Electricity upgrades rural town's canyon tourism

In the prefecture-level city of Anyang in Henan province, the Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon spans 50 kilometers from north to south and 1.5 kilometers from east to west as the country's top-rated national tourist attraction.

Sitting on the eastern foothills of the South Taihang Mountains and covering an area of 89 square kilometers, the canyon draws visitors nationwide with its high cliffs, rugged peaks, turbulent rivers and mighty waterfalls.

The Shibanyan town, administering 228 natural villages with over 3,000 households, is dubbed a "hundred-mile gallery" and is a core scenic spot in the canyon.

The town, with 459 guesthouses engaged in tourism, ushered in 40,000-odd arrivals of visitors daily during the May Day five-day holiday.

The winding mountain roads were crowded with tourists and photographers vying to view this "living fossil of agricultural civilization" hidden deep in the Taihang Mountains.

Over 100 undeveloped primitive landscapes, similar to Shibanyan, are located in the canyon area.

Local residents have lived here for generations, and with a tenacious pioneering spirit, they have cultivated layers of terraced fields among the cliffs and made magnificent human wonders with their diligent hands, said Yang Zengfu, president of the local sketching industry association.

"Nowadays, the clients are coming all the year round, and the local tourism income jumped by 15 percent during the past winter," he said.

The photography enthusiasts are extremely interested, setting up their cameras on the viewing platforms for taking photos here, he said.

Beijing nature photographer Chen Yunzhou was in Shibanyan for the third time, saying: "The panoramic view of Shibanyan's cliffs is unobstructed, and the texture of its rock layers can be revealed in every detail. In the morning mist and in the clouds, I can get a large picture without much effort. This is the ultimate expression of natural aesthetics."

Yang added it was the upgrade of electricity that has made it a reality for peak seasons to become even more prosperous.

In the fully-electric scenic area of Shibanyan, the electric vehicle charging piles are ready for work with full load, while in the kitchens of the local fully-electric homestays, the chefs are working busily.

Statistics showed that in recent years, the State Grid Anyang Power Supply Co has attached vital importance to upgrading rural power grid by letting 3,000-meter-long overhead cables in Shibanyan go underground, and added 48 charging piles for electric sightseeing vehicles in the scenic spots, achieving a service radius coverage of 500 meters.

Eyeing the dispersed homestays scattering in the mountainous regions, the State Grid Shibanyan Power Supply Station has established an "electricity archive" since 2016, dynamically recording the electricity demand of the town's 459 homestays.

As of April 21 this year, the power staffers had newly added 1,000 kilovolt-amperes for the clients, providing tailored services for 26 fully-electric homestays including Jinzhangdeng Homestay.

As villagers in Shibanyan in the county-level city of Linzhou live scattered and some guesthouses sit in secluded regions deep in the Taihang Mountains, the State Grid workers launched village-wide improvement by visiting residents face to face to optimize services.

For each new guesthouse, the power workers would provide on-site services, guide the client in upgrading power equipment and establish power archives.

"Our power supply is very reliable, and the service is excellent," said Guo Bin, owner of the Zhangdeng Guesthouse.

"We have ushered in a new power protection mechanism, allowing prompt response by integrating command center coordination, equipment operation and maintenance, emergency repair, and timely customer service," said Liu Wei, chief of the operations and inspection department under State Grid Anyang Power Supply Co.