Our country is the country with the largest karst distribution area in the world. This landform has created a series of amazing natural landscapes such as mountains, canyons, and caves. However, it is often accompanied by steep terrain and barren land, making it a pleasant place. At the same time, it often blocks the development of local economy. In Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province, explorers discovered the largest sinkhole in central China. What is the mystery in this sinkhole? Is this a bottomless pit or a cornucopia for the local area?
01
The tiankeng has been transformed into a scenic spot, and the karst landforms are infinitely beautiful.
Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province has one of the areas with the strongest karst landform development in China. The karst landforms are widely distributed and of complete types, hiding peaks, canyons, cliffs, and caves. There are countless wonderful karst wonders such as underground rivers. However, because of the high mountains and steep slopes and the proliferation of underground caves and underground rivers, it is difficult to conserve water, resulting in barren land and low productivity.
As the captain of a professional adventure club, He Duanmei has seen that his hometown has been a national-level poverty-stricken county for many years. He and his teammates always want to use their professional skills to develop more karst-related tourism resources. This time their destination was deep in a branch of Bazu Cave at the bottom of the Daweng Tiankeng in Lichuan City, Hubei Province. It was more than 100 meters vertically above the ground. They wanted to find a way to the underground river in the cave. exit.
In order to have a successful expedition, they are fully equipped. A professional outfit is worth more than 20,000 yuan, half of which is a headlamp, which can provide them with continuous lighting for up to 72 hours. The rest of the detection and measurement tools, emergency items, etc. are packed in the carry-on backpack.
Once the Daweng Tiankeng was excavated in 2006, it was confirmed to be the largest tiankeng in Hubei Province in terms of volume and size due to its peculiar structure of about 535 meters long, about 300 meters in maximum width, and about 209 meters in maximum depth. The largest one is not only a natural geological museum, but also the product of hundreds of thousands of years of geological changes.
In 2014, the Daweng Tiankeng was built as a scenic spot, and the beautiful scenery that had been hidden in the pit for 500,000 years was gradually revealed to the public.
At present, the scenic spot employs 15 local villagers, who are basically registered poor households. They can earn about 5,000 to 6,000 yuan, or more than 10,000 yuan, just by doing odd jobs in the scenic spot every year.
At the end of 2020, Lichuan City was officially recognized as a national all-region tourism demonstration area by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It was also in this year that Lichuan City, once a national-level poverty-stricken county, successfully lifted out of poverty.
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A B&B has opened in the "isolated" refuge, and the Bandang stewed local chicken attracts tourists
Enshi City Banqiao Town Xintian Village Luyuanping In the eyes of many travel enthusiasts, it is an out-and-out paradise There is still no road access here. From the Qiaowan Pass on the mountain to the Qiaowan at the bottom of the valley, there is a vertical drop of more than 500 meters. A road was dug from the cliff. It was just one kilometer long and required dozens of switchbacks. It was called "Forty" by the locals. Erguai" has a total of 1528 steps. It is already dangerous, and if it encounters rain or snow, it will be almost isolated from the rest of the world.
But for local villagers, the more than 1,000 steps leading out of the valley have become an obstacle to their contact with the outside world. Pei Changxu, an octogenarian, has become increasingly inconvenient in her legs and feet in recent years. The last time she left the valley was more than a year ago.
According to legend, during the "Huguang Filling Sichuan" movement in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Pei brothers and others from Taoyuan County, Changde Prefecture, Hunan Province moved to Xintian and discovered this secret place of refuge with high mountains and deep water. During the exploration process, they were guided by mountain deer and got out of the predicament. , later moved here and thrived, hence the name Luyinping.
Later, because mountain deer often visited the courtyard where people lived, it was renamed Luyuanping. In fact, this is a strip of tiankeng located upstream of the Mufu section of the Enshi Grand Canyon. Villagers have to rely on manpower to carry materials in and out. A bag of cement that costs 20 yuan outside costs 100 yuan to be transported home here. It is also a big challenge for tourists to get in and out.
However, the Luyuanping hike is difficult and has become a classic hiking route that outdoor enthusiasts want to conquer.The quick-thinking Pei Dafu renovated the old house in 2014, but due to inconvenient transportation, all building materials could only be carried on his shoulders.
The stilt house renovated by Pei Dafu has been passed down from his ancestors and has a history of more than 100 years. As a living fossil of traditional Tujia architecture, the main house on stilts is made of wooden boards and surrounded by railings for ventilation and warmth.
Pei Dafu’s family has 30 beds. The daily charge for each bed is 50 yuan. Meals are also charged per person. Depending on the dishes, the price is 40 to 50 yuan per person. Although the price is not high, it has not changed for many years. But as Lu Yuanping became more and more famous in the travel circle, when his business was at its most prosperous, his annual net profit was 300,000 yuan.
The freshly killed and cooked domestic chicken, together with the local specialty Codonopsis pilosula, after several hours of cooking, becomes the most popular special dish - Bandang stewed local chicken.
The "Banqiao Codonopsis pilosula" produced in Banqiao Town was officially designated as "Chinese Bandang Shen" in 1981 and is a national geographical indication certified product. However, this specialty product failed to make local people rich in previous years. Until 2018, Enshi City, where Banqiao Town is located, was still a national-level poverty-stricken county.
The popularity of Bandang’s stewed local chicken in the scenic spot has driven Bandang’s sales. When purchasing materials, the owners of “Farmhouse” in Banqiao Town give priority to crops grown by surrounding farmers. While ensuring that the raw materials are green and organic, they also solve the market problem of agricultural products. .
Vegetable farmer Li Changyou saw the opportunity for development, and like many young people in the village, he returned to his hometown and made money at his doorstep by growing bananas and green vegetables. The planting area of Bandang has grown from 2 acres in the past to more than 4 acres now.
Compared with before the development of the scenic spot in 2018, the planting area of Bandang in Xintian Village, where Luyuanping is located, has increased from more than 400 acres to more than 1,000 acres, the vegetable area has increased from about 700 acres to 2,000 acres, and the per capita annual income has also increased from about 4,000 yuan. increased to 20,000 yuan. In 2020, Enshi City also lifted out of poverty.
How to make the cake bigger so that everyone can have a good meal while traveling? Whether it is villagers or scenic area developers, everyone’s consensus is to break the traffic bottleneck. This 380-meter-long inclined elevator, which is currently in trial operation, can transport tourists from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley in just 2 minutes. The car can accommodate about 25 people, and its daily transport capacity reaches about 3,000 people.
Today, there are more than 40 "farmhouses" in Xintian, Banqiao Town, Enshi City. There are about 200 people engaged in the farmhouse service industry, providing employment for more than 100 local people, with monthly wages of more than 2,000 yuan.
[Half-hour observation] Polish the golden rice bowl and eat good tourist rice
The original niche tourist attractions have gone out of the circle, the original interest pattern has been broken, more outsiders, like catfish, stir up more business opportunities, and more Big potential. This year is the first year of the “14th Five-Year Plan” and will also be the year when China embarks on new tourism development. Under the national policy of internal economic circulation, high-quality development is the only way to restart the tourism industry. Relying on geographical wonders, we will complete the organic integration of traditional villages and cultural resources, and open up congestion points in transportation, services, etc. Infinite scenery is in a dangerous environment, with mountains, water and industries. The road to green development of eco-tourism will surely become wider and wider.
Source: CCTV Finance
