Understanding the Yangtze River Delta | Xiaoyao Mengcheng: The Secret to Cultural Tourism Prosperity in a Small Town in Northern Anhui

Every year on the day of Frost’s Descent, scholars from home and abroad and enthusiasts of Zhuangzi culture gather at the Zhuangzi Temple in Mengcheng County, Anhui, to pay their most devout respects and follow ancient rituals to hold a grand ceremony of worshiping Zhuangzi in commoner’s clothing.

As a folk, spontaneous, voluntary, and self-help cultural activity, the Grand Ceremony of Worshiping Zhuangzi in Commoner’s Clothing is not only a worship ceremony but also encompasses a series of events such as lectures, forums, discussions, elegant gatherings, and tea parties. Every year, over a hundred admirers of Zhuangzi culture converge from all corners of the country in Mengcheng, bearing the deepest respect, to jointly commemorate the great philosopher.

When Wang Anshi inspected Mengcheng, he composed a poem titled “Qingyan Hall in Mengcheng,” highly praising Mengcheng for its “people who embody the style of Zhuang Zhou in later generations.” The people of Mengcheng have always remembered to commemorate Zhuangzi, and the Zhuangzi Temple, despite being destroyed and rebuilt several times, still stands tall on the north bank of the Guo River.

The extraordinary sages planted seeds of wisdom here, which, after thousands of years, have grown into the kindness desired by people’s hearts. In Mengcheng, the vast history unfolds slowly. The butterfly in Zhuangzi’s dream seems to have spread its wings again, following the changes of the times.

The glitz and glamour of big cities cannot compare to the leisure and tranquility of this small town. The “leisurely” Mengcheng exudes a comprehensive sense of happiness. Moreover, its path of cultural and tourism integration reaches straight to poetry and the distant horizons, reflecting the cultural core of a happy city, instantly curing the irritation and gloom of life.

County tourism is gradually becoming a driving force in cultural and tourism development. From January to September this year, Mengcheng County received 6.3581 million tourists, generating a comprehensive tourism income of 5.23 billion yuan. As the geographical center of the six cities in northern Anhui, Mengcheng is surrounded by a large population. While becoming an important tourist destination in northern Anhui, it also attracts tourists from the Yangtze River Delta and broader regions with its cultural charm.

Attempts by a Major Agricultural County to Break Through in Cultural Tourism

Before this year’s National Day holiday, relevant units in Mengcheng County actively contacted travel agencies in the provincial capital Hefei to initiate a two-day “Thousand People Tour of Mengcheng” event. The travel agencies organized tourists to visit Mengcheng weekly, while the cultural tourism department of Mengcheng County was responsible for coordinating and ensuring all aspects of “food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment.”

“The effect of the event was surprisingly good,” Zhang Feng, Director of the Mengcheng County Culture, Tourism, and Sports Bureau, told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn). The spots for the first three tour groups were quickly filled. Many tourists were visiting Mengcheng for the first time, and besides leaving behind wonderful memories themselves, they also shared the beauty, cuisine, and culture of Mengcheng with more people through the internet.

This may be a conventional measure for cultural tourism departments in various places to attract tourists, but for Mengcheng, a traditional agricultural county famous for grain and beef cattle farming that has not yet been connected by railway, it is evident from such proactive actions that the locality has quietly begun to gather strength. By pooling resources from all sides and deeply tapping into local characteristic resources, it strives to explore a path towards becoming a strong county in cultural tourism.

In Chenxianqiao Village, Chucun Town, Mengcheng County, the Jinghuimeng Ecological Park, which has been developed since 2007, has now become a multifunctional large-scale circular agriculture project integrating agricultural circular economy, leisure agriculture, ecotourism, and children’s science education.

Yang Qiong, Assistant General Manager of Mengcheng Jingmenghui Agricultural Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., told The Paper that the company started with pig farming and began planting vegetables and seedlings by transferring tidal land. In 2018, under the guidance of the cultural tourism department, the company successfully held the first Peach Blossom Festival in Mengcheng County, embarking on the path of integrated agricultural, cultural, and tourism development.

“Agriculture is highly seasonal, and combining it with tourism opens up a broader space,” Yang Qiong told reporters. Afterward, the Jinghuimeng Ecological Park successively launched special cultural and tourism festivals such as the New Year Goods Festival and the Ice and Snow Festival, and created agricultural cultural tourism projects such as agricultural sightseeing, cultural exhibitions, parent-child study tours, creative crafts, and fruit and vegetable picking. It receives over 100,000 tourists annually.

