(Night scene of the Peace Lake in Zhijing. Photo by Tian Hua)
(San-dao-keng resort in Zhijiang. Photo by Tian Hua)
(Qingjiang Relocation New Village in Zhijiang. Photo by Tian Hua)
On the banks of the Weishui River, the flowing light shines brightly, reflecting the new beauty of the prosperous Dong villages for thousands of years; At the original site of China’s accepting Japan’s surrender, white doves spread their wings and sing the eternal melody of the town of peace.
This is Zhijiang, a poetic land praised by Qu Yuan as an amazing town in the west of Hunan. Nowadays, this small town is using the integration of culture and tourism as its pen and innovative measures as its ink, striving to write its own story of a national tourist attraction.
From the unique experience of night tour on the Peace Lake to the profound exploratory study trip of revolutionary education for students at the original site of China’s accepting Japan’s surrender; from the strong measures of “serving tourists” to the high recommendation of internet celebrities with millions of fans; and from the quality upgrade of smiling services to the marketing innovation of “local authority’s offering platforms, internet celebrities’ recommendation, and public participation”, Zhijiang has successfully created sensational cultural and tourism IPs through a series of combined approaches, making it a wonderful transformation from being a “Tourism Transit Venue” to a “Tourism Destination” and setting a good example of high-quality development of cultural tourism of a county in the new era.
At present, the development of cultural tourism in Zhijiang is about to usher in a new stage and opportunity because the 4th Huaihua Tourism Development Conference and Joyce Chinese Eight-Ball Masters Tournament will be held here, which is not only a full recognition of the high-quality development achievements of the cultural and tourism industry in Zhijiang, but also a significant opportunity for it to move towards a new stage. By taking this opportunity, Zhijiang is comprehensively improving the quality and service level of its cultural and tourism industry, aiming to make the conference a unique, exciting, and developmental event that highlights its characteristics, historical and cultural significance, and injects strong momentum into the high-quality development of Huaihua’s cultural and tourism industry, making the cultural and tourism brand of “Huaihua, a blessed land making you feel at home” well-known across the country.
Empowered by technology, Zhijing is creating new experiences for tourists.
Technology is the ‘golden key’ for Zhijiang to unlock its own treasure. Through technological means, Zhijiang transforms its unique cultural resources into touchable, perceptible, and participatory cultural and tourism projects, allowing tourists to experience the unique charm of the small town in immersive interaction.
As dusk falls, the tourist boats are cruising on Zhijiang Peace Lake. The colorful lights are shining along the banks like stars, reflecting the fantastic images of Longjin Wind and Rain Bridge, Tianhou Palace, Wanhe Drum Tower, and the stilted houses on the Suozi Street, making them extremely charming with a unique radiance in the night.
The night tour project on the Peace Lake can be regarded as a model of the integration of culture and tourism in Zhijiang because it cleverly utilizes the spatial structure along the lake by creating digital water curtains on the bridge piers and setting transparent screens along the bridge corridor, which transforms every architectural detail into an artistic carrier. Combined with wide-angle 3D imaging technology, the entire lake has transformed into a huge three-dimensional exhibition space, achieving a perfect coexistence of physical environment and digital art.
Unlike the traditional night tours of watery towns in south China, the night tour on the Peace Lake is characterized by six main themes: “Dreams of the Dong Villages”, “Poetic Charm of Zhijiang”, “Prospects of Zhijiang”, “Original Site of China’s Accepting Japan’s Surrender”, “Happy Zhijiang in the New Era”, and “Finding a City of Peace”, creating a magnificent urban epic. Tourists traveling by boat are like flipping through a three-dimensional urban biography - from the romantic legends of Dong culture to the historical glory of victory in the Anti Japanese War, and to the happy scenery of the new era, the spiritual thread of Zhijiang gradually unfolds in the changing lights.
This breakthrough in traditional night tourism mode not only redefines the connotation of urban night economy, but also allows tourists to have a cultural experience from the past to the future, from a small town to the outside world in a 40 minute journey. This project has been selected as a national rural tourism boutique route and has won honors such as the Hunan Cultural and Tourism New Business Model Base and the Hunan Night Consumption Agglomeration Demonstration Zone.
Entering the “Metaverse” Technology Experience Hall of Zhijiang Peace Art Center, tourists would feel like entering a fantasy world where they can immerse themselves in historical scenes through virtual reality technology. It not only brings them unique charm of ethnic minority culture, but also profound patriotic education, which is a perfect integration of technology and culture.
Through the “cultural tourism + live action role playing games” mode, Zhijiang has created the first immersive script entertainment in the country with the entire city as the background. The live action role playing games connect the local historical and cultural landmarks, folk customs and traditions of Zhijiang, effectively solving cultural and tourism problems such as scattered scenic spots, inconvenient transportation, diverse themes, and weak selling points, and creating an immersive urban micro travel of “Zhijiang mode”.
