Liyang Tea Festival and Tianmu Lake Tourism Festival kicks off

2020-04-18 19:18:00

The 2020 Liyang Tea Festival and Tianmu Lake Tourism Festival kicks off in Liyang, a county-level city under the administration of Changzhou City in Jiangsu Province on April 18.

Baicha (white tea) is a green tea originally produced in Anji County, Zhejiang Province. In 1980s and 1990s, the tea breed was planted in Liyang and improved gradually to build a reputation.

Liyang has made efforts to expand tourism as a force for growth since 1991, turning Baicha as a draw card for many tourists. The tea festival usually features a key theme in each edition, such as unveiling a new museum in 2018 and promoting the city’s Yangjiacun village as a beautiful countryside destination in 2019.

The festival this year highlights Caoshan Future City as a flagship project of all- for-one tourism, which means a holistic approach to coordinate development of the economy and society instead of just focusing on scenic spots, hotels and restaurants.

Liyang has taken a series of measures in order to become a National All-in-one Tourism Demonstration Zone, an honor recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to drive the push. It has improved access to scenic spots, organized large-scale festivals, enhanced tourism facilities and services, promoted the Tianmu Lake resort and Caoshan Future City project, a cultural and tourism landmark.

Liyang now has 17 Beautiful Village winners at the provincial level and 266 star-rated Tourism Farm winners. Both Beautiful Village and Tourism Farm are among projects to improve rural environment, boost farmer’s income, and combine tourism with agriculture in the rural revitalization strategy. Liyang takes the lead in this initiative among all county-level cities in Jiangsu.

The No. 1 Road in Liyang won first place in a national competition of quality rural roads in terms of construction, maintenance and operation, organized by the Ministry of Transportation in 2019.

The 365-kilometer road links all scenic spots and popular destinations in the countryside in Liyang to greatly facilitate tourism, trade and business. To the surprise of many villagers, their hometowns can go viral on the Internet because of this road, thanks to a new development approach to integrate agriculture and tourism. Nearly 100,000 residents along the award-winning road have seen their income boosted.