From 'Beautiful Villages' to sustainable livelihoods

True rural vitalization transforms scenic beauty into village-owned long-term prosperity

China's rural landscapes have never looked better. Thanks to decades of greening and renovation campaigns, countless villages now boast pristine streets, picturesque lodgings, and Instagram-ready vistas. Yet, a frequently asked question in the field of rural tourism is: Does a beautiful village automatically translate into a prosperous livelihood of local villagers? The evidence suggests otherwise. While some villages enjoy fleeting viral fame, others have successfully transformed aesthetics into durable assets.

Beyond the immediate revenue from bed-nights, which is the number of nights that guests stay at an accommodation, and tickets, rural tourism plays a fundamental role in revitalizing the countryside. It serves as a multifaceted catalyst: it enables farmers to sell agricultural products on-site without enduring high logistics costs; it creates avenues for local entrepreneurship, from operating guesthouses to leading heritage workshops; and, crucially, it allows younger generations to build careers without migrating to distant megacities. This keeps families in one place, stabilizes community structures and significantly enhances rural resilience. When tourism is deeply rooted, it acts as a social safety net, diversifying household incomes and insulating villages from external economic shocks.

However, realizing these benefits requires moving beyond superficial aesthetics. For most farmers, tourism is a livelihood that must coexist with agriculture and adapt to seasonality. Recognizing this crucial reality, the transition from traditional livelihood to sustainable rural entrepreneurship hinges on four interconnected conditions.

First, livelihoods are secured when farmers are the protagonists, not props. Historically engaged in farming, forestry, or fishing, rural residents are increasingly embracing tourism. With training from local governments and associations, their innate hospitality translates into quality service. In Guzhu village, in Zhejiang province, the secret to generating 1.2 billion yuan ($177.31 million) in tourism revenue in 2024 goes beyond the mountainous views, the cool weather in summer and the historical tea culture. Nearly 90 percent of the village workforce, including a now-returning younger generation, is employed in tourism. They upgraded their own farmhouses into senior-friendly retreats, adding elevators and tearooms to cater to visitors from Shanghai and surrounding cities. This aligns with the Zhejiang Homestay Association's principle that a rural homestay must be centered on villagers. Importantly, tourism here complements traditional tea cultivation; the "slow tea life" attracts visitors at all seasons, offsetting agricultural slack seasons and stabilizing household incomes.

Second, organizing rural tourism stakeholders, rather than ideas, is vital. Unlike their counterparts in the cities, farmers in rural China face difficulties in linking with the external market. They lack the expertise to build a brand or negotiate with digital platforms. Xitou village in Zhejiang province offers a blueprint. Once a polluted village, it drew strength from its traditional firing technology of Longquan celadon, which was listed in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.

By reviving seven ancient dragon kilns and establishing the "one-village-people" tourism company, a village-owned limited liability company, all 2,145 registered villagers became shareholders who contributed land, labor and the "Unextinguished Kiln Fire" intellectual property. This organizational shift turned a fragmented community into a unified economic force, generating over 35 million yuan ($5.17 million) in tourism income in 2024 and earning the UN Tourism "Best Tourism Village" title in 2024. Here, environmental beautification was matched by social organization, ensuring that financial rewards remained within the village.

Third, moving beyond pretty views to a distinctive thematic brand is essential. Superficial development sells generic landscapes; sustainable livelihoods sell a unique lifestyle. Xitou does not merely sell "nice mountains and creeks"; it sells 1,700 years of celadon craftsmanship.

Similarly, Guzhu village markets the "slow tea life" of the Yangtze Delta's senior citizens. By branding these specific narratives, villages encourage tourists to stay longer and spend more. Downstream producers — whether tea growers in Guzhu or celadon artisans in Xitou — benefit from the premium created by this thematic consistency. Beauty thus becomes the backdrop for a salable, high-value experience.

In the digital era, tourists eye rural destinations influenced by social media. Therefore, digital empowerment must be localized to capture the full value chain. If villagers do not control the digital interface, they risk becoming low-wage providers for platform algorithms. In Tahou village, in Zhejiang province, the local collective developed its own WeChat mini-program, integrating over 70 homestays under a unified booking and service-quality score system. Supported by local government initiatives and platforms such as Douyin, village-run studios train locals to sell locally produced mugwort pillows and two-three-day wellness tourism packages directly to urban consumers. In these cases, digital tools did not replace the village; they grant villagers ownership of the customer relationship, turning passive "scenery" into interactive, profitable "business".

The journey from "Beautiful Villages" to sustainable livelihoods represents a fundamental shift from passive asset appreciation to active income generation. The ultimate metric of success is resilience. We must look beyond the number of beds or homestay rooms and focus instead on ownership: Who owns the brand? Who operates the livestream? And crucially, would the village continue making money if the influencers left tomorrow? True rural vitalization occurs when the beauty is owned, operated, and branded by the villagers themselves, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem where the scenery and the livelihood are one and the same.

The author is a professor of tourism at the School of Management at Zhejiang University.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.