Revisiting Guizhou after 22 years

Tourism

Bruce Connolly, a radio journalist who lives in Beijing, visits a pottery center in Huamao. WU WEI FOR CHINA DAILY

Many villagers have turned their homes into hotels where they provide meals, rooms and activities－for example, visitors can pick fruit on farmland or learn how to make traditional pottery.

"Featuring a unique ethnic culture and lifestyle, Huamao is tapping into its intrinsic beauty to attract wealthy visitors from the city. The measures have resulted in great improvements to the local environment, and the residents now earn more money than ever before," said Pan Kegang, secretary of the Huamao Party committee.

Akhil Parashar, an Indian national who works at China Radio International in Beijing, said: "Huamao is a role model, not only for poverty alleviation but also for sustainable development, especially when compared with villages whose economic development has been based on industries that can damage the environment.

If managed carefully, sustainable tourism is a way forward for parts of rural Guizhou, and the eco-friendly growth model should be introduced to other underdeveloped regions of China and the world," he said.