After Ding Zhen became popular, Li Tang changed and remained the same.

At the end of May, in Renkang Ancient Street in the center of Litang County, Ganzi, Sichuan Province, tourists in twos and threes walked past Tibetan houses and basked in the sun on the Little Square. Tibetans dressed in Tibetan costumes read scriptures, passed by tourists who were visiting, and circled around the prayer wheel. At noon, the concentrated arrival of tour groups makes the ancient street lively, and the flow of people is constant but not crowded. Every day from 12 to 15 is the busiest time here, and tourist buses stop on both sides of the ancient street.

May after the small holiday was originally the off-season of Litang. At this time of the previous two years, there were few tourists in the ancient streets, but this year is different. With the popularity of Ding Zhen and Litang, the city of the sky, the number of tourists coming to Litang has increased significantly. After May 1 ST, the scenic spot was "full". Until the end of May, the number of single-day tourists remained at four figures, the number of individual tourists including Ding Zhen fans increased greatly, and the number of group tourists also increased.

As a priority industry, tourism has been highly valued and supported by the local government in recent years. Under the influence of Ding Zhen effect, Litang made great achievements in the May Day Golden Week this year. According to official statistics, on May 1-5, Litang County received more than 84,000 tourists, achieving a year-on-year increase in comprehensive tourism income of 98.7%.

Things are changing. But for Litang people, change and invariability are multiple-choice questions.

Although tourism in Litang is very popular, it is still a question mark for many Tibetans in Litang whether they can make money through tourism. In May, digging Cordyceps is still their first choice to make money. Most of the stalls in the ancient street are empty, and the local stall owners only ask for leave to dig cordyceps up the mountain after May Day. But at the same time, some people are optimistic about the development prospects of Litang tourism. Some people give up or shorten the time to dig cordyceps sinensis, and instead prepare for the homestay to prepare for the upcoming tourist season from June to August.

Panorama of litang county. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

Ding Zhen's influence

On the morning of May 27th, perhaps it rained the night before, and there seemed to be some oxygen deficiency in the thin air of Litang.

Wang Xue, a Chongqing girl who stayed in Litang for three days, felt that her altitude sickness was serious again. She sat in the black tent of the Himalayan Voice Pavilion, panting, and the propaganda film Ding Zhen's World was projected on the wall in front of her. Although she has seen it countless times, she still took out her mobile phone and photographed Ding Zhen's smiling face.

Wang Xue is a self-driving enthusiast, wearing a sunscreen towel and gloves, and only his eyes are exposed. In recent years, she walked through the Great Ring Road in western Sichuan, and also drove all the way from Chongqing to Lhasa along National Highway 3 18, passing Litang twice without stopping. I've always known Litang, and I want to see it, but the altitude is too high. At the end of last year, liking Ding Zhen gave Wang Xue the motivation to go to Litang.

She deliberately chose this time at the end of May. The weather is getting warmer, the oxygen is more abundant than in winter, there are not many tourists, and the local reception pressure is small.

During Litang's trip, Wang Xue didn't do much planning, just wanted to punch in one by one according to where Ding Zhen walked in short videos and live broadcasts. "Super lucky!" Wang Xue just caught Ding Zhen shooting in Renkang Ancient Street. In order to see Ding Zhen more, she ran around the shooting team several times, and then she had to go back to the hotel to lie down and take oxygen.

On May 27th, Wang Xue, a passenger from Chongqing, watched Ding Zhen's propaganda film in the museum. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

Walking in the ancient town scenic spot in Le Tong, it is easy to recognize which tourists come specifically for Ding Zhen: two or three people travel together, dressed in fashion, looking for "Miss Gao" in the scenic spot, that is, Gao Xiaoping, deputy general manager of Litang Lv Wen Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the tourism investment company), and Ding Zhen's Chinese teacher. On the third floor of the 3 18 tourist memory museum in the scenic spot, there are messages written by tourists and souvenirs left on the long table. There is a 20 13 message book, and various pictures with "Ding Zhen" and "Pearl Krabs" written on the back.

In the first few months of this year, the proportion of Ding Zhen fans among Litang tourists remained high. With the arrival of Litang tourist season, the proportion of ordinary tourists has gradually increased.

At the end of May, Ronaldinho, an outdoor traveler from Chengdu, was hiking on a route near Litang. When choosing an outdoor route a few years ago, he always deliberately bypassed Litang, even if it took him two hours to catch up with the mountain road. "In the past, there was nothing to see in the county, and tourists were easily rebellious and not worth it." Ronaldinho told the Beijing News reporter that if you spend the night in Litang, friends who often participate in plateau hiking will also feel unwell with a high probability. "The altitude is too high."

