In 2007, when China's renowned essayist Yu Qiuyu visited a Dong ethnic village in southwestern Guizhou province, he described it as a village of several hundred households harbored by a small basin nestled among lush mountains.
"The village's houses are all dark brown stilt houses, shrouded in a mist of gray-white fog and cooking smoke. Rising above this scene are five elegant drum towers, whose open ground floors are crowded with villagers and passersby, because on the bridge beside the drum towers, other villagers are singing, accompanied by lusheng (a traditional reed instrument)," he wrote.
Located in Liping county of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Zhaoxing Dong village, built during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), is one of the largest Dong villages in China with over 1,000 households.
It preserves the cultural heritage of the Dong ethnic group, such as the grand song, a form of a folk chorus, and wooden drum towers that embody the architectural skills of the Dong people.
When Yu visited the village in the early 21st century, Liping county was still poverty stricken.
"At that time, tourism was just beginning in Zhaoxing, a very peaceful and quaint place that many European backpackers longed for," said Tang Dacai, head of the bureau of culture, sports, radio, television and tourism of Liping county.
Tang said that back then, Zhaoxing had neither highways nor high-speed rail. It took tourists one day to travel from the capital city Guiyang to Kaili city, in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, then another day from Kaili to the village.
"The journey, only accessible by bus, was quite bumpy," he said.
As China achieved its goal of eliminating extreme poverty in 2020, a total of 817 household and 3,484 individuals who were living below the poverty threshold in Zhaoxing were lifted out of poverty by participating in industries related to tourism.
This tourism-driven development approach also helped over 15,000 people in surrounding towns shake off poverty.
It was in the same year that Zhaoxing was connected with a high-speed railway and expressway, attracting nearly 300,000 tourist visits that year.
Now Zhaoxing is only 5 kilometers from the nearest high-speed rail station. Last year, Zhaoxing attracted more than 1 million tourist visits from home and abroad, with a total income of over 1 billion yuan ($137 million).
According to Tang, the Dong ethnic village is more than a tourist destination, as it is also home to local households. Therefore, many tourists are drawn to the village for the slow pace of life and the simplicity of the local people, with some tourists even returning four or five times.
So far, the village has developed more than 320 homestays and over 50 restaurants, with the villagers' per capita annual income exceeding 40,000 yuan.
Ying Yongxiu is the owner of a homestay that brings her family a net annual profit of 500,000 yuan.
In 2018, Ying decided to renovate her family's two-story wooden house into a homestay, despite skepticism from her family members and neighbors.
In Zhaoxing, villagers have to apply for approval to renovate the stilt wooden houses, a symbol of the Dong ethnic culture, for the purpose of preservation.
Following the design plans and construction standards provided by the government, the new building has a brick-concrete structure, but the exterior and railings, and the walls inside are all clad in wood, keeping it compatible with the nearby houses and giving it a unique Dong cultural appeal that tourists like.
"In recent years, more and more people are visiting Zhaoxing for its ethnic cultural characteristics. Many guests are particularly keen to take photos against the background of our village's blue-tiled roofs and clusters of stilt houses," she said.
According to Ying, the scenery in Zhaoxing is completely different by day and night, citing the drum towers as an example. "When they are lit up at night, we feel like the light inside our hearts is shining too. I believe our culture is the soul that attracts tourists," Ying said.
As China advances rural vitalization, Zhaoxing Dong village is leveraging its rich cultural heritage to boost its economic development and promote rural vitalization to enrich the villagers.
Lu Donghui is a prefectural-level inheritor of intangible cultural heritage in making musical instruments of the Dong people, such as the Dong pipa, a four-stringed instrument, and niutuiqin, a stringed musical instrument with a shape resembling a cow's leg.
In 2017, Lu returned to his hometown and established a workshop to make instruments. At first, the workshop's annual income was less than 30,000 yuan.
Over the years, his workshop has gained recognition, with orders coming from other provincial regions. The workshop's instruments are very popular among the Dong ethnic population in Guizhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Hunan province.
Last year, his annual income exceeded 360,000 yuan, with sales volume reaching 100,000 yuan during the Spring Festival holiday.
"We must protect and pass on the Dong ethnic traditional culture and fulfill our responsibilities as inheritors, and showcase the charm of our ethnic culture," Lu said.
Visitors to Zhaoxing can watch the grand song of the Dong people, accompanied by traditional ethnic instruments, every evening in the village's open-air theater. Nearly 100,000 people watch the performance annually.
In recent years, the village has also developed industries closely related to tourism, such as the oil tea industry.
Xianghe sticky rice is a traditional crop of Zhaoxing that embodies the village's time-honored farming culture, with an annual output of about 500 metric tons.
During peak tourist season, specialty foods made from Xianghe sticky rice account for about 30 percent of local agricultural product sales, making it a shining brand of Dong ethnic agricultural specialties.
Zhaoxing has established a company that involves the whole industrial chain of producing, processing and selling agricultural products.
Wu Debang, head of the company, is a college graduate who chose to return from Shenzhen in Guangdong province to his hometown and start a business. "By making use of Zhaoxing's tourism industry, we have cooperated with local farmers and 15 agricultural cooperatives nearby to provide local agricultural products sold to the scenic area, which also enhances the culinary experience for tourists," Wu said.
Last year, the company's sales volume of agricultural products exceeded 4.3 million yuan.
Wu believes that "the vitalization of our hometown relies on every resident's effort in leveraging our own advantages, and using our skills and resources to achieve industrial vitalization".
"This allows everyone to stay with their family members and earn money without leaving the village for work. I believe that as we expand our production capacity and scale this year, the income of the farmers will be further increased," he said.
Wu said the company aims to exceed 10 million yuan in sales this year by increasing the added value of products and enhancing market competitiveness.
According to Tang, the village plans to enhance its infrastructure, add visitor-friendly facilities, and strengthen the protection and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Efforts will also be made to develop cultural and creative industries, and introduce folk festivals and events to provide visitors with a better travel experience, he said.
"Through such efforts, we expect to attract more than 2 million tourist visits this year," Tang said, adding that Zhaoxing will also strive to establish itself into a national 5A-level scenic area or a national-level tourist resort.
