Yucun Village, nestled in Zhejiang Province on the Chinese mainland, once churned out limestone for cement under a haze of quarry dust. Today, it's a top global tourism village, celebrated for its "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets."
In the 1980s, blasting mountains for high-grade limestone brought higher incomes to locals—but left scarred landscapes and dwindling prospects. "At that time, the environment was severely damaged and villagers saw no way out," says Hu Jiaren, former secretary of the Yucun Village Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Inspired by other regions, local leaders made a bold pivot: close the mines and embrace a leisure economy. "We used to quarry and sell stones; now we're selling the scenery," Hu adds.
On August 15, 2005, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, visited Yucun Village and praised the move: "It is a brilliant decision to shut down the mines." It was here that he first coined the phrase "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets."
For former tractor driver Pan Chunlin, the change was life-changing. In 2005, he opened Yucun's first guesthouse. "We were miners; now I lead a small tourism team," Pan recalls, highlighting a shift from heavy labor to hospitality.
Fast-forward to 2024: vibrant rice paddies sway beside sunflower fields, while old cement factories house chic countryside cafés. The village welcomed 1.22 million visitors, generating 22.05 million yuan (around $3.1 million) in collective income. With over 1,000 residents, per capita income reached 74,000 yuan, and annual dividends per person jumped from 600 yuan in 2020 to 3,000 yuan.
Yucun's turnaround shows how sustainable planning and community-driven tourism can turn environmental restoration into economic opportunity—a blueprint for rural revival around the globe.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