Zhijiang enjoys diversified business formats, unleashing new vitality in consumption. For tourists, exploring Zhijiang is like holding a wonderful “treasure map”, and every experience here is a unique “treasure hunt” journey. Behind this map is a carefully constructed puzzle of diverse business formats because it it seamlessly integrates profound historical heritage, beautiful ecological resources, and cutting-edge innovative thinking, continuously injecting strong momentum into Zhijiang’s cultural and tourism consumption.
The nighttime economy has become a new engine for the cultural and tourism industry in Zhijiang. As night falls, the banks of the river become particularly lively. The unique intangible cultural heritage market “Yuanzhou Yunji” has nearly a hundred distinctive stalls, attracting a large number of tourists and citizens. Service consumption such as catering, ticket attractions, accommodation, and travel has reached a new high in the past five years, and the night economy has become a new growth point for the cultural and tourism industry in Zhijiang. Here, tourists can taste various authentic local cuisine, purchase unique handicrafts, and enjoy exciting intangible cultural heritage performances.
Red tourism achieves innovative development. Focusing on “making good use of revolutionary resources, carrying forward the revolutionary tradition, and inheriting the revolutionary gene”, and relying on scenic spots such as the Original Site of China’s Accepting Japan’s Surrender in the Anti-Japanese War, Zhijiang actively explores “red tourism + revolutionary education tour” to develop revolutionary education courses suitable for students of different ages and to provide high-quality educational services for students.
Rural tourism is full of vitality. From the Yuanzhou Stone Carving Training Base at the foot of Mingshan Mountain, to the spectacular sea of clouds on Xihuang Mountain, and to the fishing villages by Qingjiang Lake, vivid rural pictures are slowly unfolding to the tourists. These characteristic villages scattered among the green mountains and clear waters not only retain the rustic charm of traditional agricultural civilization, but also incorporate creative elements of modern cultural tourism, providing tourists with diverse experiences.
Taking Qingjiang Village as an example, this relocation village nestled by mountains and waters has been revitalized through rural tourism. Tourists can experience the leisurely fishing by the lake in the early morning, the fun of fishing in the rice fields in the afternoon, the satisfaction of savoring the authentic Qingjiang fish feast in the evening, and the relaxation of hot spring therapy at night. In 2024, the collective economic income of the village exceeded 1.5 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 150%, truly realizing the transformation from “lucid waters and lush mountains ” to “invaluable assets”.
In addition to offering a deep cultural and tourism experience, Zhijiang has also transformed its urban space to an open art exhibition hall. Six giant wall paintings have become new popular spots along the river from Peace Bridge to Shanshui Hotel. These works are themed around “Wishing for Peace”, “Beautiful Dong Township”, “Peaceful City”, “Inclusiveness and Openness”, “Intangible Cultural Heritage Ethnic Groups”, and “Community with a Shared Future for Mankind”. Through visual elements such as Dong girls, evil dragons soaring, white doves spreading their wings, and peaceful red silk, they cleverly integrate the three major IPs of Dong culture, peaceful culture, and anti-Japanese war culture.
Of particular note is the wall painting of “Community with a Shared Future for Mankind”, in which a warm and powerful hand is embedding a jigsaw puzzle with Dong ethnic drum tower patterns into the azure planet. This creative composition not only symbolizes the unique position of Zhijiang as an “international peace city”, but also conveys the profound theme of “the world needs cooperation and Zhijiang is taking action”, using a paintbrush to outline the international perspective of the small town. Wall paintings are not only decorations, but also three-dimensional textbooks of urban culture. They have become an important window to showcase the cultural heritage of Zhijiang, allowing tourists to feel the cultural pulse of the city while strolling in it.
Zhijiang’s flourishing development of diversified business models is based on the well-developed transportation network. With Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway running across here and Zhijiang Airport, Zhijiang has perfectly integrated into the “1.5-hour Economic Circle around Changsha” and the “2-hour Transportation Circle around Pearl River Delta”, achieving a transformation from a “remote destination” to an “urban backyard”. According to data from the May Day holiday of 2025, Zhijiang Airport operated 62 flights with approximately 50000 passengers. The convenient transportation brings a large number of travelers, promoting for the development of cultural tourism of Zhijiang.
Multi-dimensional efforts have been made to paint a new picture of development. In 2024, Zhijiang Cultural Tourism achieved fruitful results: a total of 4701317 tourists were received throughout the year, achieving tourism revenue of 4.40691 billion yuan, increasing by 11.18% and 14.03% year-on-year respectively. In addition, Zhijiang has successfully applied for 3 national honors, including 4A level tourist attractions, and 14 provincial honors, including provincial-level tourist resorts.
