Wen Guo serves tea to guests in the living room of his homestay in Jelin Village, Metog County, Xizang Autonomous Region.Chen Liang/China Daily
On March 14, Wen Guo and his wife Dolma Chozhong spent almost an entire day cleaning their homes in Jeling, a Mongba village in Metog County, Xizang Autonomous Region. The couple had been informed by village authorities that two Chinese movie stars might be staying at their home during their visit to the village. Later that night, the actor and his team arrived at the village.
However, instead of choosing Mr. Wen’s homestay (No. 1), the actors decided to stay separately at No. 2 and No. 3 homestays in the village. “There are only two single rooms available to accommodate guests,” Wen told China Daily. “It’s not enough to just match actors and assistants.”
Instead, Wen’s two rooms housed other members of a team of actors who had come to the remote county for a week to scout potential filming locations.
“No matter who stays in our homestay, we only charge 300 yuan (approximately $41.50) per room per night, in line with this year’s standard rate for 20 rooms in the village’s six homestays,” Wen said. Told.
The annual rate is the result of collective discussion among villagers, he added.
The forest where the “King of Trees” is located
According to Wen, the village started focusing on tourism in 2020.
Huang Jiabin, an official in Nyingchi City, Xizang Province, was appointed Party Secretary of Jinling City in 2018 to help villagers escape poverty. “At that time, there were no paved roads connecting us to the outside world, so we had to endure a four-hour trek along muddy roads from Beifeng to reach the village,” Fan said. said.
In 2019, the local government began construction of a 6.5-meter-wide cement road from North Peak to Jeling. That sparked Juan’s vision for the village’s tourism future, and he began drawing up a blueprint for development. “Tucked away in a beautiful virgin forest, Jerin boasts an organic tea plantation with panoramic views of several snow-capped mountains, especially Mount Namjagbarwa, which stands at 7,782 meters above sea level,” he said. “The potential for tourism in Yelling is right there and obvious to me.”
Road construction was completed in January 2021.
From 2020 to 2022, Mr. Huang guided villagers to use funds allocated by the government for poverty alleviation to improve the village’s tourism infrastructure.
In 2021, he shared the region with Liu Zhi, a leading conservation biologist at Peking University and one of the co-founders of the Shanshui Conservation Center, a Chinese non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of species and ecosystems. I introduced this area to my professor. Mr. Liu and Mr. Shanshui began sending researchers to conduct regular surveys of the area’s biodiversity.
In April 2022, researchers from Peking University and other institutions discovered a 76.8-meter-tall tree in a primeval forest within the boundaries of Jiling County. At the time, the tree was a Bhutanese white pine and was thought to be the tallest tree in mainland China, exceeding the previous height record of 72 meters. While surveying the forest, the research team also identified seven other trees over 70 meters tall.
Although this record was later broken by other tall trees in southeastern Seigang, this forest known as the “King of Trees” gradually developed into a popular tourist destination, drawing tourists, especially nature lovers, to Jereung. It’s drawing me closer.
The discovery also attracted more researchers to the area, and Gerin suggested developing homestays and ecotourism.
