Remote Guizhou village evolves into tourist haven

When Wang Zhiqiang left his village in Guizhou province as a teenager, the pathway in front of his family home was barely wide enough for a person to walk along.

"If you weren't careful, you would fall straight into the crop field," he said. Today, the village attracts so many visitors that, during peak periods, traffic police are needed to manage congestion on the surrounding roads.

Wang, founder of the Red Home Farmhouse Restaurant in Huamao village in Bozhou district, Zunyi, has witnessed and benefited from the transformation.

"My hometown was very poor back then. There wasn't even a highway near my house," he said.

Like many rural residents seeking a better life, Wang left his village — initially in the 1980s by himself and later with his wife and children — to find work in Zunyi city. He found a job in construction, starting as an unskilled laborer earning just 2 yuan (29 cents) a day. Work, however, was often irregular.

"Sometimes, before I found the next job, I had already eaten through my savings," he said.

Over time, Wang acquired new skills and became a contractor by the 1990s. By 2010, he was considering returning to his hometown. His children were growing up, and he felt they lacked a sense of belonging to their ancestral home.

In 2013, he returned to the village, completely renovated the family homes and invested more than 300,000 yuan — almost all of his savings.

Meanwhile, the village was undergoing a transformation of its own. Roads were built, eventually reaching individual households.

"Every family can drive their car right into their own yard," Wang said.

As visitor numbers grew, Wang spotted a business opportunity. Tourists were coming to see the village, but there were few places to eat. He decided to open a restaurant.

His family was unconvinced.

"They said, 'Who is going to come to this remote corner to eat? Don't invest in that, or you'll lose everything'," Wang said.

Undeterred, he placed his faith in the village's growing appeal and, in particular, his wife's cooking skills. The restaurant soon took off. On weekends, customers from Zunyi had to book three days in advance.

One encounter illustrates the restaurant's appeal. A woman in her 80s from Guiyang, the provincial capital, arrived with her son, daughter-in-law and grandson. With the restaurant packed, the family had to wait until evening to eat, when Wang's wife prepared a special meal for them.

"She said the food reminded her of her mother's cooking when she was a girl in the countryside," Wang said.

The restaurant's success translated into tangible gains. At its peak in 2019, it served nearly 50,000 customers, generating gross revenue of 1 million yuan. It also provided jobs for more than 10 local residents, including returning migrant workers and students working during their summer holidays.

The restaurant's fortunes reflect the broader transformation of Huamao village. A decade ago, about 3,000 villagers worked away from home. Today, the number has fallen to around 460.

Per capita disposable income in the village rose from about 12,600 yuan to 29,650 yuan last year. In 2025, the village received 710,000 tourist visits, generating more than 24 million yuan in revenue.

Liu Shenghong, a 26-year-old tourist who learned about the village on Douyin, a popular short-video platform, visited to try his hand at pottery making.

"Tourism seems really developed here. I think the scenery here is truly beautiful. The roads were especially well built," he said.

For Wang, the village's transformation reflects the spirit of the Long March. In January 1935, during the Long March, the Zunyi Meeting was held in the city. The meeting marked a critical turning point in the history of the Communist Party of China and helped chart the way forward for the Red Army.

"If the people of our hometown did not have this Long March spirit, this spirit of hard work, how could there be such beautiful houses, such a beautiful village? This was all done through hard work," he said.

Wang pointed to a quiet sense of competition among villagers. When one family built a house, others would work for years to build one of their own.

"It's a form of emotional support. The spirit is remarkable. Everyone has done well and worked hard," he said.

Contact the writers at lihongyang@chinadaily.com.cn