Litang County is 40 14 meters above sea level, and Bilasa is nearly 400 meters higher, so it is called "the city of the sky". Although the county seat is located at the intersection of 3 18 national highway and 227 national highway, it is still quite "remote" for ordinary tourists. It takes at least one and a half hours to drive from the nearest Aden airport to Litang County. Considering the changeable climate in plateau area, if there is a sudden snowstorm and the road section freezes, the driving time may be doubled. In addition, the scenic spots in Litang County are far apart, and the famous mountain landscape of outdoor sports circle is nearly 3 hours' drive from the county seat.

This year, Ronaldinho joined Litang County in the route planning, and plans to arrange for tourists to stay in Litang County for two or three hours. This change is not only due to Ding Zhen's fire, but also because "the ancient town of Le Tong is a tourist attraction".

"Le Tong" is a Tibetan language in Litang. "Le" means bronze, "Tong" means grassland, which means grassland as flat as a bronze mirror. According to the data of official website Ancient Town, the construction of Le Tong Ancient Town-Qianhu Tibetan Village Scenic Spot started on 20 18, and the national 4A-level scenic spot license was obtained in March of the following year. The main scenic spots are Renkang Ancient House, Renkang Ancient Street transformed from an old residential street, and Evergreen Temple (also known as Litang Temple), a Buddhist holy place in Nankang 1 km north. There are many miniature museums in the middle of the route, such as Kangba Museum, Tibetan Opera Museum, Tibetan Medicine Museum, or displaying Tibetan traditional culture.

There are also many tour groups that add Litang to the route. Tibetan tour guides in the ancient town used "full house" to describe the past May Day holiday, when more than 20,000 tourists poured into the 100-meter-long Renkang Ancient Street. In 20 10, Litang County only received tourists152,000 person-times.

On May 24th, tourists left souvenirs about Litang on the long table on the third floor of the 3 18 Travel Memory Museum. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

According to the data, Litang ranked third in the list of famous Buddhist mountains during 20021May Day, second only to Wutai Mountain and Putuo Mountain, with a year-on-year increase of 178%.

"Make guests feel at home"

The rapidly growing number of tourists makes Litang people feel happy and stressed at the same time, and the shortage of accommodation beds is one of the most critical problems.

At the beginning of this year, the secretary of Xiazhen Village, Gaocheng Town, Litang compiled a list, which recorded Tibetan villagers who were willing to transform their houses into homestays, involving more than 40 households, which could provide hundreds of beds, and half of them had completed the transformation and were ready to receive tourists. Xiazhen Village also belongs to thousands of Tibetan villages, just across the street from Renkang Ancient Street.

"The conditions are not high. There is a place at home and a water and electricity network, which is convenient for parking. I can communicate in Chinese and have my own wishes. " Ji Nai told the Beijing News reporter that the village was also divided into traditional Tibetan houses, Han houses and tent campsites according to the situation of villagers' houses and yards. Considering the limited conditions of homestays run by villagers, the current price of each bed is only 40-60 yuan, and the venue fee for each tent is 20 yuan.

The homestay in Xiazhen Village is a part of Litang County's tourism emergency plan. According to Bi, deputy director of the County Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Film and Television, there are 93 hotels in Litang County, which can provide more than 4,300 beds. Considering the upcoming tourist season, especially the August 1st Horse Racing Festival, it is estimated that the number of overnight visitors will be close to 10000. Litang county has formulated red and yellow emergency plans to meet the accommodation needs of tourists.

If big data detects that the number of tourists exceeds 4,000, it will start the yellow plan, and the staff of the villages around the ancient town will arrange for tourists to stay in the homestays of villagers' homes. If it exceeds 5,000, the Red Plan will be launched to coordinate tourists to live in surrounding towns and villages. "At present, residents of nine villages around the scenic spot have mobilized to provide about 1500 beds," Bi Songxue said.

On May 26th, Zezhuoma's family had a century-old Tibetan house and a Han house that had just been built a few years ago. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

Zezhuoma, a villager in Xia Zhen Village, is one of the fastest-growing families in the renovation of homestays. Zezhuoma's family has two houses. A two-story Tibetan house with a history of one hundred years was built by Grandpa Ze Zhuo Ma when he was a child. A few years ago, I borrowed money to build a two-story Han family house. Although it is a Han room, the interior decoration is still Tibetan style, and the walls are covered with gold paint and copper pots. It takes 2 minutes to walk from her home to the entrance of Renkanggu Street.

