Yangshan Ancient Village in Guiyang County appears quite tranquil among many other ancient villages.

Yangshan Ancient Village, surrounded by green hills and clear waters, has preserved the typical Hui-style architecture. In the central architectural complex, there are eight horizontal lanes, five vertical lanes and two grand gates engraved with animated patterns. Every household here hangs a plaque and decorate walls and doors with poems and paintings. The simple and elegant residential buildings dot the farmland.

With a multitude of scenic spots and over 60 ancient buildings, the village now also enjoy the reputation of “the top one Hakka village in the world” and “a living fossil for folk customs”. He Shuisheng, party secretary and director of Yangshan Ancient Village, served as the tour guide for us.

Yangshan Ancient Village boasts a long history of more than 600 years dating back to the Yongle Reign (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty. People here has advocated literature and martial art, engaged in farming and raised silkworms, and attached importance to harmony, morality and etiquette. The “Baby Rescue Club”, “Chongjiuhui”, “Yixue Society”, “Forbidden Society”, “Female Club” and “Zongyuan Club” spontaneously set up in the village have carried forward the Chinese culture and moral norms. It is these centuries-old traditions that make local folk customs and family values more honest and less sophisticated.

With the development of economy and society, the village is striving for the goal of building a AAAA scenic spot and making full use of its resources to vigorously develop leisure tourism and characteristic industry based on its traditional agricultural production.

“Our village is overlooked by Qitian Mountain and transportation here is very convenient.” He Shuisheng introduced that in recent years, the infrastructure and living environment of the village have been greatly improved. An endless stream of tourists come to visit, with the number of tourists up to 123,200 last year, driving the development of rural tourism industry.

At present, the village has 2 farmhouses, 30 mu (2 hectares) land for turtle farming and 100 mu land (about 6.67 hectares) for crayfish, which directly bring the collective income of nearly 200,000 yuan per year to the village. The per capita disposable income of villagers was up to 24,145 yuan in 2021.

“In the next few years, we should strengthen investment attraction by developing homestay inns around the scenic spots, building hiking trails in the scenic spots, and constructing water parks as well as the supporting facilities, in order to apply for the national AAAA level tourist attraction as soon as possible,” said He Shuisheng confidently.