Qingtian village in winter [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

Rural tourism has lifted Qingtian village, once a poverty-stricken area, to a hot tourist destination, attracting over 400,000 travelers every year and helping villagers realize an average 10 percent growth in annual income.

Chen Changshou, Party secretary of Qingtian village, contributed to this success through his determination to bring in tourist projects and improve transport infrastructure and housing conditions over many years.

The first tough decision was to relocate 47 families, who once lived scattered around the mountains and could only make a living by working in other cities or selling forest products such as tea and bamboo.

Inviting them to come down and live in residential communities at the foot of the mountain was surely a better choice, but Chen was trapped by lack of money and land.

"I had to solve the problem because it might trigger tougher problems in the future," Chen said.

He could not remember how many people he has visited and how far he has gone during that time, but his efforts finally paid off with the 47 mountain families moved into their new apartments in 2009.

Rural tourism in Qingtian has been rejuvenated since that change. The rafting project operated at Prince Valley helped the village earn 50,000 yuan ($7,310) in 2010. The bed and breakfast (B&B) sector has also flourished, with Qingtian getting a nickname as the "village of B&Bs".

"Flowers in spring and autumn moonlight, breezes in the summer and winter snow white" are lyrics that captured the imagination of the ancients and have also enchanted numerous tourists to modern Qingtian.

In 2019, local villagers earned an average annual income of 26,000 yuan, growing 188 percent from that in 2007. The village also earned operating revenue of 200,000 yuan.