"Guests can stay in any room they want." This 3 1 year-old Tibetan girl has a delicate face and a plateau red mark on her cheek. Her Chinese is average, and she will speak intermittently when she encounters complicated sentences, so she seldom opens her mouth and just smiles. In order to receive the guests well, the eldest daughter of high school is also preparing to come back to help in the summer vacation.

Ze Zhuo Ma's family consists of eight people, whose parents are over 70 years old and in poor health. Her husband is deaf and dumb, and her husband's brother and three children, the youngest of whom is not in primary school. In the past, she, her husband and younger brother went to the mountains to dig Cordyceps from May to June every year, dug Tricholoma matsutake in summer and went out to do odd jobs at other times. The annual income of a family is less than 50,000 yuan. "Our culture is not good, we can only do small jobs and not make money."

At the beginning of this year, after hearing the secretary of the Party Committee of Zenai Township say that they could travel to the B&B, Zezhuo Ma and her family agreed without much struggle. Her only worry is that she can't make money. This May, Ze Zhuo Ma didn't dig Cordyceps, but stayed at home and concentrated on transforming the homestay. "I wash the sheets and cook for the guests at home and earn money to take care of the children," she said. At the end of April, her family tried to receive five tourists. The second is to help her family calculate an account, 10 beds. According to 40 yuan/Night/Bed, she can earn 400 yuan at most one day, which is enough for her family's daily expenses for three or four days.

In a few days, Ze Zhuo Ma's family is going to move to a small room on the east side of the courtyard, leaving the best house in the family for guests to experience the authentic Tibetan room. On the wall of the decorated room, there is still a family photo of her family.

A few blocks away, weeds and wild flowers have sprouted in the courtyard of the villager Tashi's home. In a few weeks, it will become a large campsite. Tashi and his wife are both over 70 years old, so it is difficult to communicate directly with people in Chinese. The operation of the homestay mainly depends on his daughter.

Now, Tashi's daughter is still digging Cordyceps in the mountains, and the renovation of the homestay at home is almost at a standstill. When his daughter comes back in June, he is going to let her go to the county to customize a brand that says "B&B" and then hang her B&B on the Internet.

"Do your own thing"

Different from Litang County's active preparation of tourism emergency plans and the rapid progress in the renovation of villagers' houses, it is even more impossible for the staff of the ancient town and Tibetan residents to take the initiative to mention Ding Zhen. Everything seems to be the same as before Ding Zhen became popular, except for the increase of tourists, the graffiti wall and the name of Ding Zhen on the message board, the book wall of Cangyang Bookstore full of books donated by fans, and several more "kings" (nicknames of Ding Zhen fans) in the crowd of scenic spots.

Tibetan girls and boys as handsome or beautiful as Ding Zhen continue to explain and market, and the popularity of their peers seems to have little influence on them.

On May 27th, there were not many vendors in the ancient town of Le Tong, but most local vendors went to dig for Cordyceps. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

On May 25th, Ren Zhen Quza, an employee of Tourism Investment Company, and his colleagues prepared the Tibetan woodcut printing experience in Guzhen Square. Visitors can print Tibetan poems of Cangyang Gyatso in person, and then go to the miniature museum of Cangyang Gyatso dozens of meters away to find the corresponding Chinese translation.

"Ding Zhen let more people know about Litang," said Ren Zhen Quza. He shook his head when asked if he wanted to be an online celebrity. He wants to do his own thing and attract more tourists to manage the pond. This is what Gao Xiaoping emphasized to his "children" many times in staff training: Do your job well and take your time.

As the hostess of Ge Sang Mei Duo, the first hotel in Guzhen, Ayi Jung, aged 5 1 year, is planning the expansion plan of the hotel. She is going to invest about 1 10,000 to build a row of houses on the east side of her yard into two-story small buildings with more rooms.

In 2020, Aunt Jung, who was still cleaning in the ancient town, decided to turn her Tibetan house into a homestay. In June 5438+10, her "Ge Sang Mei Duo" B&B started broadcasting, and a month later, Ding Zhen became popular on the Internet. Because Ding Zhen made several live broadcasts in Ayjung's B&B, the B&B has been full since June 5438+February. Since its opening half a year ago, the income of the three rooms has reached more than 100 thousand, which is probably the income of the first two or three years.

