Guangming Village in Dali thrives on walnut growing

When walnut flowers dangle from the branches in the spring breeze, the village of Guangming in Yangbi county of Dali prefecture will usher in a constant stream of tourists. "I had only seen such fine scenery on TV before. I never dreamed of our village becoming so beautiful," a female villager by the name of He Yuming told us.

In Guangming, some 6,000 walnut trees are more than 200 years old, and those over 100 years old are common sights. "In our village, walnut trees cover a contiguous area of over 10,000 mu, and some of them are as old as the village itself. If we divide the walnut trees evenly among us, we will have more than 100 walnut trees per person," said Yang Xueming, Party branch secretary of the village.

Given its unique resources, Guangming has developed the walnut industry. On the one hand, the village has joined hands with a specialized company, which produces beverages and cultural products with walnuts purchased from the villagers. On the other hand, the village has held several walnut cultural festivals to help boost homestay hotels, farmhouse restaurants, passenger transport and other tourism-related industries. Through these efforts, the once poor and primitive village has taken on a new look.

Today, all of the 73 families in the village have moved into new houses that are surrounded by flowers. The villagers opened nineteen farmhouse restaurants, five homestay hotels and two inns. Seventy-five villagers earn a monthly salary of 1,800-12,000 yuan working for the company. The once poverty-stricken village has set an excellent example of rural eco-tourism. 

"My family have been running a farmhouse restaurant since 2015. As the village becomes more famous, we are having better business. Now we earn over 100,000 yuan a year," said a villager named Zhang Ruihui. Last September, Zhang expanded his farmhouse restaurant and also opened a homestay hotel. "We used to rely heavily on growing walnuts. Rural tourism has created new sources of income for us," said Zhang.

Source: Yunnan Tourism and Culture Times and Yunnan Daily