Yunnan's provincial Party secretary has emphasized the need to innovatively develop cultural and tourism resources, creating a beneficial industry that boosts agricultural incomes.
The call is far from theoretical. Across Yunnan, this directive is already materializing into tangible improvements in villages.
Initial Steps for Success
Data reveals that in 2025, Yunnan welcomed 5.5124 million long-stay visitors, a 41.4% year-on-year increase. The average stay duration was 83 days, up by 3 days, with total spending reaching 69.705 billion yuan, surging 54.2%. By the end of 2025, 824 natural villages were engaged in the long-stay business, a 15-fold increase from 2024. This directly revitalized over 27,400 idle rural homes, created local employment for 63,500 people, and boosted monthly income for 29,400 farming households by an average of 2,735 yuan per household. This data validates the concept of "A Life Called Yunnan" – a lifestyle desired by visitors that simultaneously promotes local prosperity. When "Living in Yunnan" beautifies villages and enlivens daily life, and the people truly benefit from development, rural revitalization gains powerful momentum.
Foundational Work: Improving the Living Environment
Improving the living environment is a prerequisite for welcoming guests. A villager from Mangguang Village, Xishuangbanna, noted that the once-dirty village, now filled with flowers and birds, not only attracts tourists but is also a more pleasant place to live. This highlights a simple truth: environmental improvement is the "entry ticket" for rural tourism and long-stay visits. For this Dai village, wastewater treatment was a major historical challenge. Now, it's a popular destination. The local Party branch led villagers in environmental upgrades, securing funds to build drainage ditches and septic tanks. The renovated ponds became clear water features, with treated water used to irrigate public and private gardens. Since 2025, Mangguang Village has received over 300,000 tourists. The Dai "Ganbai" culture has become a major attraction, with over 3,300 stalls set up, generating 5.86 million yuan in additional income for villagers.
Consider another example: Xiazhai Natural Village in Qingshui Village, Tengchong. This small village of 73 households, located just 1.5 kilometers from the Rehai scenic area, had long left its precious geothermal hot springs and farmhouses idle. In 2025, the village Party branch established a cooperative. Villagers contributed idle homes and farmland, while a company invested 200 million yuan. Within a year, 11 abandoned old houses and 110 *mu* of farmland were revitalized. A hot spring resort that preserves the village's character while incorporating modern long-stay elements was born. Tengchong has succeeded in ensuring visitors don't just glance but stay and immerse themselves. During the recent peak season, the resort and over 20 new surrounding B&Bs were consistently fully booked. In 2026, the village's land lease income reached 330,000 yuan annually, with 28 villagers employed at the resort and B&Bs, earning a monthly wage of 4,000 yuan per person. Environmental improvement is not a superficial project but the rural version of optimizing the "business environment." As the provincial leader stated, the goal is to make every village clean and beautiful. A beautiful village with a good living environment allows every household to benefit from the long-stay economy.
Core Drivers: Talent Return and Market Entities
Infrastructure is important, but talent is what truly brings a village to life. In Honghe, Ding Jinan, a young woman from Yuanyang who worked outside, returned to her hometown in 2020 driven by passion. She launched a "City Escape Plan" hiking project, guiding tourists through terraced fields, forests, and streams to experience Yuanyang's unique beauty. Her company now provides stable employment for 13 villagers and has created temporary work for over 100 others. Inspired by her, three restaurants and one B&B opened in the village. The once-quiet village has been revitalized by cultural tourism, becoming a desired "homestead on the fields."
There are many such transformation stories. Guided by a team from Sun Yat-sen University, Azheke Village, located in the core area of the UNESCO-listed Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, initiated a tourism development model led by the village collective. In 2024, it received over 150,000 tourists, with total tourism revenue exceeding 4 million yuan, successfully入选 as one of the "World's Best Tourism Villages." Gao Hua, a native "post-00s" villager and former kindergarten teacher in Kunming, also returned home. Through livestreaming, she showcases the beauty of the Hani terraces to a wider audience.
Supportive policies are a common hope for returning entrepreneurs. In the Yangzonghai Scenic Area of Kunming, authorities have implemented policies like entrepreneurial担保 loans and one-time startup subsidies to foster a positive ecosystem. Since 2024, over 31 million yuan in担保 loans have been issued, supporting more than 150返乡 projects. Returning youth Chen Yunting combined Tangchi hot springs with traditional Chinese wellness culture, creating a new format of "healing B&B + leisure café + customized tours." She successfully turned Haibian Village into a网红打卡地 with over 300 daily visitors.
