Weifang village utilizes persimmons, tourism to prosper

Yinshi village in Weifang's Linqu county recently included the practice known as "the Combination of Mountain Persimmon Industry and Rural Tourism" in the 2022 World Tourism Alliance Best Practices of Rural Vitalization through Tourism.

Yinshi is a mountain village hidden at the junction of three counties, namely Linqu, Qingzhou, and Boshan. The village boasts a history of more than 2,000 years, and has a total of 2,180 people living in 670 households. It was once a provincially designated tourism poverty alleviation village.

In recent years, the village has begun to focus on the persimmon industry and develops characteristic persimmon planting and processing that includes tourism elements. It is now a well-known persimmon producing village and has been rated as a key village for national rural tourism due to its ability to rise out of poverty through hard work.

A number of tourism facilities and scenic spots such as the hermitage academy, the village history hall, a theme park and a homestay cluster have been built in the village. The village is also home to the largest persimmon drying base in China, which covers an area of 22,000 square meters.

It recently introduced a study tour project with a total investment of 50 million yuan ($7.16 million). The project can receive more than 200 research teams a year, which helps the development of the village service industry and provides villagers with great benefits.