Tianchi Miao Village: A Living Example of Tourism-Driven Poverty Alleviation

In Tianchi Miao Village, a traditional settlement in Wenfeng Village, Houping Township, Wulong District, Chongqing City, villagers perform the traditional Hand Waving Dance to welcome visitors from all over as Miao songs fill the air.

In the past, such lively scenes were rare here. Wenfeng Village, where Tianchi Miao Village is located, originally had 53 households with 253 residents living surrounded by mountains. Though blessed with stunning natural scenery and a well-preserved ancient Miao village, the area remained isolated, leaving its tourism potential untapped. Many young people left to work elsewhere, while the elderly, women, and children stayed behind tending to small and scattered plots of land. The average annual per capita income was under 1,000 yuan, and 15 households were registered as poor.

As poverty alleviation efforts advanced, in early 2018, after thorough research, the Houping Township government decided to leverage the local landscape and the well-preserved ancient village resources of Tianchi Miao Village to develop rural tourism—turning its lush mountains and lucid waters into sustainable sources of wealth for local residents.

In October 2018, introduced by Houping Township, Karst Tourism Industry Co., a leading tourism company in Wulong District, invested 3 million yuan. Meanwhile, Wenfeng Village organized 44 households to contribute the ten-year management rights of their farmland, fields, forests, and houses, which were valued at over 5 million yuan. The two parties jointly registered the “Miaoqing Rural Tourism Joint-stock Cooperative,” establishing a “company + cooperative + farmers” business model. This ensured villagers benefited from guaranteed dividends and profit-based dividends from the operation of the Miao Village.

Under the operation of Karst Tourism Industry Co., the Miao Village revitalized 10,728 m² of idle housing and over 260 mu of unused farmland. Leveraging the unique Miao and Tujia ethnic cultures, it built a folk culture experience area, homestay accommodation zone, specialty food processing area, and other supporting facilities. It also developed more than ten interactive and participatory projects for tourists, striking a balance between preservation and modern tourism needs, and laying a solid foundation for the development of rural tourism in the Miao Village.

With the establishment of boutique homestays, farm stays, and restaurants, many villagers found jobs or started businesses close to home—becoming homestay owners, Miao song performers, and docents at experience centers. Additionally, the cooperative allocated jobs in sanitation, water and electricity maintenance, and security to registered poor villagers, creating over 20 new jobs and broadening their income sources. Since the Miao Village opened, the average labor income per household has reached 38,900 yuan, achieving income growth for every household. Villager Wang Li used to be a housewife. After the cooperative was established, her family contributed idle houses and land as shares. She also found a job at a homestay hotel in the scenic area.

Today, Tianchi Miao Village has transformed from a poor mountain village into a cultural tourism landmark, receiving nearly 70,000 visitors annually, with average household income increasing by over 5,000 yuan. By preserving ecology, revitalizing culture, and innovating benefit-sharing mechanisms, Tianchi Miao Village has deeply integrated culture with tourism, turning lush mountains into a “backbone of well-being” and making villagers the main players in rural revitalization. From deep poverty to a “cultural-tourism model”, Tianchi Miao Village has blazed a trail of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization for green mountain villages.