Danling County

Rural tourism is booming in Xingfu Ancient Village, Danling county, southwest China's Sichuan Province. Home to 219 villagers, the ancient village dating back more than 200 years has six B&B hotels and over 10 agritainment facilities. The annual per capita net income of the villagers exceeds 40,000 yuan ($5,480). Photo shows a view of Xingfu Ancient Village, Danling county, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Photo courtesy of Dan Xuan) Nestled deep in the mountains, the village was once rarely known to the outside world due to a poor transportation infrastructure. Gong Shaorong is a native of the village. According to Gong, young villagers worked outside the village in the past and rarely returned home. Although the ancient village featuring traditional dwellings, ancient trees and other natural and cultural landscapes rose to fame thanks to a movie filmed there, it gradually lost vitality due to poor transportation, a weak economy and an aging population. Things began to change in 2014 when Xingfu Ancient Village was listed as one of Sichuan's 13 pilot programs to upgrade the development of rural tourism between 2014 and 2016 for its unique resources. "Developing rural tourism can lure villagers back and attract tourists from other places," said…