Chongqing– The online promotional campaign "Pastoral Aspirations" aimed at highlighting the achievements of rural revitalization across Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Shaanxi featured a guided tour of the rural agriculture and tourism resort named Qingmai Liangyuan in the Changshou countryside, as part of a four-day itinerary for media representatives in multiple districts and counties across Chongqing Municipality.
On first impression, the name Qingmai naturally reminds visitors of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand due to having identical names in Chinese. However, the resort founder Li Zemin explained that 'Qing' was derived from the green mountain surroundings, while 'Mai' was taken after the great strides achieved in rural revitalization.
The idyllic rice paddies of Qingmai Liangyuan in Changshou District cover more than 60 acres, which entices many urban residents to experience rural tourism. (Photograph taken by James Alexander)
Upon stepping inside the countryside resort, the most eye-catching feature is the romantic expanse of impeccably arranged and lush paddy fields covering over sixty acres of land nearby the adjacent Mingyue Ridge, with neat brick paths leading in between amid the sounds of nature and watery fields alive with small fish and crabs.
In addition to the modern and attractive range of accommodation and other essential visitor facilities, Qingmai Resort has also driven rural revitalization for local people through full process organic rice production, an on-site rice wine distillery, and a manually operated rapeseed oil workshop which generates wide sources of income.
The Qingmai Wine Distillery produces high-quality rice wine derived from organically produced stalks. (Photograph taken by James Alexander)
However, as the founder Li Zemin explained, overreliance on agricultural products alone does not produce a viable economic model. So the resort has worked to integrate development through a whole range of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries that includes online commercial platforms, rural produce exhibition centers, accommodation and catering, organic farming demonstration areas, fruit picking, and agricultural experiences geared toward the public.
An impressive achievement on the newly paved mountain road leading high up Mingyue Ridge has been the stretches of fully dredged waterways, which previously were foul contaminated swamps, but have now been restored to a clean and attractive series of miniature reservoirs separated by stone bridges crossing over gurgling weirs.
The product exhibition hall of Qingmai Liangyuan displays how Changshou has integrated primary, secondary, and tertiary industries into a successful business model. (Photograph taken by James Alexander)
In 2022, Changshou District completed decontamination projects for drinking water sources in ten neighborhoods and towns while commencing 19 restoration projects for polluted bodies of water in rural areas, of which six have already been finished.
Changshou now has ambitious plans to develop 103 world-class tourism resorts centered on exercise and well-being across the whole district, thus building on the successful business model in the Qingmai Liangyuan resort.
The once contaminated waterways running down Mingyue Ridge through Qingmai Liangyuan have now been fully restored into pristine lakes and streams. (Photograph taken by James Alexander)
Agricultural output for Changshou District grew by 4.5% in 2021 to reach an impressive figure of 9.79 billion yuan, increasing the average disposable incomes of local people to 20,104 yuan and further closing the gap between rural and urban citizens.
The practical experience gained in resolving the difficulties of land usage, provision of rural public services, and agricultural guidance has produced a series of case examples that have been promoted nationwide, earning 12 special accolades such as a 'national town powerhouse in agriculture, and 'demonstration village for agricultural produce.'
In the next step, Qingmai Liangyuan is set to become the central feature of a rural tourism experience park themed on an 'Agricultural Disney' that will further enhance the drive for rural revitalization and mold Changshou into an internationally recognized cultural base for intelligent green agriculture.