Rural tourism generates revenues for relocated villagers in Yunnan

 

Relocation plays an important role in poverty alleviation in China. By relocating villagers to new homes from inhospitable areas, the country has lifted more and more people out of poverty in recent years. For villagers living in the Butterfly Valley, a relocation site in Yanjin County, northeast Yunnan Province’s Zhaotong City, great changes have taken place in their lives as rural tourism is developed in the valley.

 

 

When spring comes, clusters of butterflies appear in the valley where the villagers are relocated. Therefore, they named their new home Butterfly Valley. In August 2017, 96 households moved into their new houses in the valley after local government invested in and completed the construction of the relocation site.

 

To strive for a better future, the locals took full advantages of the eco environment and built aquatic breeding farms, flower bases and demonstration zones of rural tourism.

 

 

During this year’s Labor Day Holiday lasting from May 1st to 4th, the Butterfly Valley held its first Rural Culture & Tourism Festival, drawing many visitors to participate in activities like hiking, fishing, tea art performance, barbecue and others. 

 

“The village was crowded with tourists, and my family earned a lot by selling snacks,” said Huang Youjun, a villager of the Butterfly Valley.

 

 

According to local government officials, the Butterfly Valley will enlarge the acreage of the flower base and build more guesthouses, sightseeing walkways and a butterfly garden in the future, hoping to create 100-plus jobs. 

 

Text by Xie Yi; trans-editing by Li Hengqiang