Tourism lifts revolutionary base out of poverty

Lingxia village, a poverty-stricken area in East China's Fujian province, has taken on a new look in recent years thanks to the development of local tourism.

The village, located in east Xinqiao township, Taining county, Sanming city, is an old revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China that witnessed the valiant deeds of Party leaders and heroic soldiers for the liberation of Chinese people.

With this revolutionary culture, local government has been seeking to develop tourism based on that in recent years to improve the local economy.

An exhibition hall was established in a former residence of a late local guerrilla to commemorate the brave revolutionary leaders and soldiers, and a theme park was built for the promotion of such culture.

In addition, the village introduced an entrepreneur who established a tourist agency last year to help develop local tourism.

The agency helped increase the village's fiscal revenue by 100,000 yuan ($14,782) last year, according to the local official Huang Hongcai, who added that the village's fiscal revenue saw a stable growth in recent years, reaching 150,000 yuan in 2017, 300,000 yuan in 2018, and was expected to hit 400,000 yuan this year.

In 2017, the village's all 15 poverty-stricken families were lifted out of poverty.

"We will next explore other forms of activities such as fruit picking, barbecue and fishing to boost the local tourism and increase residents' income," said Huang.