Special town with varied ethnic groups blooms with a rosy future

Seeking more opportunities

As more and more farmers choose to grow roses to increase their incomes, the flower has become a unique sight in the village, attracting more visitors.

The village now cooperate with companies to improve its management, in a bid to develop itself into a tourist attraction.

Painting the houses in bright colors was the first step. "It was very dull to see the same houses all through our village," said Wang Zuoyi, a local farmer who said that gold is his favorite color. But painting the houses and adding some 3D wall paintings pleased us. I decided to paint my house gold.”

By the end of April 2016, 80 percent of the houses had been painted and more than 40 murals covering 1,200 square meters had been finished by the end of May 2016.

A mural painted on the main road of the village, which depicts Lugu Lake in Yunnan province and is 500 meters long and 7 meters wide, broke the Guinness World Record for the longest and largest 3D ground painting.

Most of the 3D paintings feature love stories from all eras and many countries. Those stories were chosen to help develop the village into a romantic place to match its landscape of roses.

The tourist zone in the village opened to the public in August last year and the facilities have been improving for visitors. They now include WiFi, accommodation, catering, transport and shopping. Statistics show that the first phase of the tourist zone has provided at least 100 jobs for local villagers.

Rose growing and focusing on tourism development have already turned Jinlong into a vibrant place suitable for developing more businesses and creating more jobs.

"We provide homestay for visitors and a standard room only costs 120 yuan a night," said Zhao Xiping, a local farmer whose accommodation business has taken off, thanks to the rose industry in Jinlong. "I have earned 7,000 to 8,000 yuan a day in the past few months."

A 3D ground painting on a road in Jinlong has broken a Guinness World Record. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]