Long Gexiong (2nd L) and tourists view flowers at Tongbantun Village of Dongqi Township in Rongan County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Feb. 21, 2014. Long Gexiong, a 51-year-old farmer of Tongbantun Village who had been a migrant worker for 20 years, returned to his hometown to start a farmer cooperative for fruit sales and rural tourism with his cousins in 2012. Long and other farmers have planted plum trees and grapes covering a total area of more than 500 mu (about 33.33 hectares) and ramped up efforts to develop tourism industry tailored to local conditions over the past seven years. Besides leading local farmers in increasing income, Long himself also raised livestock, made wine and turned his home into a homestay, which helped his family lift out of poverty in 2018. Apart from that, infrastructure construction has also been improved to be commensurate with the tourism development with the support of local government. The spring up of new tourists-oriented facilities including roads, toilets, parking lots and service centers boosted the transformation of the village into a model for others to follow suit and helped the village shake off poverty in 2018. (Xinhua/Huang Xiaobang)