Any success is not achieved occasionally, and that of Zhijiang not only stems from its unique cultural and tourism resources, but also from its high-level strategic planning and sincere intention to impress tourists.
Proper mechanism guarantees aggregation power. By establishing the Zhijiang Cultural Tourism Association and by following the approach of “market-oriented model with government guiding”, Zhijiang has attracted more than 90 member associations and market entities such as Zhixiang Cultural Tourism Co. Ltd, Hupo Cultural Tourism Co. Ltd, and Guilin Tourism Co. Ltd, etc. to participate in the county’s cultural and tourism construction. Through carefully planning and launching a series of cultural and tourism activities, Zhijiang has been recommended by national media such as Xinhua News Agency, Global Times, and China Newsweek, with network clicks exceeding 400 million.
By adopting a combined model of “local authority’s offering platforms, internet celebrities’ recommendation, and public participation”, Zhijiang has built a multi-level and three-dimensional promotion. It has established the Zhijiang Network Culture Association, recruiting more than 80 local network experts as “Zhijiang Cultural and Tourism Promoters” in the first batch.
In May of 2025, the well-known food blogger Liu Yuxin, who has millions of fans, released three short videos promoting Zhijiang culture and tourism, exclaiming that “Zhijiang is one of the underestimated food cities in Hunan”. He not only recommended specialty foods such as Zhijiang duck, pickled radish, Zhicao acid soup fish, original Mingshan bamboo shoots, Dong style spicy dumplings, camellia oil stewed black bone chicken, Zhicao beef, but also experienced the bustling scene of the agricultural market and the dazzling night view of Peace Lake. The three videos have received over 30 million views. The recommendation of internet celebrities with millions of fans has made Zhijiang further well-known around the country.
Service innovation enhances quality. Zhijiang has conducted comprehensive service training for all staff around “food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment”. From tour guides to homestay owners, the skill of “smiling service” has significantly improved, and tourist satisfaction continues to rise. Zhijiang will take lengthening tourists’ stay time as an important breakthrough point. On the one hand, by developing night tourism projects such as the night tours on Peace Lake and of Dong ethnic cultural performances, tourists can have plenty of fun; On the other hand, by actively introducing well-known chain hotel brands, cultivating local characteristic inns, and forming a diversified accommodation system of “high-end hotels+characteristic inns”, the average stay time of tourists in Zhijiang has increased from 0.8 days to 1.5 days.
Strong measures are taken to solve difficult problems. By launching a smart parking system, with free access to parking lots of all government and public institutions across the county, Zhijiang eliminates tourists’ “parking anxiety”. In addition, vehicles from other cities would be exempted from punishment for minor traffic violations. This flexible law enforcement makes the journey more relaxed. During the May Day holiday of 2025, more than 200 exclusive parking spaces were opened by government agencies and institutions throughout the county, and over 3000 temporary parking spaces were added, effectively alleviating the parking difficulties faced by tourists from other places.
The public security system activates an “all police escort” mode, with patrolling police cars entering the scenic area; The traffic police are stationed in advance on key road sections to ensure that the “main artery” of traffic would be unobstructed; The fire and emergency departments are on duty all day, and professional rescue teams conduct dynamic inspections in key areas. The service measures of each scenic spot are adjusted dynamically, and the Memorial Hall of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is optimized to visit and extend the opening time. During the May Day holiday, the museum received a total of 148733 visitors, a year-on-year increase of 51.93%, setting a new record for receiving visitors.
Regional collaborative innovation and development has been achieved. In January of 2025, the first joint meeting of the party secretaries of Zhangjiajie, Jishou and Huaihua Tourism Community was held in Huaihua, marking a new stage in the coordinated development of regional tourism. On July 29th, the Zhang Jihuai All Media Communication Alliance was officially established, injecting new momentum into the integrated development of culture and tourism in the three regions. Zhijiang actively seizes opportunities and deeply integrates into the construction of Zhangjiajie, Jishou and Huaihua Tourism Community, showcasing its unique charm in the trend of regional coordinated development. On the afternoon of July 29th, the “Zhangjiajie, Jishou and Huaihua E-trip” online promotion event came to Zhijiang, where internet celebrities and media representatives from the three regions gathered to promote Zhijiang’s cultural and tourism resources through short videos, live broadcasts, and other forms, attracting an huge online attention.
Now, Huaihua is striving to promote the joint development of cultural tourism of Anjiang, Hongjiang, Zhijiang, and Yushuwan in Hecheng District. Zhijiang, with its profound cultural heritage of peace, has formed a complementary and mutually beneficial development trend with other regions, vividly interpreting the new concept of cultural tourism development of “harmony in diversity, beauty in common”.
Today, Zhijiang is welcoming guests from all over the world with a more confident and open attitude.
Welcome to Zhijiang!
(Translated by Chen Min)