A rending of the Wuxing Xisai Mountain Gallery to be built in Mianshan village in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/ hz66.com]

To further increase its attractiveness, authorities have launched a campaign to spruce up the environment, with some abandoned facilities including pigsties and sheep pens being transformed into cafes and libraries, according to Liu Changlin, Party chief of Miaoshan village.

A 10-million-yuan gallery will be also built on the site of an abandoned water plant.

Miaoshan was honored as a national key scenic village in 2021, when the average annual income of local residents was double the figure in 2017. 

The booming tourism industry has also drawn some young people who used to work outside to return and start their own businesses. Last year, more than 200 people returned to Miaoshan and opened 30 homestays and agritainment facilities.

Among them is Mao Xiaolan, who returned from Huzhou to start an agritainment business in the village with her husband, after having run a small restaurant in the urban area of Huzhou.

Zhu Kunming, another resident in the village, has converted his house into a six-room homestay that will be open in about a month.

Huzhou authorities have been leveraging rural tourism as a means to raise the income of rural residents and bolster common prosperity.

The city recently set a goal of increasing the revenue generated by rural tourism to above 15 billion yuan by 2025.