PR93423

CHANGSHA, China, Dec. 2, 2021 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

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: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=409538

   Caption: Experts explained the origin of the Guzhangian GSSP of the Xiangxi UNESCO

Global Geopark.

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

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

Global Geopark.