HARBIN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- "We've found where north is!" a tourist exclaims with a grin, posing for a photograph by a sign reading "China's Arctic".
Here in Beiji Village, situated at the northernmost tip of China, one hears this exuberant statement time and again -- a play on a Chinese expression, indicating that one is no longer ruffled and disoriented.
Beiji Village -- or "North Pole Village" -- in the city of Mohe, Heilongjiang Province, is a riverside border village located in the Dahinggan Mountains at 53 degrees north latitude. The village is among the coldest places in China, with a meteorological record low of minus 52.3 degrees Celsius.
The unforgiving coldness of the place used to discourage outsiders from paying a visit. However, the village has now morphed into a bustling tourist destination, bringing prosperity to the previously desolate and poverty-stricken community. It has thus become a shining example of rural revitalization in China.
"More and more people are taking vacations in Beiji Village, and business is growing more brisk," said Lu Hong, a local resident and the owner of a countryside homestay business.
Beiji has also done its utmost to facilitate the growth of local tourism -- paving asphalt roads, installing street lights and building squares -- with an increasing number of villagers becoming involved in tourism businesses.
In the early years, Party members and cadres in the village took the lead in renovating their old houses and starting homestay businesses, to boost the confidence of the risk-averse villagers.
The village has also helped with publicizing local homestays, including Lu's hotel, which has found its way onto several online tourism platforms. "Previously, we had to make efforts to woo customers, but now we get numerous inquiries from them," she said.
At the "Northernmost Post Office" in Beiji Village, several tourists from the southern Guangdong Province are mailing blueberries back home. They are a local specialty, as the berries grow in cold temperatures.
Such "northernmost check-in places" span from the northernmost tip to the "northernmost supply and marketing cooperatives," attracting curious tourists from across the country. The village has brought its unique geographical characteristics into full play.
The Dahinggan Mountains provide an important ecological barrier in northern China, and Beiji Village has been searching for a high-quality development path with ecological security as a prerequisite. Ecological tourism has thus become an important sector worth pursuing.
Today, the village boasts over 200 homestay hotels and cafeterias, with the annual per capita income of villagers standing at 31,000 yuan (4,296.6 U.S. dollars), according to Wu Qingjun, Party secretary of the city of Mohe.
According to Sun Haojin, director of the economic research institute of the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, by fostering ecological tourism, many villages have found a balance between ecological conservation and economic growth, and have achieved a win-win result.
Furthermore, Sun added, as the living standards rise, countryside tourism, which offers idyllic landscapes and opportunities to walk into mother nature, has gained traction. The internet has amplified its popularity, turning even landlocked villages into internet phenomena, which further prompts the upgrading of countryside tourism.
"Beiji Village is a good example of this phenomenon," said Sun. ■
