Tourism revives ethnic culture in post-quake Sichuan

When Sichuan Province's devastating earthquake leveled much of his village four years ago, He Qinrong thought the culture of his ethnic group, Qiang, would be killed off. After all, many of its members died in the tragedy, which also reduced its physical trappings to rubble.

"People believed that the old Qiang culture was dead after the quake," he said, referring to an ethnicity whose origins can be traced back 3,000 years. For a group with a population of just 300,000 and without a written language, the magnitude-8.0 earthquake could have spelled doom.

Instead, not only has Qiang culture survived, but it is being used to pull booming numbers of tourists into the area and fund its post-quake recovery. Tourists to Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, where the ethnic groups are densely populated, have reached 150,000 since January this year, a 51 percent year-on-year rise. Revenue from visitors stands 135 percent higher than in the same period last year.

Sichuan, epicenter of the quake that left more than 80,000 people dead or missing in 2008, was the main home for the Qiang people. More than one third of them lived in Maoxian County, where He's village is located.

"Almost every house of our village was reduced to rubble. Our museum was badly damaged and some senior citizens who were passing the Qiang culture to the younger generations were killed," recalled He, the chief of Aba's Ganqing Village.

"But now you can see, our culture is reborn and thriving," he said, standing amid swarms of visitors tentatively listening to Qiang traditions and folklores introduced by local guides dressed in colorful traditional costumes.

The revival came after financial aid from China's government was used to rebuild the village on its ruins. Every household was given an average of 20,000 yuan (3,200 U.S. dollars) and a loan of another 20,000, accounting for more than half of the average cost of a rebuilt house.

When the village was pieced back together, villagers strengthened its ethnic flavor to attract tourists. White stones, sacred objects of the Qiang people, were laid on windowsills and rooftops. Paintings of sheep heads, a Qiang totem, can be seen everywhere.

"Since the earthquake gave us an opportunity to build our village again, why don't we build it into something more attractive?" asked He. "2008 was bad. But we turned bad into good."

Ganqing residents are now busy hosting tourists from the neighboring cities of Chengdu and Chongqing, with the parties asking to try traditional Qiang food and listen to their music. The Qiang people have found their dusty culture can earn them a lot.

With over 2,000 visitors touring the village, shopping and dining every day, villagers' average annual income has increased from 4,000 yuan per person before the earthquake to more than 10,000 yuan last year.

"It was surprising to see the old culture earn us so much," said He, adding that his villagers are now more than willing to brush up their rusty Qiang language and pick up needles and threads for old-style Qiang embroidery.

Even He, in his 50s, is planning to start learning the language of his ethnic group, which he had never previously thought worth studying.

"Our culture, which survived from the quake, is destined to thrive," he believes.

He's optimism is shared by villagers in Ganpu Tibetan Village of Sichuan's Lixian County, whose survival and prosperity is another local success story.

Paintings of items that are sacred to Tibetan Buddhism and Gesar, a traditional Tibetan king to whom Ganpu has related itself, cover walls of Ganpu Village.

"Tourists now care to ask who Gesar was and what the items in our religion stand for," said a local Tibetan peddler who gave her name as He Jianying.

She said her family are building 12 hostel rooms in the village, explaining, "I want tourists to sleep here overnight to better understand Tibetans and our culture."

Tourism has helped the badly damaged Tibetan village and its Tibetan culture to stand up again, according to Lixian County government senior official Liu Jun.

"Now we have helped 11 rebuilt villages of the Tibetan and Qiang ethnic groups in our county to become tourist destinations," he said, adding that they have all seen leapfrog development.