Ningbo villagers promote rural revitalization in Guizhou

Teach a man to fish, you've fed him for a lifetime. This is how residents of Gejia village, East China's Zhejiang province are helping to revitalize Dingwang village, an undeveloped village in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Gejia village, which used to be an unspectacular village in Ninghai county, Ningbo due to a lack of tourist attractions, was chosen as a test area for Ninghai's rural revitalization through art program and has developed into a popular village with many art spaces and cultural and creative products.

In 2020, a group of residents of Gejia village and Cong Zhiqiang, an associate professor from Renmin University of China, visited Dingwang village to promote their rural revitalization methods, helping the locals to improve the environment by building artistic spaces.

They also taught Bouyei villagers to make various cloth products and to apply using the traditional Bouyei embroidery technique.

Over the past two years, Dingwang village has been able to develop its tourism industry due to its improved environment. Bouyei cloth dolls and bagss are also popular among visitors.

"We've sold more than 800 cloth bags in half a year, bringing us more than 100,000 yuan ($15,731) in income," said Xiang Changqin, a resident of Dingwang.