BUZZ BEAT MEDIA

After becoming a trendy topic abroad earlier this year, “country walk” has been gaining popularity among inbound tourists to China.

Xinhua Silk Road: “Courtyard economy” spurs rural cultural tourism in central China county

In Changsha County, central China’s Hunan Province, a small village named Xiangfeng Village is riding the wave of “country walk” and leveraging “courtyard economy” to boost rural tourism.

Among its foreign visitors, seven youths from six countries including the United States, Germany and Malaysia have lived in the village while filming the popular TV reality show “From Far Lands to China’s Farmlands”.

Acting as “new farmers”, these energetic foreign youths worked side by side with local villagers to experience the courtyard-centered rural cultural tourism in Xiangfeng Village.

Apart from converting idle rural houses into spaces featuring popular international styles, they also tried herbal hot pot and experienced intangible cultural heritage (ICH) activities, while enjoying oven-baked bread and specialty coffee there.

What impressed them most was not only the delicious Chinese food, but also the enchanting rural life in Xiangfeng Village where agritainment thrives and Chinese and foreign cultures intertwine in harmony.

After the second season of “From Far Lands to China’s Farmlands” amassed 420 million views online, the TV reality show that became a sensation in China brought Chinese rural tourism into the spotlight again.

When the young people from Malaysia and Georgia decided to formally settle there, Changsha County used these small courtyards to create not only new rural consumption scenarios, but also platforms to present the Chinese-style rural micro-vacations to the world.

*All Photos from Country Walk