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A vibrant village
2020-08-31 
Hawthorn Courtyard homestays in Beijing's Yanqing district attract visitors all year round with varied views and a pastoral charm. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A small settlement in rural Beijing is facing a brighter future through new tourism initiatives.

A village off the beaten track in northwestern Beijing's Yanqing district is generating prosperity through tourism.

Xiahujiao offers a quiet and secluded rural setting, and picturesque mountain and river views about an hour's drive from downtown Yanqing.

The settlement is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is home to about 60 households.

Locals used to rely on corn and yellow-rice farming.

"Our village didn't have practically anything but old houses and fresh air," says Zhang Youwang, who used to be a Xiahujiao official and now works as head of the village's folk-tourism cooperative.

The local government began to explore tourism opportunities and established the cooperative in 2015.

Yanqing district's culture and tourism bureau helped build a financing platform for the cooperative and offered loan-interest subsidies.

Hawthorn Courtyard homestays in Beijing's Yanqing district attract visitors all year round with varied views and a pastoral charm. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A tourism-industry fund has been established to improve infrastructure, and a homestay-service training facility opened in 2017.

Courtyard-style homestays have been built on previously vacant land.

They retain the original wooden roof-and-beam structures and evoke a pastoral charm along with hawthorn trees, short walls and floor-to-ceiling windows. The rooms' interiors feature modern furniture and home appliances.

Twelve homestays have been built under the collective name, Hawthorn Courtyard, and a growing number of travelers are visiting.

Tourists flock to the village in May when the hawthorn trees blossom, and in August and September when the red fruits ripen.

A family enjoy tea break at a homestay in Yanqing district. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The village is also close to one of the "most beautiful roads in Beijing", the Baili Landscape Gallery. Travelers can cycle or drive along the wellpaved, tree-lined paths and visit the Silicified Wood National Geological Park and Dishui Lake.

Although the "hawthorn homestays" are pricy, at about 2,000 yuan ($288) a night, they're fully booked during weekends and holidays.

Guests typically must book rooms about two weeks in advance during peak seasons, Zhang says.

Bookings for the current period have exceeded those of last year, as Beijing has brought COVID-19 under control.

Tourism has helped all of the 28 households to increase their incomes.

The homestays have generated an annual tourism revenue of about 400,000 yuan and provide jobs for more than 20 locals. Villagers can also make money by renting out their unused houses.

An autumn scene of the Baili Landscape Gallery in Yanqing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Zhang Yunping became a cook and cleaner when Hawthorn Courtyard opened. Her husband, Shi Lianshan, also does handiwork and transports goods at the tourism center.

They can earn 7,000 yuan a month for their work, plus 8,000 yuan in dividends from the tourism cooperative.

"We only ate cold lunches prepared in the morning when we worked away from home," Shi says.

"It's good to work so close to home and enjoy hot meals."

The couple spent 100,000 yuan on a truck last year.

"It's very convenient for us to go wherever we want," Shi says.

The village government has also worked with tourism cooperatives to help locals use e-commerce platforms to sell their produce.

Travelers have local dried vegetable hotpot. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"The introduction of the homestays has boosted farming," Zhang says.

"Villagers who work with the tourism cooperative have learned how to grow organic fruit and vegetables."

Villager Liang Yu'e has started growing millet on her farmland since the new sales channel opened. She can make over 10,000 yuan a year from her crops.

And villagers are, in turn, using their expendable income to travel.

"Buses passing the village were mostly empty before," village committee member Zhang Liqiang says.

"Now, every one of them is full when the farm work isn't busy."

Xiahujiao will continue to improve the environment, and will develop hiking lanes, pavilions, bathing facilities and public toilets, village official Shi Yonggang says.

"People come here to enjoy the peacefulness and good air. We must protect these."

As demand for high-end rural tourism has grown in recent years, Yanqing has focused on homestay development in a bid to realize President Xi Jinping's concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", says Zheng Aijuan, deputy director of Yanqing's culture and tourism bureau.

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