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Preserving a slice of heaven
update:November 09,2016
By:China Daily
Nov. 9, 2016 -- The countryside is as picturesque as the culture is mysterious. For many tourists, "Shangri-La" is a synonym for heaven on Earth.
 
The word "Shangri-La" first appeared in British author James Hilton's novel in 1933 to describe a utopian countryside on the edge of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The city of Shangri-La in southwestern Yunnan province got its current name in 2001 because it is widely considered to be the place that inspired Hilton.
 
"I've been to many tourism areas, but few can give the feeling of such harmony and tranquility," says Peng Zhiqiang from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.
 
"I could easily find pigs or sheep running across roads," says Peng, who recently visited Shangri-La's villages and its natural wonders. "It's not my hometown, but the almost pristine environment makes me feel nostalgic."
 
As many urban residents become fed up with their fast lifestyles and heavy workloads, countryside tourism in places like Shangri-La entices people with a chance to breathe deeply and relax.
 
Peng says he was eager to breathe more fresh air before returning to the big city where he lives.
 
As a major community of the Tibetan ethnic group in China, local people try to give something more in rural tourism than what is bestowed by heaven.
 
For example, Tangdui village is known for its black pottery, whose history can be dated back to 2,000 years ago.
 
More than 1,000 visitors came to Tangdui in the past two months, according to Dundrup Tsering, deputy head of Nixi township, where Tangdui village is located. There will be an exhibition center in the village displaying pottery wares in 2017.
 
"When people come to see the pottery, we will provide one-day trip plans for them," Dundrup Tsering says. "We are also considering a trekking route around the hills near the village. However, no matter how many tourists come in the future, it is a basic objective to keep our mountains and waters clean.
 
"If villagers build new houses, we also demand that the architecture is harmonious with the environment of the whole village."
 
When more bars, karaoke and stores become common in China's traditional villages to attract visitors, rural tourism can become little more than an extension of urban entertainment.
 
"Tourism should appreciate the values of the countryside and treat them with respect," Liu Shouying, an economics professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told a recent rural tourism forum in Shangri-La. "Many tourism planners simply transplant what they have in cities to countryside, which leads to mushrooming real estate projects, which is harmful.
 
"It's crucial to find something unique in agrarian culture, like traditional craftsmanship, to offer different experiences for tourists," Liu says.
 
But rural tourism should avoid being overwhelmingly dependent on scenic spots, some professionals say.
 
Xiagei is the nearest village to Potatso National Park in Shangri-La. The park is renowned for its meadows, forests and lakes. Founded in 2006 as the first national park in the Chinese mainland, it is part of Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
 
The village has about 500 residents living in houses with well-preserved traditional Tibetan architecture, but few people seemed to be at home on a recent afternoon.
 
"The national park creates so many job opportunities for us, ranging from tour guides to drivers and security guards," says Norbu, one of the villagers employed there.
 
Workers are picked up by car at 7 am and returned to the village at 4 pm. Norbu says not many tourists come to the village even though it is a part of the national park.
 
"In rural tourism, we need to promote communities, not just scenic spots," professor Liu says.
 
"While everyone is talking about building a 'beautiful countryside', techniques should be found to rejuvenate those villages, or they will gradually become empty. The original human landscape cannot be changed too much by development if they want to attract more tourists."
 
Some villages in Shangri-La have already had breakthroughs with new models of rural tourism.
 
In Kena village, next to Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, the most important Tibetan Buddhism monastery in Yunnan province, there are two luxury Songtsam hotels with traditional Tibetan architecture. Founded by a local villager, the hotels have a total of 100 guestrooms, and most of employees are local villagers.
 
Visitors can stay one day with local families to experience traditional rural life, but they are also ushered to fashionable events like meditation courses. Summer is the peak season-it's also harvest time for matsutake, a precious mushroom variety.
 
The hotels once introduced management by international hotel franchises, but that was abandoned in favor of preserving the local flavor, says Drolma Lhatso, a villager-turned-manager of one hotel.
 
"Construction and maintenance of such hotels can also be a way to save traditional craftsmanship that is fading away," she adds.
 
About 18,000 guests stayed in the two hotels in 2015, and 30 percent of them were from overseas, Drolma Lhatso says.
 
Before 2008, foreigners comprised 70 percent of the guests, and the change reflects a surge in domestic tourists who are looking for more than scenery, she adds.
 
"Villagers deserve a final say to develop their own models," says Dai Zhijian, an architecture professor from Xiamen University in Fujian province, who attended the forum.
 
"However, in more cases, the government takes the initiative and participates too much, which can make it difficult to really meet local people's needs. Investment cannot solve all problems."
 
He says rural tourism should be diverse in its styles and run by smaller-scale but dynamic units, not centralized conglomerates, with guidance and infrastructure provided by government.
 
Tourists, meanwhile, are not eager to see another over-commercialized destination in Shangri-La's countryside.
 
"Scenery in Shangri-La is world-class, and what I see here is unique," the tourist Peng says.
 
By: Wang Kaihao

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