China News Service, Qingdao, October 4 (Wang Yu) During the National Day holiday, tourists came and went in Caojiazhuang, Yanghe Town, Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province. Coinciding with the local slow life experience season, this ancient village with a history of nearly 300 years has ushered in a peak of passenger flow. The shouts of the harvest market and the laughter in the B&B courtyard are intertwined. Autumn bean drying and intangible cultural heritage handicrafts are performed in turn. Rural slow life experience tours are quietly emerging.
Walking into Caojiazhuang, the old Huangni houses retain the original rural "texture". Xinyi Bureau Inn was renovated from an unused old house according to the principle of restoring it as it was. The old wooden beams and blue brick walls fully show the texture of the years. The themed courtyard covered with tomatoes has become a check-in spot for internet celebrities. Wutong Study Room and Tianze Teahouse are quiet and elegant.
During the National Day holiday, the village launched activities such as autumn sun drying, bean spelling, mugwort handicrafts, and the "Fingertip Harvest Year" intangible cultural heritage experience. The kiln baking DIY and fireworks barbecue camp areas were filled with aromas, and the immersive business format slowed down tourists.
"I heard that the rural atmosphere in Caojiazhuang is good, so I came here to relax during the holiday." Sui Yu, a tourist, stayed at the B&B with her children. They went to the orchard to pick fresh fruits during the day and strolled along the mountain boardwalk to enjoy the autumn in the evening. She said: "It has both original rural beauty and rich harvest-themed activities. It is the slow life we want during the holiday."
On October 2, tourists experience making tea around a stove in Caojiazhuang, Jiaozhou City. Photo by Chen Huan
It is reported that Caojiazhuang received nearly 2,000 tourists on the first day of the National Day holiday. Relying on mature B&B clusters and rich experience formats, the place has realized the transformation from an "Internet celebrity village" to an "ever-popular destination". The length of stay of tourists and the occupancy rate of B&Bs lead the local rural cultural tourism market.
Across the road, Fenghuang Village, Xingguo, is a "mason village" with a history of inheriting stone carving skills for more than 150 years. In recent years, the local government has introduced a market-oriented operation mechanism, renovated and upgraded more than a dozen old houses, and created a number of new cultural and tourism formats such as "Fangjing Mountain House", "Youai Workshop" and "Ai Shang Kiln Work" to rejuvenate the old houses.
Walking into the "Youai Workshop", the manager Bu Qinlong is greeting tourists enthusiastically. He united villagers to establish a cooperative, built a large-scale mugwort planting base of more than 500 acres, developed more than 40 kinds of cultural and creative products such as mugwort hammers, conducted research on intangible cultural heritage, and recruited nearly a hundred surrounding villagers to find employment. The abandoned courtyard became an "employment base" for villagers.
"It is difficult for a single intangible cultural heritage research study to meet the in-depth needs of tourists." This year, Bu Qinlong recycled and renovated a number of houses on the west side of the village, and extended it to build moxibustion halls, B&Bs and farm banquets. "Tourists can not only experience mugwort handcrafting, but also stay in the village, slow down, and immerse themselves in the unique health care of mugwort."
Not far away, in the fruit display and tasting area of the "Mountain Fruit Garden", the interactive experience attracted bursts of laughter. "One to two hundred people come to pick every day during the harvest season, and this season we can earn more than 200,000 yuan." said Leng Zhiming, the person in charge of the orchard.
In the "Shishiruyuan", golden persimmons hang under the eaves, and tourists are enjoying coffee and simple meals. On the second floor terrace, the octagonal drum tune "On the Field of Hope" played melodiously, echoing the joy and laughter in the small square not far away. "The yard is still the same yard, but the days are different." Villager Guo Lanmei said with a smile.
"Based on local resources, we continue to build a multi-point linkage rural cultural tourism matrix and promote the deep integration of agriculture, culture and tourism." Sun Zhan, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of Jiaozhou Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that the local area continues to enrich immersive business formats such as homestays, study tours, and picking, transforming rural beauty and cultural resources into industries that enrich the people, driving villagers to increase their income and become rich.
Looking across the country, stories of ancient village revitalization are happening in many places. More than 60% of the villages in Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, have introduced new business formats such as B&Bs and cultural and creative industries; Longtan Village in Xi'an, Pingnan, Fujian Province, has minimally invasive restoration of ancient houses, turning the old houses into art studios, bookstores, and B&Bs; Qixiakeng Village in Fenghua District relies on the "Tang Poetry Road" to develop ancient hiking trails and B&B economies, and the millennium-old village has ushered in a new life as a "Poetry Road".
Nowadays, the public’s travel preferences continue to change, bidding farewell to short-distance sightseeing, and immersive, slow-paced, experiential and warm rural micro-vacations continue to be popular. In the golden autumn, guests gather in the countryside and enjoy the villages. The transformation of ancient villages is a vivid epitome of the new life of traditional villages across the country and the increase in people's income and wealth.
