China News Service, Hubei Jianli, October 4th. Title: Hubei Jianli's "County Tour" heats up, immersive cultural tourism unlocks new scenes
Author Wu Taotao Cheng Heping Liao Qiao
During the National Day holiday, "County Tour" once again hit the screen. Data from online travel platforms show that bookings for county travel products have increased by 42% year-on-year, with more and more people choosing to avoid popular big cities and “immerse themselves as locals for a day.” Amid this craze, Jianli City, Jingzhou, Hubei Province, took "Jianli, the City of Morning Drinks and Good Friends" as its city IP, and presented a sumptuous county cultural and tourism feast.
On the evening of October 1st, Hubei Jianli Tianfu Qimiao Night officially opened. This is the country's first flower-drum opera-themed immersive night tour block. Photo by Wu Taotao
A bowl of morning wine awakens the fireworks of the thousand-year-old county
At 5:30 in the morning, Jianli Morning Wine Culture Street is already bustling with people. "This is the first time I have seen such a special breakfast." Ou Fu, a foreign self-media blogger, made a special trip to Jianli during the National Day holiday and chose to experience Jianli morning wine as his first stop. On the long benches, local diners and foreign tourists sit side by side. A plate of braised vegetables and a cup of hot wine kick off the day in this thousand-year-old county.
The picture shows tourists experiencing Jianli morning wine. Photo by Wu Taotao
The history of Jianli morning wine can be traced back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At that time, Jianli was adjacent to the Yangtze River and there were many docks. Dock workers and fishermen were accustomed to drinking a cup of hot wine in the early morning to resist the severe cold on the riverside. Over time, the custom of "drinking morning wine" was formed. "Jianli County Chronicles" during the Guangxu period records: "At Mao Shi, the wine shop was boiling, and the trackers finished drinking before pulling." This shows the grand occasion of that year.
In 2025, "Jianli Morning Wine Master" will be recognized as a Jingzhou municipal labor service brand, with 22,000 employees and 130 affiliated companies, driving economic benefits of up to 9 billion yuan. A bowl of morning wine is putting Hubei's most populous county on the national cultural tourism stage.
Three good shows, unlocking new ways to play county cultural tourism
This year’s National Day, Jianli closely adheres to the three main lines of red culture, water town folk customs, and market fireworks, and launches a “1+2+N” all-region cultural tourism layout, with the Tianfu Temple Flower Drum Opera-themed night tour block as the core tipping point, the Zhoulaozui immersive red cultural tourism demonstration area as the red leader, and the Xingtian Village micro-resort complex as the ecological leisure fulcrum, creating a new county consumption scene of “culture and tourism integration + immersive performing arts + night economy”.
On September 30, Tianfu Qimiao Night was pre-opened, and it received 163,000 tourists on the first day. Related topics topped the Jingzhou hot search list on media platforms, with the total number of topics exceeding 8 million. This block with a total length of 1.6 kilometers relies on the intangible cultural heritage of Jingzhou Flower Drum Opera for more than 200 years to create the country's first Flower Drum Opera-themed immersive night tour block. "You can encounter performances at any time when you walk on the street. The old alleys are paired with flower drum operas. This is the fireworks in the memories of Jianli people." Wu Yun, a local citizen, watched the live broadcast on her own self-media account, hoping to introduce the delicious food and beauty of her hometown to more people.
The picture shows the immersive live performance "Rescuing the Flying Tigers" performed in Zhoulaozui Town, Jianli, Hubei Province on October 4. Photo by Zhang Mengyao
In Zhoulaozui Town, Jianli, 48 old revolutionary sites in western Hunan and Hubei are dotted around. During the National Day, two immersive real-life marching performances, "Outsmarting the County" and "Rescuing the Flying Tigers," were launched, using the real-life scenery of the ancient town as the stage, allowing tourists to transform from theatergoers to actors in the play. "When you enter the town, you will enter the scenery, and when you open the door, you will enter the play." Red history becomes visible, tangible and participatory here.
The Xingtian Village micro-resort complex is based on 1,380 acres of native woodland and is divided into four major sections: the Magic Light Amusement Park, the Cute Pet Paradise, the Xingtian Night Shop Street, and the Starry Sky Camping Base. The village welcomed 30,000 tourists on the first day it opened, and the number of tourists exceeded 300,000 in 10 days, making it a new landmark of Jingchu pastoral cultural tourism. The rural micro-vacation scene of "you can play during the day, visit at night, and stay at night" is in line with the current travel needs of tourists to "slow down and stay".
Turn "flow" into "retention"
“County tourism” has become popular, but how to retain tourists will test the county’s cultural tourism capabilities. Meituan data shows that in the first half of 2026, out-of-town consumption in counties increased by 14.1% year-on-year. The average pen consumption of out-of-town tourists in counties was about 50% higher than that of local residents, and the proportion of experiential consumption continued to rise.
Jianli’s response is to implement global linkage. "During the 'Double Festival' we released food maps and tourism maps, opened special tourist buses from the city to core scenic spots, and added temporary parking areas around core scenic spots so that tourists will not get lost when they exit the highway and avoid traffic jams when entering the city." Jianli City Chen Jing, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that Jianli actively guides tourists to explore local delicacies, and has also built the city's first new life experience center, linking with Chengji Ming and Qing Ancient Streets, Rongxing Ecological Park and other township attractions to build a global linkage pattern.
"There is still a lot of room for exploration in county tourism. We hope that the national intangible cultural heritage Jingzhou Flower Drum Opera can shine through this Tianfu Qimiao Night Platform and attract more young people to come to play and learn to sing." Zhang Hui, planner of Jianli Tianfu Qimiao Nightclub, said. When the thousand-year-old Huagu opera in the ancient county returns to the streets, Jianli is using the vivid practice of "touring to the county" to unlock a new paradigm for the high-quality development of county cultural tourism.
