Village in Yunnan boosts tourism and protects environment through wedding photo industry

At the eastern foot of the lofty Yulong (Jade Dragon) Snow Mountain in Lijiang, southwest China’s Yunnan province, couples posing for their wedding dress photos have become a common new scene at the beautiful Blue Moon Valley in Jiazi village, Yulong Naxi autonomous county of Lijiang.

“In 2019, a total of 27,000 couples had their wedding costume photos taken in Blue Moon Valley. With each couple paying 660 yuan ($100.7) for the photos, we achieved a gross income of more than 19 million yuan from the business. 7.5 million yuan of the income was distributed among villagers, and each person got 3,000 yuan on average,” He Shijian, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Jiazi village committee, told People’s Daily Online.

Jiazi village, which is home to 2,495 villagers from 635 households in 19 villagers’ groups, set up a wedding dress photography company in 2016 to take full advantage of the locality’s gorgeous scenery, He disclosed.

The model for the development of the collective economy not only avoided problems common to the tourism industry such as environmental pollution and arbitrary charges, but also boosted the growth of the village’s collective economy and realized win-win results for the tourism industry and environmental and ecological protection.

Thanks to the wedding dress photography company and the development of the local tourism industry, Jiazi village’s per capita net income has exceeded 27,000 yuan, suggested statistics. This year, the village was recognized as one of the famous tourist villages in Yunnan province.