Tourism transforms poor village's fortunes

When visitors walk into Shenshan village, they see renovated homestays, farmhouse restaurants, tea plantations, and tourists strolling along clean roads. About a decade ago, however, the mountain village in Maoping town, Jinggangshan city, Jiangxi province, looked very different.

In 2015, 21 of its 54 households were registered as impoverished, and the village's per capita disposable income was only about 3,000 yuan ($442). Many young people had gone to work elsewhere, leaving behind mostly elderly residents and children. Now, Shenshan has transformed, thanks to a chain of changes that connected roads, housing, tourism, agriculture, and returning residents.

The first step was access. Beginning in 2016, roads leading into the village were widened and upgraded, allowing tourist buses to enter. Old mud-brick houses were repaired or rebuilt, while water, toilets, and other public facilities were improved.

Given its proximity to Huangyangjie and the Maoping Octagonal Building, a former residence of Chairman Mao Zedong, better access meant that Shenshan's red tourism resources could finally be leveraged to secure stable incomes.

Peng Xiaying, formerly one of the village's registered impoverished residents, was among the first to seize the opportunity. With help from the village, she opened one of Shenshan's first farmhouse restaurants and later developed homestay services and sold local specialty items.

"In addition to the farmhouse restaurant, my family also has shares in the yellow peach orchard run by the village cooperative," Peng said. "In one year, we can earn more than 100,000 yuan."

Her business encouraged others to open their own farmhouse restaurants, homestays, and shops. For Luo Linhui, a local who had worked elsewhere for about 10 years, the rise in popularity of rural tourism gave him a reason to return. "Shenshan has opportunities because of tourism, so I came back," Luo said in an earlier interview. "Doing something at home is easier than working outside, because we can get help from fellow villagers and the government."

After returning, Luo started a store selling local specialties. As tourism grew, he later helped build homestays.

Villagers also worked to organize tourism more systematically. In 2017, locals helped set up a tourism association to unify service standards, train residents in reception skills, and connect the village with red tourism and study tour groups.

Peng Zhanyang, Party chief of Shenshan village, said that tourism could not grow through scattered, individual efforts alone. "Only by bringing in teams with branding and market management experience can rural tourism go further and the market become bigger," he said.

In 2018, the Party chief led efforts to establish companies to provide business services and operate rural tourism, helping increase individual incomes and the village's revenue.

At the same time, Shenshan developed specialty agriculture. Through cooperatives and production bases, villagers began planting crops. The model allowed residents to earn money through land rent, jobs at production bases, and cooperative dividends. Their labor has developed 30.6 hectares of yellow peaches, 13.33 hectares of tea, and 2 hectares of bamboo shoots, creating new sources of income for local households.

By linking agriculture with tourism, Shenshan created more avenues for residents to benefit from visiting spenders. Official data shows that the village receives an average of more than 300,000 tourist visits annually.

Today, many old homes have been renovated into homestays while maintaining their original appearance. "These homestays were all old homes, restored to keep the village's traditional look while meeting modern standards," said Lai Guohong, deputy director of the village committee of Shenshan.

In 2025, the local per capita disposable income reached 36,000 yuan, while the village's collective operating income exceeded 1.06 million yuan, according to official data.