From the Honghe Hani Terraces and Xishuangbanna rainforests to Tengchong hot springs and Wenshan's Liulangcheng, Yunnan's rich and unique tourism resources are no longer dormant. The return of talent and the introduction of market entities are accelerating the transformation of these unique experiences into capital for increasing群众 income. As emphasized, the goal is to leverage Yunnan's resource advantages so that "enterprises can profit and farmers can earn income."
Organizational Backbone: Leadership in Action
Strong leadership is crucial. During the 2025 National Two Sessions, the provincial Party secretary acted as the chief promoter of "Living in Yunnan," extending a warm invitation to friends at home and abroad. He pointed out that the ultimate goal of utilizing resources well, protecting the environment, and building better villages is to deliver tangible happiness to everyone living in Yunnan. This is not only a vivid example of a provincial leader championing an industry but also points to a good path for boosting farmers' incomes. The principle of "each level leading the next to work, reform, and learn" – with leaders setting the example and seeing work through – has powerfully driven the deep integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism.
In December 2025, the secretary visited Yangpo Village in Nujiang, sitting with villagers, business operators, and grassroots cadres to calculate income gains. He was pleased to learn that the village's recent focus on tourism and long-stay visits had allowed villagers to earn money at their doorstep and even attracted urban entrepreneurs, charting a path of turning resources into industry. In February 2026, he chose Xishuangbanna for his first post-Lunar New Year inspection, encouraging a deeper transition from "tourism" to "residency." The provincial leader is consistently active on the front lines, visiting B&Bs and farmhouses, inquiring about incomes, difficulties, and hopes. In a response to netizens, he wrote that during grassroots inspections, many long-stay visitors had shared their stories of living and pursuing dreams in Yunnan. This作风 of treating the people's concerns as top priority sets an example for cadres across the province.
Prefectural and municipal Party secretaries are also focused on the front lines. The Honghe Prefectural Party Secretary inspected Baxin Town in Shiping County, assessing the economic impact of the long-stay industry and related events. He stressed balancing ecological protection with industrial development and improving the quality of homestays and tourism services.
At the county level, organizational systems are built right into the long-stay industry. In Mojiang County, the county Party secretary and magistrate lead key农文旅 projects, establishing a four-level联动机制 of "county committee coordination, township主抓, village Party organization implementation, and党员带头." Manhai Village in Lianzhu Town innovated with a "Party organization + rural CEO" model. The Party branch led efforts to revitalize闲置房屋, creating a format of "intangible cultural heritage研学 + courtyard economy + shared旅居." This transformed a "hollow village" into one of the province's first "Living in Yunnan" pilot sites, receiving over 4,200 long-stay visitors.
Moving from going it alone to working together, village Party secretaries are guiding fellow villagers onto a new path of common prosperity where every household participates and everyone benefits. In Simola Wa Village, Tengchong, a tourism professional cooperative led by the Party branch has generated 1.9837 million yuan in collective income over the past three years, with村民分红 of 541,600 yuan. Currently, 208 village Party branch secretaries in Tengchong also serve as cooperative heads. To promote diversified development in "planting & breeding+, production-supply-marketing, and农文旅," Party organizations at all levels have领办 cooperatives, organizing and guiding over 21,800群众 to work locally, driving income increases exceeding 130 million yuan.
From a provincial secretary championing the industry to secretaries at all levels pushing it forward, it is this spirit of "success may not be credited to me, but I am committed to its achievement" that is driving the emergence of numerous integrated农文旅 "rural long-stay villages" like bamboo shoots after rain.
Currently, Yunnan, with the core concept of "preserving乡土味道 and retaining田园乡愁," is creating products like clusters of非遗工坊,乡愁记忆馆, and农耕体验基地, cultivating a乡愁旅居 industry. This aims to make rural long-stay a new "treasure bowl" for increasing农民 income. Precise "one village, one policy" measures, innovative "农文旅+" formats, and the利益联结 mechanism of "Party branch + cooperative + enterprise +农户" together form the underlying logic of this rural transformation.
Transforming rich and unique tourism resources into a livelihood-boosting,惠民 industry – this is both the warmest manifestation of "A Life Called Yunnan" and the happiest底色 of rural revitalization.
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