Shenzhen cultural tourism project boosts Hechi rural development

Longbu village in Longfu township, Hechi's Du'an Yao autonomous county, is located in China's relatively underdeveloped southwest mountain area.

To Chen Yuanyuan, a poverty alleviation worker from Tencent, the most valuable resource in the mountains is the healthy natural environment, which is why Chen and his team invested 2 million yuan ($315,000) in the "Longbu Sunrise" cultural tourism project, which has seen the construction of several container inns at the top of the mountain in Longbu village since April 2020.

The 10-square-meter containers have been converted into small rooms fully equipped with all the necessary facilities. The inns offer magnificent views of the sunrise and luminous Milky Way, attracting city dwellers eager for a breath of fresh air.

A container inn at the top of the mountain in Longbu village. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

Tencent has been promoting Longbu village's rural tourism online, driving the development of multiple industries such as local chicken and Yaoshan sheep breeding as well as walnuts planting.

As part of East-West poverty alleviation efforts, Shenzhen, the frontier of China's reform and opening up, started to help Hechi with poverty alleviation in September 2016. Five years later, Shenzhen has turned the mountainous village into a popular tourist village. Longbu village's total economy is now more than 150,000 yuan.