Lanzhou, March 3 (Zhongxin Net) -- In the early spring of 22, the grassland of Gansu Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is still covered with a thin layer of ice and snow, and the cattle and sheep scattered over the mountains and the sparkling rivers are intertwined. In the "Antelope City" cooperation, people are in a hurry, catering, inns, performing arts bars, storage shops... It's all in order. This snowy plateau, the closest to the mainland, seems to be waiting to welcome distinguished guests from all over the world.
"In 2023, Gannan Tourism will be born and bloom." Yu Chenghui, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Gansu Provincial People's Congress and secretary of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture CPC Committee, is very determined and full of expectations. In his opinion, it is time for the pearl of the plateau in Gannan to shine.
"Picking up garbage" knocks on the "ecological door"
The picture shows villagers in Luqu County, Gannan Prefecture, scrubbing their balcony windows. Photo by Wei Jianjun
This is the 12th year that Yu Chenghui has entered Tibet, and it is also a period of great changes in Gannan. "The change in Gannan comes from the change of the Gannan people, and I hope it can also lead to changes in Tibet-related areas." Recently, Yu Chenghui was interviewed exclusively by reporters from China News Agency and China News Network, interpreting the story behind Gannan's "butterfly change" in the past ten years and sharing his "lonely" mental journey.
Bow down and pick up the trash. Since 2015, Gannan has set off a huge "environmental revolution", with national mobilization, full participation, full supervision and full-time cleaning, vowing to make this "the cleanest grassland in Tibet-related areas". At that time, Yu Chenghui had just taken over as the secretary of the Gannan Prefecture Party Committee, and he knew that "ecology is the lifeblood of Gannan".
At that time, this was extremely difficult to implement in Gannan, which had been influenced by the traditional backward production and lifestyle of living by water and grass and mixing people and animals for thousands of years. In order to "lead the noodles with dots", starting from the cooperative city where the state capital is located, Yu Chenghui leads by example, every Friday he goes to the streets to pick up garbage, clean up rivers, clean squares, and practice. Some people also talked about this as a "show" behind his back, but Yu Chenghui did not care, he wanted to let the world see the devastation and rebirth of Gannan caused by this trivial incident in three or five years, and he wanted to start by "picking up every piece of garbage" and clean up the 4,5 square kilometers of Gannan land.
The construction of the whole non-garbage demonstration area has formulated dozens of standards, from towns and villages, along highways, mountains and rivers, grassland wetlands, scenic spots to the front and back of houses, toilet manure piles, window tables, pot head stoves. In the end, with the joint efforts of 75,<> residents of all ethnic groups, Gannan achieved "no garbage in the whole area".
In order to keep the tourists from littering, Gannan hung the signboard of "No Garbage for Global Tourism" in prominent positions on grasslands, scenic spots, and highways. When tourists arrive in Gannan, the endless grassland is clean and beautiful, consciously leaving no garbage and taking away garbage.
Three years later, Gannan's "no garbage" brand was well-known throughout the country.
The picture shows a photo of no garbage cards in Gannan. Photo by Li Yalong
However, in Yu Chenghui's view, this is only the first step in Gannan's "butterfly transformation". More importantly, to let this "environmental revolution" continue to "fission", not only to change people's bad habits, but also to knock on the "ecological door" and create the prosperity of "global tourism" in Gannan.
"Small toilet" changed to "new business card"
After environmental remediation, Gannan has beautiful scenery. The picture shows Miaohuashan Village, Bajiao Township, Lintan County, Gannan Prefecture. Photo by Duan Ping
To develop, it is not enough to clean up, but also to be convenient with others, and even more convenient with oneself.
As an important "small step" in the change of Gannan, the prefecture actively responded to the "toilet revolution" deployment of the former National Tourism Administration (now the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China), and continuously promoted the "toilet revolution" to extend from scenic spots to urban areas, along roads and rural areas. Soon, clean, tidy, spacious and bright toilets stood on the grassland, saying goodbye to the problem of "difficulty in going to the toilet" that tourists had long criticized in the past.
"Stubborn diseases rely on strong medicine." In the face of thousands of years of traditional toilet environment and concepts, changing the living habits of Tibetans is not an easy task, and it will take a long time. Yu Chenghui visited in secret and every weekend, often going straight to various villages on the way to the countryside, discovering problems, pointing out problems, and seriously dealing with them. "Secretary Yu has already arrived in the village." When the top party and government officials in the local county often suddenly received reports from the village and township, Yu Chenghui had already walked around the village outside the village, in front of and behind the house.
His bus, which runs up to 13,<> kilometers a year, "breaks his legs, says all kinds of good things, and curses the most." Countless days and nights, alone on the road, he often cheered himself up: "Do what you are doing now as the last thing in this life, and your brilliance will begin today, and your difference will also appear today." ”
The toilet problem was once a "stumbling block" hindering the development and progress of Gannan's tourism industry and a "roadblock" to the construction of scenic spots. With the continuous advancement of the "toilet revolution", these problems have been solved. The change of small toilet has become another "new business card" of Gannan tourism and has made a new appearance.
In 2016, Gannan was awarded the title of Toilet Revolution Advanced of the Year by the former National Tourism Administration.
"Small village" builds dreams and "rural prosperity"
The picture shows grassland herders grazing in Awancang Town, Maqu County. Photo by Zhong Jianlong
Yu Chenghui said that the change in Gannan came from "the dry of Gannan".
Relying on the background of the "environmental revolution" and the development of a new blueprint for cultural tourism, in 2019, Gannan launched the "1 million" project, that is, to expand and strengthen one characteristic brand of "All-region Tourism No Garbage, Nine-Color Gannan Shambhala", build 15 cultural tourism benchmark villages, explore the creation of 100 all-region tourism professional villages, accelerate the construction of 1000,10000 ecological civilization well-off villages with tourism functions, and innovate and cultivate <>,<> boutique homestays and star-rated farmhouses.
Up to now, the prefecture has built 17 cultural tourism benchmark villages, 103 all-area tourism professional villages, 706 ecological civilization well-off villages with tourism functions, and cultivated more than 3000,<> homestays and agricultural and animal husbandry homes. Small villages, the homes of thousands of farmers and herdsmen, have completely changed.
17 tourism poverty alleviation models, including Gannan's "Tourism Poverty Alleviation and Poverty Alleviation Model", were shortlisted for the "2018 WTA Tourism Poverty Alleviation Case", which is also the only shortlisted case in Gansu Province. Among them, Boyu Village, Mu'er Town, Zhuoni County, Gaxiu Village, Gahai Township, Luqu County, and Xiangjiao Village, Quao Township, Xiahe County were selected as the first batch of rural tourism key villages in China.
In 2021, in order to achieve greater breakthroughs in higher standards and higher quality, Gannan proposed to build "Five No Gannan", create "Ten Homes" and build a pilot demonstration area for green modernization on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau on the basis of the systematic development of the "combined fist" in the past.
From spirit to heart, Gannan changes have attracted the attention of the outside world. The efforts of the past years have injected strong impetus into the next high-quality development of Gannan, and green Gannan has quietly risen.
After more than ten years of deep cultivation in Tibet, Yu Chenghui has a deep understanding of the "inferiority and self-confidence" of the Gannan people. He said that through ecological beauty, industrial prosperity and people's prosperity, Gannan should be restored to his self-confidence and happiness. "Let the Gannan people go wherever they go, stand tall and proudly say, 'I am a Gannan person', and now I have done it." Yu Chenghui said. (End)