Temblor-ravaged town rebounds with tourism

Li Lianqiang is busy every weekend, as tourists flock to his tiny roast fish restaurant in the town of Longmen in Lushan county, Sichuan province.

"I have to get up very early to prepare fish for lunch and dinner," said the 44-year-old restaurant owner who runs the establishment with his wife.

On an average day during the weekend, Li's restaurant sells 50 roast fish.

"One fish sells for 88 yuan ($12), so I can earn much more than I did as a truck driver," Li said.

Li once transported vegetables and other daily necessities from Sichuan to other parts of the country. But changes brought about by the Lushan earthquake brought him home.

On April 20, 2013, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake jolted Longmen and damaged houses, including Li's. Reconstruction started three months later and was completed in December 2015.

New houses were built at another site, with views of the mountains and water. Under the town's reconstruction plan, each house was to have a shop front so that residents could do business or dabble in tourism.

Standing in the streets of Longmen, tourists can see the tops of mountains, which are sometimes surrounded by white clouds.

The fascinating natural scenery woos tourists from Sichuan and beyond. Last year, nearly 300,000 tourists visited Longmen. The streets are crowded during holidays, according to Liu Qun, a local official.

The influx of tourists has spurred the development of the catering industry. The town has many restaurants serving spicy Sichuan food and noodles.

Seeing the great changes in the once remote town, Li decided it was time to go there to start his own business.

"I like cooking," Li said. "As a driver, I went to many places and was interested in learning new ways of cooking. So it was not difficult for me to cook roast fish."

He and his wife use the first floor of his parents' three-story house, which faces the street, for the business.

Their 22-year-old son is a photographer, and their 17-year-old daughter is a senior high school student. It's much better for Li to be at home with loved ones than to constantly be on the road.

"When he was a driver, I was sleepless worrying about his safety," said Li's wife, He Xuefei.

Like Li, many locals in the town have cashed in on the new houses, running hotels and selling medicinal herbs and local delicacies such as kiwis and grapes.

To boost local prosperity and create more jobs, Longmen has sought outside investment.

Liu Qun, a businesswoman from the provincial capital, Chengdu, came in 2016 to start a boutique hotel in the town that caters to retirees - mainly people from within the province - and to plant organic vegetables and medicinal herbs.

With its appealing natural scenery and fresh air, Longmen is perfect for seniors to have a holiday, especially in summer, Liu said, citing the local forest coverage of 77 percent.

The hotel, which employs people from nearby villages - more than 20 full-time and dozens part-time - can host 60 visitors.

Lu Fengzhi, 37, a mother of two boys, has worked part-time in the herb fields, seeding and weeding. She is paid 70 yuan per day.

Because she needed to care for her 12-year-old son, she was unable to go to a city for higher pay as many others have done.

"It's better than nothing," she said. "And thanks to the new development after the earthquake, I can now earn some money at home."