Take me home, county roads
More tourists from cities going off the beaten track in search of raw places, authentic experiences and a slow-paced life
The exhibition begins with the railway station, which holds particular significance for the county.
One display hall is dedicated to Wushan's new high-speed railway station.
"Wushan did not have a railway station before. Now it has high-speed rail. People are genuinely proud. They even built a mock train carriage that visitors can step into and photograph."
The museum also showcases prehistoric archaeological sites in Wushan, something that may be unfamiliar to visitors from outside the area.
"It is very impressive," Chen said.
Small counties across China are emerging as a major growth engine for the country's tourism market, as visitors increasingly turn away from crowded big-city attractions in favor of slower-paced and more authentic experiences.
Nonlocal spending in county-level destinations rose 14.1 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2026, according to a report by the China Tourism Association.
The trend has been driven by what Chinese travelers call "treasure towns" and "county trips", with searches for such getaways surging over the summer.
Searches for "county trips" to popular destinations jumped 110 percent this summer holiday year-on-year on travel booking platform Qunar, according to company data.
For example, Hui'an county in Fujian province, known for its women's culture and distinctive traditional dress, reported an increase in visitor numbers.
Hui'an received about 2.89 million tourist visits in the first six months of 2026, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according to local media.
In the first seven months of this year, Zhejiang's Anji county welcomed about 21.6 million tourist visits and generated more than 30 billion yuan ($4.47 billion) in tourism revenue, according to the county government.
Its appeal begins with its natural setting. More than 70 percent of the county is covered by forest, with bamboo groves stretching across the landscape and tea plantations scattered across the hillsides, the county said.
These examples show how varied the appeal of county travel can be. That appeal can also be found in the smaller, everyday details of county life.
For Fu Bingqin from Beijing, the prices he encountered in Linzhou, a county-level city tucked into the Taihang Mountains of northern Henan province, were not simply startlingly cheap. They were his first sign that he had entered a different kind of China.
