How much investment money in small Chinese towns is heading in what direction? What resources have already seen some investment (whether from outside or local sources)? Tourism is certainly the strong winner where the money seems to be going around here. It is definitely a "resource" the government wants to develop as much as possible.
I have mentioned the Sanjiang Investment Guide before when thinking through whether tourism is a natural resource or not. And having decided it is indeed a resource (though that is certainly a funny way to label it), we have decided to create an entire category for articles pertaining to tourism as a rural resource. This article explores some of the real-life figures of investment projects given in the Sanjiang Investment Guide, taking note of the huge slant toward tourism.
The back of the investment guide has a handy leaflet entitled, "A Detailed List of Market Values to Invite Outside Investment to Sanjiang County in Liuzhou City." It has a nice list of ten different investment projects. Four of those are clearly tourism-related and another is mildly tourism-related (specifically, a county seat street beautification project). Already, half of the investment projects (of those listed, anyway) are invested in the tourism industry.
So, what are the figures? The total of the various tourism-related projects amounts to CNY 157,760,000 (US$ 20million). Strangely, though, 120 of that 150 million was on one project, the county seat beautification project. The funds invested directly into the well known tourist spots seem to have made a huge difference.
CNY 12,800,000 (US$ 1.6 million) went to not only help restore Sanjiang County's icon, the Dong people's Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge, but also build a nationality customs center and welcoming area, plus help beautify the Dong Museum (which I did not know existed) and minority crafts selling center, and also bring together a nationality custom dance troupe. That is a lot of bang for your buck! I have been there since this investment, and it is considerably nicer, especially for receiving large numbers of tourists, each in their own
cars or buses. Though, they may be taking a little too much credit with the dance troupe; that was there already.
They also put CNY 10,560,000 (US$ 1.3 million) into the LongTan resevoir, for building the resevoir itself, paths, a pagoda, receptioncenter, village gate, road, and waterfall. They like to call this a tourist attraction, and it may well be, but I will have to see that for my own eyes. My feeling is most of that 10 million went toward the dam itself, but I do not know.
Another project was to the BaTuan Wind and Rain Bridge, another excellent Wind and Rain Bridge made by the Dong minority of China. They only received CNY 5,000,000 (US$ 0.6 million), but focused on the preservation of the bridge itself and improvement of the immediate environment.
And, with all the tourists who come to Sanjiang interested to see the minority-related tourist spots, sometimes the old walled city of DanZhou goes unvisited. The government sees the value, though, and invested CNY 9,400,000 (US$ 1.2 million) into restoration and preservation of the old city walls, meeting hall, library, and temple.
There is a lot of money flowing toward the tourism industry already, and I am sure that is for good reason. Not that I have seen figures, but I really wonder if tourism is the best resource some of these counties have to offer. How much does it really bring in? Sanjiang is blessed in that way. It is close to Guilin and has already made it on the tourist maps. Other counties are not so fortunate. What resources do they have?
I hope to answer that more in the next few days with info about non-tourist investment money also listed on the Sanjiang Investment Guide. That will give us a much better picture of the local resources available outside of the tourism industry.
