Country for PR: China
Contributor: Xinhua News Agency
Thursday, December 02 2021 - 18:30
AsiaNet
Scenery Strategy Bears Fruits in the Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark
CHANGSHA, China, Dec. 2, 2021 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--

Good news keeps coming from the Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark in 2021: 
Aizhai-Shibadong-Dehang Grand Canyon is rated as National 5A scenic spot, and 
trips as caving, rock climbing, bungee jumping and Folk Customs and Popular 
Science Exhibition Hall visiting are marketed. Geoscience study tours are 
highly popular among students. 

Acocording to Peng Hua, the Director of the Geoparks Administration of Xiangxi 
Tujia & Miao Autonomous Prefecture, from its application in 2017, the park has 
upheld the tourism-driven strategy to promote industry integration and rural 
revitalization by building interests-linked mechanism, including encouraging 
the development of special agricultural products, intangible cultural heritage 
products and national handicrafts such as kiwi, lily, smoked meat, Miao 
embroidery, silver ornaments and Tujia brocade. Farmhouse restaurants and shops 
are opened and run by villagers, through which more and more local people and 
villages are benefited. 

In 2020, the park has received 4.5 million domestic and foreign tourists and 
achieved a tourism revenue of 25.5 billion yuan. At present, the park has 21 
star hotels, 322 characteristic B&B and more than 1,200 specialty shops. 29,186 
poor households and 120,106 poor people have been driven out of poverty in an 
all-round way by employment and independent entrepreneurship.

In many villages in the park area, industry and tourism have formed mutualism 
pattern. In Shibadong village, rural tourism plays the leading role, 
supplemented with industry of kiwi plantation, Miao embroidery and spring 
water. In Dujiapo of Zuolongxia village, tea and tourism are integrated, 
viewing platforms and tent hotels are built, and traditional houses are 
transformed into B&B. In 2020, the village received over 200 thousand tourists. 
Nanzhu village, by making full use of karst landscape, rolls out tourism routes 
of rock climbing outdoors and caving which are becoming popular among outdoor 
enthusiasts. In Rebala scenic area of Laoche village, Tujia's life are vividly 
reproduced by selling Tujia brocade, wax dyeing handicrafts and Tujia national 
customs like the crying marriage, waving dance, Maogusi dance, Daliuzi (music 
instruments performing), Dongdongkui (bamboo flute playing) and dragon boat 
racing are also presented.

The Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark covers 7 counties and cities in Xiangxi, with 
an total area of 2,710 square kilometers. With karst as its main landscape, the 
park becomes one of the regions with the most scientific, geoscientific and 
aesthetic value in the globe. It completely records the geological historical 
evolution process of Xiangxi and is a model of the integration of karst 
geological ecology and ethnic culture.

Source: The Geoparks Administration of Xiangxi Tujia & Miao Autonomous 
Prefecture

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=409538

   Caption: Experts explained the origin of the Guzhangian GSSP of the Xiangxi 
UNESCO Global Geopark.

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=409540

   Caption: Tourists went bungee jumping on the Aizhai Grand Bridge of the 
Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark.

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