On May 25th, Aunt Jung played with flowers in the living room of her host family. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

Opposite Sang Mei, Liang Minhe, her friends are busy decorating their high-end homestay in September. The two cooperated to open the first coffee shop in the ancient town, "A Leaf in the Cloud".

According to Liang Min, the stone and wood structure of their hotel is the style of Tibetan areas in western Sichuan, and the cloister and open-air balcony in the middle of the house are the style of the ancient Tubo period. The open balcony is hard to see in Tibetan areas now, but the Potala Palace is still preserved. They want to show the historical background of Tibetan architecture.

"B&B can also be a museum of traditional architecture and traditional handicrafts," Liang Min said. In order to achieve this goal, their homestay has been built for three years. Liang Min and September stubbornly adhere to the traditional craft. Every board on the wall comes from Litang and is polished by local craftsmen.

Litang's economic development level is not high, but its consumption level is not low. It was estimated in September that the cost of building a homestay with the same specifications in Chengdu may be nearly 50% lower. However, the transformation of B&B has not been accelerated or reduced because of Ding Zhen's popularity and the increase of tourists, even though opening as soon as possible means less investment and more income.

In Liang Min's view, Ding Zhen not only brought fire to Litang, but also promoted Tibetan culture. However, the development of Tibetan culture can't rely on only one person, and it needs the long-term joint efforts of many people. She hopes she can make a contribution.

Li Tang's big plan

The planning of Le Tong ancient town began as early as 20 16.

Zhang Xi, the head of Litang County State-owned Group Company, who has been involved in the planning and construction of Litang tourism industry for a long time, told the Beijing News reporter that according to the plan, it is hoped that the ancient town of Le Tong can achieve the goals of gathering and displaying various cultures, experiencing the original ecological life scene, protecting and inheriting intangible cultural heritage, and innovating Tibetan culture. "The county has positioned the ancient town as an encyclopedia scenic spot in Tibetan areas, and we also hope to achieve this positioning." Zhang Xi said that for this reason, the ancient town of Le Tong plans to build a group of miniature museums. At present, 10 museums have been built in the ancient town, and 30 to 50 miniature museums are planned to be built in the next three to five years.

On May 24, Tibetan villagers living in the ancient town turned around at the corner of Renkang Ancient Street. Beijing News reporter Han Wei photo

"The future market is a customized market." Zhang Xi wants to build a new model of ancient town construction: make use of local Tibetan culture to carry out cultural innovation and launch products that can only be bought by Litang; Reject homogenized products, including Tao Di, African drums, silverware and horn combs.

However, he also admitted that this plan is quite "idealistic". It will take several years to build a micro-museum group, and it may take longer to cultivate the awareness of cultural innovation. "What will happen in the future? I don't know, it needs a group of people to do it. " Zhang Xi always laughs that he is the "bad guy" of the ancient town management Committee, and projects that don't adapt to the blueprint of the ancient town will be rejected by him.

For Litang's next development, both funds and talents are obstacles.

When describing the development status of Litang County, Zhang Xi quoted a jingle: territory is like a province, population is like a town, and economy is like a village.

Litang County covers an area of 1430 square kilometers, more than twice the area of Shanghai, with a permanent population of less than 80,000. Most local Tibetans live a self-sufficient life, and digging Cordyceps and Tricholoma matsutake are their main sources of income. At the beginning of 2020, Litang County officially took off the hat of a poor county.

As a priority industry to get rid of poverty, tourism has been the development focus of Litang County since 20 15, but the effect is not ideal. Because of its high altitude, Litang's popularity and the number of tourists have been lower than those of Kangding, Batang and Daocheng counties in Ganzi Prefecture.

"If there is not enough money, we will repair it bit by bit." Zhang Xi said that Le Tong Ancient Town planned to invest 240 million yuan, and has invested more than 80 million yuan at present.

For Litang, if we can't keep outside talents, we must cultivate our own talents.

Ren Zhen Quzha, a native of Litang, a former veterinarian, 20 19, joined the tourism investment company and became a staff member of the ancient town of Le Tong. Most of his colleagues who joined the company have similar characteristics: local people, in their early twenties, just graduated from high school or university, studying a major unrelated to tourism, and want to do something for the development of tourism in their hometown. They are all talents reserved by tourism investment companies for Litang tourism development.

Now, Litang tourism, which has been developing hard for several years, is finally booming. It is like a gust of wind blowing over Litang, which brings opportunities for tourism development and may also bring other changes.

"Take your time, it should develop well." Zhang Wei said.

Editor Yuan Guoli

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