The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on November 14 released a list of 255 villages as 2022 China's Beautiful Leisure Countryside, including 84 featured villages in agritaiment. This aimed to expand functions of agriculture, promote high-quality development of rural industries, connect production and marketing, and integrate agriculture, culture, and tourism as a whole, so as to boost integrated development of agriculture, industry, and service industries.

The following villages in Hunan Province are on the list:

Longxing'ao Village, Fengling Town, Liling City, Zhuzhou;

Xiangjia Village, Yankou Town, Longhui County, Shaoyang;

Yongsheng Village, Dachengqiao Town, Ningxiang City, Changsha;

Qingxi Village, Xielingang Town, Yiyang Hi-tech Zone*;

Nanzhu Village, Yushan Town, Huarong County, Yueyang;

Xiatuan Village, Fengjia Town, Xinhua County, Loudi*;

Gaoqiao Village, Xiumei Town, Linli County, Changde;

Meitianhu Village, Gugang Town, Liuyang City, Changsha;

Wushifeng Village, Wushi Town, Xiangtan County, Xiangtan*;

Wazao Village, Qifengdu Town, Suxian District, Chenzhou;

Xiaguan Village, Wanjing Town, Ningyuan County, Yongzhou; and,

Xudong Village, Jiaoshan Town, Shigu District, Hengyang.

Among the above-mentioned villages, the asterisked villages were shortlisted for the featured villages in agritaiment.

The shortlisted villages have the following significant characteristics:

- Business patterns are innovated. They combine sightseeing, fruit picking, and sci-tech education to build a hi-tech ecological farm; set up interactive stages for nature and farming culture education; and, organize various events suitable for different agricultural periods.

- Farmers are in the spotlight. In the featured villages in agritainment, farmers play the roles as manager, working staff, and promoter. More than 85% agritainment staff are local farmers. The rural leisure tourism revenue is in the majority of farmers' income in nearly 90% of the shortlisted villages.

- Digitalization empowers marketing. Mobile applications and livestreaming are used in most of these villages for marketing, ticket booking, and room reservation. Big data and other information technology function in guiding consumers, to make services more intelligent and efficient.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: Voice of Hunan