Red tourism and relics lift people out of poverty

A view of Fengjingduhao Park, which is built upon several old CPC bases. Chairman Mao Zedong's old residence, where he lived during his short stay in Huichang county, is also in the park. SHADOW LI/CHINA DAILY

The opening of a recreational park on the site of a former revolutionary base has raised local living standards. Shadow Li and Li Bingcun report from Huichang, Jiangxi.

At 43, Zou Zeliang is finally content with life because he is living in a way he would never have dared to dream about years ago. The newlywed lives with his wife in a three-story, fully furnished detached house.

Already living in absolute poverty, Zou, from Wenwuba, a village in Huichang county, Jiangxi province, hit rock bottom after his mother died when he was young. He finally lost all hope when his father, his only close relative, died a few years ago.

"I had lost interest in everything, even my hope in life, because of the impoverished condition I lived in," Zou said.

He had worked many jobs: apprentice bricklayer; waiter; security guard; and laborer at a clothing factory in Guangdong province. Nothing lasted long because he was unable to adapt to city life.

He returned home and settled for the status quo. To add to his problems, he had injured some muscles in his abdomen while working as a bricklayer.

However, a beacon of hope came when the local government lent a helping hand.

Road out of poverty

In 2014, Zou and his father were classified as impoverished. Their old home, shabby and almost dilapidated, was close to a well-known relic of a Communist Party of China base in Jiangxi－the Yuegan provincial committee of the CPC.

The turning point came in 2016, when the local authority compensated Zou and his father after they were relocated to make way for Fengjingduhao Park, a planned tourist attraction built around the cultural relic that was aimed at boosting local tourism. He and his father were relocated to his current house, more than twice the size of the original residence, which would raise their living standards.

The subsidy for relocation was a ray of sunshine that gave Zou hope of getting out of the quagmire he had been stuck in for years.

Also that year, the local authorities helped him secure an interest-free loan of 20,000 yuan.

Using the money as a startup fund, Zou began a fish farming business. As he was starting from scratch, the local authorities provided training on how to tend to his fish in rivers and the use of e-commerce platforms to promote sales.

For the first few years, Zou had a tough time because raising fish in a river is different from raising them in ponds or lakes because the running water and the current make it more difficult technically, he said. To add to his woes, his father died in 2019, just a few days before Spring Festival. With the new house still under construction and his old home being renovated by the park authorities, Zou was forced to live alone in a tin shelter he had built on the riverside to raise fish.

This time, though, he didn't give in. Zou knew that it was his last chance and that he had reached a point of no return in his life. His perseverance paid off eventually.

He now earns 10,000 yuan ($1,540) a year by fish farming, and he has set his sights on eventually moving his fish farming business away from the river into local ponds in line with new regulations related to environmental protection.