Gansu’s Gannan: Harmony in paradise

With the establishment of the new houses in 2015, the village has turned into a tourist destination area. Since then, 347,000 tourists, including those of home and abroad such as East Asia and West Europe, visited the village. According to the local officials, government supported 65 households in building new houses, trained the locals to keep their environment clean and established industries to improve their living conditions. Currently, eco-tourism and animal husbandry are the two major sources of income for local residents in this village.

Officials say they could promote tourism through holding a series of festival activities such as the Shambala Art Festival, Tibetan Dance Contest and Horse Racing in Gannan prefecture. Hence, Gannan received a total of 11.056 million domestic and foreign tourists, with a comprehensive revenue of 5.15 billion, last year.

The construction of eco-friendly well-off village has improved the basic infrastructures, production and living conditions, public services, social security and ecological environment of agricultural and animal husbandry villages, which resulted in huge ecological, economic and social benefits for the public. Within the last three years, the prefecture has invested a total of 220 million yuan to clean up 850,000 ton of garbage. Thus, it enjoys green mountains, clear water and vast grassland on 45,000 square kilometers of land.

To cut the long story short, Chinese local government in Gannan prefecture could maintain social stability, promote rural revitalization and build a well-off society in an all-round way, which turned Gannan into a one-in-a-million land.

The author is an Afghan journalist and freelance writer based in Beijing.