Century-old Bisezhai shines with new vigor
Re-emergence of travel boom
In December 2017, the movie Youth by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang made a hit nationwide, and Bisezhai as one of the film’s shooting locations drew public attention. Statistics show that during the 2019 Spring Festival holiday, Bisezhai was frequented by around 200,000 visitors. Now the aftereffect of the movie still persists. At the interviewing sites, we noted crowds of tourists posed in front of the French-style buildings for pictures, wearing old-fashioned army uniforms. “During this year’s summer vacation, Bisezhai welcomed in 5,000 tourists daily, with a maximum of 10,000 on weekends.
With the surge of tourists, villagers near the Bisezhai train station embarked on services relevant to tourism. Nowadays, snack stalls, farmhouse canteens, and prop-renting stands are mushrooming in the surrounding areas of Bisezhai. To regulate tourism development and improve tourist services, Bisezhai is said to have set up a tourist cooperative to manage the community members. For example, uniformed umbrellas and sun shades are provided to the vendors for a sense of tidiness and unity. So far, almost 100 families have joined the cooperative, engaging in reception services, environment protection, and the production of distinct ethnic crafts. The household income is on the rise.
In addition, the Bisezhai village has set up a tourist service center, which is equipped with a modeling sand table and professional tour guides. Thanks to their detailed explanation, visitors have better appreciated cultures behind the Yunnan-Vietnam railway. The Bisezhai scenic area also built up a parking lot with a capacity of 400 cars, and by re-designing the signs and stop boards, the tourist facilities have constantly improved. “In the future, we will push forward rural tourism in the neighboring areas, and more ring routes will be shaped to enrich tourist experiences,” Chen said.
Promising future
On the other side of the train station, the plain but ancient Bisezhai village is less visited. In the village, structures such as walls, roads and houses are all built out of stones, so Bisezhai is also dubbed as “Stone Village” by locals. Now Mengzi authorities are joining hands with the village for development, adopting the “cooperative plus company” mode. Via renting local farmhouses and inviting in social investment and management, they aim to build high-end districts of thick cultural air, while encouraging local villagers to engage in tourism.
Besides, Mengzi plans to build a historical culture park themed on the Yunnan-Vietnam railway. According to Zhang Yunhui, deputy general-manager of the Mengzi Tourism Investment Company, the whole project will be carried out in two stages. The first phase involves the railway area, the rail museum area, the ancient stone village, the French-style district, and the leisure area of mountain features. The planned areas aim to renovate distinct historic structures and build up tourist towns with original local flavor, while traditional business modes will be introduced to resurrect prosperous scenes in the past.
Through vegetation recovery and other greening efforts, the second phase will feature plank roads, eco-villas and campsites for drive tours, putting together culture and landscapes and stressing the Mengzi tourist brands and resources. The tourist products will be diversified, with a tourist service center built up and the Bisezhai ring route taking shape.
So far, the fixed relics on the North Street, the South Street and the Food-Market Road have been surveyed and filed for renovation. “The aftereffect of the movie on Bisezhai tourism can persist for ten years at most. The core relics of Bisezhai lie in the historic Yunnan-Vietnam railway and the horse caravans sites. Fusing cultural elements into natural landscapes, the tourist industry in Bisezhai holds a promising future.
Reporting by Duan Jianxin and Zhang Lin; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue; Online photos