[Explanation] On December 2, the 24th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization General Assembly was held in Madrid, Spain.
Xidi Village, Yixian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, stood out from more than 170 applications from 75 countries and won the title of "World's Best Tourist Village".
This is also the affirmation of the rich cultural and natural resources of Xidi and the three pillars of sustainable development by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
[Concurrent] Ke Fanghong, Member of the Party Leadership Group of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Yixian County, Huangshan City
Xidi has always been centered on tourism, creating a sustainable development path with villagers as the main body and the government as the mainstay, effectively protecting the world cultural heritage, inheriting Huizhou culture, and achieving a virtuous circle of protection and activation.
We actively apply for the world’s best tourist villages, which will help promote the development of rural tourism in our country, help rural revitalization, and help promote this country’s rural tourism destination worldwide through the United Nations World Tourism Organization platform, and improve our country’s rural tourism international influence.
[Explanation] It is understood that Xidi Village is a traditional Chinese village with a history of nearly a thousand years, and it is a typical representative of Chinese Huizhou architectural art.
Ke Fanghong, a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Yixian County Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau, introduced that Xidi Village began to develop tourism in 1986, attracting a large number of tourists with its characteristic ancient architecture and rural scenery in southern Anhui, and successfully transformed from a backward village into a well-known rural tourist destination at home and abroad. The disposable income of villagers has increased from 13,273 yuan (RMB, the same below) in 2012 to about 40,000 yuan in 2020, and their living standards have improved significantly.
[Concurrent] Ke Fanghong, Member of the Party Leadership Group of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Yixian County, Huangshan City
Every year, 8% of our ticket income in Xidi Village is given to the village collective, and 20% is used as maintenance funds.
Another is that after the students in the village are admitted to the university, the village will also give certain rewards and supplements.
There is also the elderly in the village. After they reach the age of 60, they will also use a portion of the money from the village collective to support the elderly.
It also includes helping the villagers buy medical insurance and cable TV. This is the bonus that the village collective brings to the villagers from the ticket income.
[Explanation] Since the development of tourism in 1986, Xidi Village has been led by the government, with villagers as the main body, ecological construction and environmental protection as the focus, and vigorously promoted the construction of ecological civilization, achieving "green water and green mountains" and "golden mountains and silver mountains". A win-win situation allows the local villagers to become the biggest beneficiaries, while the villagers also have endogenous motivation to actively participate in the inheritance and protection of the ancient village.
[Concurrent] Tu Hao, Deputy Mayor of Xidi Town, Yi County, Huangshan City
We Xidi Village made an in-depth model of the integration of the three governances, and then we formulated this special Xidi Village’s village regulations and a plan for the assessment of the villagers’ points system, and then passed this kind of assessment of the villagers’ daily behaviors. The assessment is linked to his year-end tourism dividend, so that through this grassroots governance, villagers can participate in the protection of this ancient village.
[Commentary] Misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River, Huizhou in my dream.
As a place where the “four major advantages” of culture, nature, ecology, and tourism are superimposed, Xidi Village has more than 130 “national treasure buildings”. In order to protect ancient houses, ancient ancestral halls, ancient archways, etc., Yi County has formulated The "Administrative Measures for the Protection of World Cultural Heritage in Xidi and Hongcun Villages of Yixian County" was promulgated to escort the world cultural heritage at three levels: protected areas, construction control areas, and environmental coordination areas.
[Concurrent] Tu Hao, Deputy Mayor of Xidi Town, Yi County, Huangshan City
Since Xidi was named the best tourist village in the world this year, we Xidi has also further completed the integration of cultural and tourism, through the development of some special historical culture, such as couplets, plaques, such as Huizhou temples, etc. To dig deeper into the connotation of this cultural tourism, let Xidi Village's culture and Xidi Village's tourism and culture integrate deeper and go further.
Liu Honghe reports from Huangshan, Anhui
Editor in charge: [Liu Xian]