production, and enhancing the brand construction.
Baojing County takes advantage of the core resource of Baojing Golden Tea, namely germplasm resources, systematically promotes the collection, organization and inheritance of traditional cultural heritage of Baojing Golden Tea.
Through activities like Tea King Competition and Children’s Tea Art Competition, the brand culture is promoted.
Now, the total area of Baojing Golden Tea garden in the county is 155,000 mu (about 10,333 hectares). In 2022, the comprehensive output value of Baojing Golden Tea reached 2.136 billion yuan. And in the evaluation of public brand value of China’s tea regions, its brand value hit 1.235 billion yuan.
At present, the total area of tea in Xiangxi Prefecture has exceeded 900,000 mu (60,000 hectares), ranking first in the province, with a comprehensive output value of over 8 billion yuan. Over 600,000 people engaged in tea industry, and more than 200,000 people have lifted themselves out of poverty through tea.
Jishou City, Baojing County, and Guzhang County have been awarded as the leading tea-producing county-level city and counties in Hunan province in 2023. The tea production increased from 18,00 tons in 2013 to 14,000 tons in 2022.
Tea has helped Xiangxi people shake off poverty and become rich. And Xiangxi has become a strong tea prefecture.
Booming tourism
Xiangxi Prefecture ushered in a peak of tourism during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday. During the 8-day holiday, it received 2,184,700 tourists and achieved a tourism revenue of 2.305 billion yuan, an increase of 85.3% and 89.29% year on year respectively.
The 39 A-level scenic spots in Xiangxi Prefecture received 1.4529 million tourists and achieved a revenue of 66.466 million yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 96.28% and 79.44% respectively.
Shen Congwen, a famous modern Chinese writer, said that Xiangxi is truly a beautiful place that captivates people at any time.
Xiangxi is a lush ecological paradise, with shining titles like a national key ecological functional area and a national forest city. It’s praised as one of the two green development models.
The quaint residential buildings, the tranquil and lush forests, and the vigorous century-old trees make Xinzhaiping Village in Luxi County a natural oxygen bar.
Xinzhaiping Village is known as the museum of ancient trees in China. It’s the only well-preserved primitive ecological treasured land in Xiangxi with numerous ancient trees and resource types.
There are 120 rare ancient trees, most of which are second-class national protected plants.
In 2022, the village received 76,900 tourists and generated a tourism income of 150,000 yuan.
The once impoverished and backward Xinzhaiping Village is now a well-known model village for the new countryside.
While building a national model area for green and low-carbon development, Xiangxi Prefecture vigorously promotes the construction of ecological Xiangxi and harmonious countryside, and develops tourism economy with abundant natural resources.
In June of this year, Xiangxi experience of cultural tourism empowering rural revitalization was promoted at the experience exchange meeting of national cultural tourism empowering rural revitalization.
In September of this year, the “Charming Xiangxi Immersive Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Tour” was included on the list of national characteristic intangible cultural heritage tourism routes in 2022, which is the only one selected in Hunan.
On October 1, China’s first immersive Miao wedding banquet drama “Dehang Fairyland” was staged in the Aizhai Wonders Tourist Area. During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, the seat occupancy rate of each “Dehang Fairyland” performance was 100%, and the heat of related topics continued to rise.
Tourists spontaneously promoted the performance online to stimulate the vitality of the nighttime economy in Xiangxi, creating a new example of cultural tourism integration, and attracting more tourists.
Over the past ten years, the number of tourists received by Xiangxi Prefecture has increased from 23.228 million in 2013 to 46.0691 million in 2022, and the tourism revenue has increased from 14.49 billion yuan to 47.529 billion yuan.
The tertiary industry, with a focus on tourism, has increased its contribution rate to the GDP growth of Xiangxi Prefecture to over 75%, driving the development of 300 villages and helping over 500,000 people increase income through tourism.
