On July 28, the list of National Key Rural Tourism Spots was released at the rural tourism (homestay) works conference held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, containing 320 villages in China that were jointly selected by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Development and Reform Commission.

A total of 13 villages in Jiangsu province were selected, including two villages in Changzhou, namely, Lijiayuan Village and Xianggu Village.

The head of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stressed at the conference that the standardized development of homestays in the countryside should be taken as an important starting point for the transformation and upgrade of rural tourism.

Lijiayuan Village is located in Daibu, Liyang, Changzhou. In recent years, Lijiayuan Village has vigorously promoted leisure agriculture and developed 52 tea farms and three agricultural cooperatives. Its rural tourism industry includes providing for visitors catering, accommodation, entertainment, fruit picking, fishing and rafting activities, conference venues, team building programs and so on.

Xiangu Village is seated in Xuebu, Jintan, Changzhou. The development stories of Xiangu Village has been reported many times by Changzhou Daily.

A plan to provide special financial support to key rural tourism villages in China was announced, with China Agricultural Bank providing a 100 billion yuan credit limit to the nation’s key rural tourism villages in the next five years.