A village where success is on the menu

A rural community serves up authentic attractions as visitors flock to experience country life, Yang Feiyue reports.

As spring comes, villagers from Zhuangzimao, a rural idyll tucked away in the depth of the mountains of Northwest China's Gansu province, have been raring to get prepared for upcoming visitors.

The tofu workshops across the village have been steaming with heat, while the fried pancake stalls fill the air with a tantalizing aroma.

Meanwhile, some farmlands have been under renovation for urban students to engage in hands-on learning, while the greenhouse melons are being planted and the farmhouses are opening for business.

Yang Qingyan has been busy introducing her hometown specialties to tourists from far and wide via livestreaming.

"Our cooking sauce and vinegar workshop is offering new brewing… We've also prepared handcrafted millet vinegar and a variety of ready-to-eat snacks. If you're interested, feel free to contact me," she says as she enthusiastically promotes products from her eco-farm that she founded about five years ago at Zhuangzimao, in Huanxian county, Qingyang city.

In the past two years, riding the wave of integrated agricultural, cultural and tourism development and leveraging the popularity of livestreaming, the village has quickly gained fame and transformed into a thriving ecotourism destination.

Visitors have been trekking to the once isolated site, lured by its cavestyle homestays, organic vegetable gardens and a children's amusement park.

It was a far cry from what Yang saw when she visited the village in 2019, after a prolonged absence.

The woman in her 40s had spent years running successful businesses in the city, from selling spicy snacks to managing a clothing store.

The stark contrast between her thriving urban life and her village's poverty struck her deeply.

"I couldn't bear to see my hometown left behind," she recalls.

Determined to make a difference, Yang closed her shops and returned to Zhuangzimao to start anew.

Yet, her journey wasn't easy. She invested her savings into building the eco-farm, but most villagers were skeptical.

"They thought I was daydreaming," she says.

Only four families initially supported her vision. Undeterred, Yang pressed on, determined to prove that rural vitalization was possible.