Mengcheng County’s Jingpeng Lake Park

The integrated development of agriculture, culture, and tourism not only increases the number of tourists but also drives local farmers’ employment and prosperity. Yang Qiong told The Paper’s reporter that the Jinghuimeng Ecological Park pays over 2 million yuan in wages to nearby villagers each year.

“Looking at the entire northern Anhui region, Mengcheng’s cultural tourism resources are among the best,” Zhang Feng told The Paper. Mengcheng has a long history and rich heritage. The Yuchi Temple Neolithic cultural site is known as “the first primitive village in China.” Additionally, the thousand-year-old Wanfo Ancient Tower of the Northern Song Dynasty integrates the tower-building techniques of ancient China’s south and north. Historic sites such as the Wen Temple, Zhuangzi Temple, and Jiuding Lingshan Temple are scattered everywhere.

It is far from enough for cultural tourism development to only focus on “discussing resources.” To make “sleeping” resources “visible, observable,感知ble, and experiential,” continuous exploration, utilization, and enhancement of supporting services are needed.

“Ancient cities, ancient sites, and Zhuangzi culture are the foundation for the development of Mengcheng’s cultural tourism industry. Based on this, we are also making more attempts to better meet the demands of modern tourism,” Zhang Feng said. By enriching product and service offerings, innovating consumption models and scenarios, and presenting them with new interpretations and cultural creativity, we can provide new cultural genes for the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry, fully stimulating the potential energy of historical and cultural accumulation.

Making every effort to create a historical and cultural street with profound culture, a blend of ancient and modern elements, and distinct characteristics is an important aspect. Zhang Feng told reporters that Mengcheng has been learning from the valuable experiences of other regions in cultural tourism development.

Shouxian County, under the administration of Huainan City, Anhui Province, is not far from Mengcheng. In recent years, by deeply exploring its historical and cultural heritage and innovating its cultural tourism expression forms, it has endowed the thousand-year-old city with new cultural connotations, creating a unique cultural tourism experience. The day after the interview, Zhang Feng, along with colleagues from the bureau, went to Shouxian’s ancient city for an inspection and study. They eagerly hoped to clarify their thoughts on the inheritance of ancient city culture and the excavation of elements, as well as the relationship between historical elements and commercial formats.

Tourism Experiences Transcending Regions

From the Jianghuai hills to the vast plains of northern Anhui, the autumn scenery is pleasant.

Lacking natural landscapes, the cultural tourism development in northern Anhui has generally faced the realistic embarrassment of being small-scale, lacking content, and having short chains. On this land carrying rich historical accumulation and cultural heritage, how can we break through the embarrassment of “having culture but no tourism”? Counties represented by Mengcheng are striving to create differentiated leisure experiences for tourists and citizens through a series of new cultural tourism approaches, allowing people in northern Anhui to enjoy themselves without traveling far.

At the Yulong Forest Tent Camp within Mengcheng County’s City Forest Park, staff were preparing the site for a team-building activity to be held the next day.

At the beginning of this year, Niu Lei, who operates a media company in Mengcheng, targeted camping, a new trend in cultural tourism consumption, and invested in building the first boutique camping base in Mengcheng. By capturing the new perspective of leisurely life loved by young people and creating different camping scenes for each season, it integrates experiences of food, entertainment, and trendy play.

“Boutique camping is not the same as wild camping. We pursue a refined experience in service, landscape, and content, and plan to comprehensively upgrade the camp in three stages,” Niu Lei told reporters. As tourists generally pursue comfort, taste, and ceremony, they took the lead in establishing tent camping in Mengcheng, filling the gap in the camping economy in northern Anhui.

Yulong Forest Tent Camp. Photo by Yang Zhe, The Paper

Market feedback has also validated Niu Lei’s business judgment. He told reporters that during the National Day holiday this year, the camp received over 200,000 tourists, even surpassing the concurrent visitor flow of the largest commercial complex in Mengcheng County. Among the visitors, many were from surrounding counties and cities, which made Niu Lei very pleased. He said that he and his team members would strive to make the camp a “secluded paradise for local citizens and a desired destination for tourists from afar,” using small tents to support the large market of cultural tourism consumption.

Not far from the forest tent