2019年CRI Tourism gives new hope to Korean ethnic village in NE China

 

The once-poverty stricken village of Hongqi in northeast China is being held up as a model for ethnic¹ tourism development in China.

When you first stop in the small village of Hongqi, located at the foot of the Changbai Mountains, you will probably be greeted with folk songs and dances performed by villagers dressed in traditional ethnic Korean costumes.

And look around, some austere² bungalows³ with grey overhanging eaves are neatly⁴ laid out.

Loudspeakers keep broadcasting in both Mandarin⁵ and Korean.

Hongqi is home to around 100 people from the Korean ethnic minority.

Hongqi is billed as China's Number-1 Korean ethnic village.

59-year-old Zhao Zhefan, Head of the Hongqi Village committee, says villagers now can share the benefits of the booming tourism industry.

"Regarding tourism, over the past three years, it reached the peak in 2018. We received around 450,000 visitors last year. In our village, there are now 36 families that have turned their home into guest houses. So our village can accommodate 200 tourists every night. The average income of each villager was around 8,000 yuan last year."

However, Hongqi village was not always this way.

It used to be the most impoverished⁶ village within the Yanbian Korean Autonomous⁷ Prefecture in Jilin due to the simplex industrial structure.

Villagers used to earn their livings only by farming, but frequent seasonal⁸ flooding dramatically affected⁹ harvests.

In the late 1980s, Jin Zhenguo, former official of the local rural construction committee, decided¹⁰ to take advantage of the village's Korean ethnic customs to develop tourism.

He spent four years moving the whole village from a riverside to a roadside where tourists must pass by when they travel to the Changbai Mountains.

The village also put a priority on designing the facades¹¹ of the village homes.

Jin Zhenguo also put forward a number of thoughts into the interior designs of the homes.

"What I feel the proudest is that when we started to rebuild the village, I insisted that each family must have the indoor toilet. At that time, we didn't have enough money to realized that. So I required them to make room for the indoor toilets. And we laid sewer¹² lines. When time was ripe for installing the sanitary¹³ wares¹⁴, we would be able to use the indoor bathrooms."

Meng Fanbin, former party secretary of Hongqi, says in order to introduce the village to tourists, he went to several cities to give out pamphlets.

"In 2004, three people in our village (including me) went to several cities, such as Yanji, Mudanjiang, Harbin, Jilin, Changchun, etc. to introduce our village. We went the travel agencies in these cities and we stayed at each travel agency for around 1.5 hour to negotiate with them and introduce the ethnic characteristics of our village. We wanted to attract more tourists in this way."

These endeavors have paid off.

Working in cooperation with a tourism company, Hongqi has become one of the must-visit spots when people travel to the Changbai Mountains.

Chen Shaoke, Manager of the tourism company, says they have more plans for the village in the future.

"Our company has cooperated with Hongqi Village for eight years. In the future, we will enrich the tourism programs and improve infrastructure¹⁵. For example, we have prepared an ethnic musical drama which will be staged in the village. And during summertime, there are lots of tourists. Therefore, in addition to the guest houses, we will also build a hotel here which can accommodate 200 to 300 people."

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 austere   

adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的

参考例句：

• His way of life is rather austere.他的生活方式相当简朴。
• The room was furnished in austere style.这间屋子的陈设都很简单朴素。

3 bungalows   

n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋

参考例句：

• It was a town filled with white bungalows. 这个小镇里都是白色平房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We also seduced by the reasonable price of the bungalows. 我们也确实被这里单层间的合理价格所吸引。 来自互联网

4 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

5 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

6 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

8 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

12 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

13 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

14 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。