On the early morning of May 21st, Li Zengwei, Executive Vice President of Shanghu Homestay, had already fallen asleep when his phone rang rapidly. A new order notification instantly dispelled his drowsiness. Without any sense of difficulty, he decided to record this moment on his mobile friend circle.

In May, this homestay located at the foot of Sifang Mountain in Tonghua, Jilin, began its peak season. The few courtyards at the foot of the mountain are already fully booked, and many tourists who come from afar want to experience a primitive wooden house, a courtyard with red tiles and white walls, and then soak in an outdoor hot spring accompanied by the misty mountains.

During peak tourist seasons like May Day and National Day, we have to work continuously every day and sleep for less than 4 hours, "said Li Zengwei.

Four years ago, no one expected such a scene to occur. At that time, Shanghu Homestay was just an ordinary village in Da'an Town. Due to the superior soil and water ecological conditions in the village, the selenium content is four times higher than the national standard. In 2022, the Tonghua County Party Committee and County Government recognized the potential of this valley and decided to invest in the construction of the Shanghu boutique homestay project in Hushang Village.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the homestay project, Zhou Yunbo, the secretary of the Party branch of Hushang Village, led cadres at both the town and village levels to communicate and coordinate matters door-to-door. Within 75 days, they completed the resettlement of 36 indigenous households and the relocation of 1000 acres of land.

In the initial stage of homestays, there were few customers, and most of them had to rely on government reception to maintain. Nowadays, the radiation range of passenger flow continues to extend outward. During the just concluded May Day holiday, tourists from Shenyang and Changchun accounted for 85%, while tourists from distant places such as Beijing and Shanghai are also increasing.

Different from many popular online attractions that rely on paid streaming, Li Zengwei said that the homestay would take some videos on platforms such as Tiktok to attract tourists, but did not spend money on traffic promotion, and the source of tourists basically depended on the reputation and recommendation after tourists' experience.

The development of homestays on Shanghu Lake, from ordinary villages to Grade A homestays, is also a microcosm of the development of Tonghua's tourism and health industry. In the past, Northeast China's cultural and tourism industry mainly focused on traditional sightseeing and ice and snow projects; Now, the local area is digging deep into characteristic industries such as forest healing, summer leisure, and travel, utilizing ecological advantages to activate resources and continuously releasing regional development potential.

Compared to short-term tourism, the travel mode has a more significant driving effect on the local economy. But the requirements for travel are also higher: not only do they require the local area to have abundant tourism resources, but they also need to have mature and complete deep operational service capabilities.

On April 29th, Jilin Province issued the "Jilin Province Promoting High Quality Pilot Work Plan for Travel and Health Care", which specifies that starting from 2027, 100 million yuan will be allocated annually for three consecutive years to provide special support for the development of the travel and health care industry, and rewards will be given to eligible pilot areas and units to form an incentive orientation.

At the symposium on high-quality development of tourism and wellness in Jilin Province, the relevant person in charge of the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism stated that the reason for promoting the pilot work of tourism and wellness is partly due to Jilin's unique endowment in developing tourism and wellness; On the other hand, it is also an inevitable choice for the development of the cultural and tourism industry at the current stage. The traditional tourism model has become saturated, and there is an urgent need for new business models to drive industrial upgrading. However, the development of tourism and health care is in line with the industry's laws.

Zhang Maoqiang, Deputy Director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Tonghua City, said that travel is different from traditional tourism and sightseeing. It is not about taking a quick look at the scenery or leaving after the trip, but about integrating it with life and meeting the normal needs of tourists for medical treatment, leisure, and exercise.

In his opinion, to develop the tourism industry, the first thing to clarify is three things: who will travel, what they will do, and how to retain them? By identifying these three points, corresponding products, formats, and service systems can naturally be built accordingly.

A homestay growing in the mountains and wilderness

Zhou Yunbo, who is already 60 years old, takes a stroll along the homestay park every morning before dedicating himself to the day's work. He put in a lot of effort from finalizing the plan for the Shanghu homestay, completing land acquisition and demolition, to recruiting and officially starting business.

Seven years ago, Zhou Yunbo, who had been doing business outside for many years, returned to the village and served as the secretary of the Hushang Village Party Branch. At that time, the village had an old appearance and weak infrastructure. With the support of resources from Tonghua County, he led the promotion of village renovation, worked door-to-door, widened the main road construction in the village, and completed infrastructure such as sewage, roads and bridges, and street lamps. Subsequently, a number of cultural tourism and public facilities such as the Anti Japanese United Front Road, village collective road, folk museum, forest park archway, etc. were gradually implemented, laying the foundation for the construction of homestays on Shanghu.

In 2022, Tonghua County in Tonghua City launched a number of key cultural and tourism projects, focusing on leisure and health homestay settlements that integrate eating, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, learning, and entertainment. The Shanghu homestay project is one of them.

Why choose to establish a homestay project in Hushang Village? Water quality is the primary consideration factor. After testing by the geological and mineral resources department of Jilin Province, the selenium content in the water source of Hushang Village is extremely high, four times the national standard. In addition to water quality, the local natural environment is also an important consideration for project site selection. In 2012, the CCTV production team came here to shoot a feature film of mountain rime, and summarized the landscape here: the sunrise is like Mount Taishan Mountain, the sea of clouds is like Emei, the maple leaves win the Fragrant Mountain, and the rime matches Jilin.

The unique natural resource endowment attracted the intention of five leading homestay brands, including Moganshan, to cooperate with the project in the early stages of construction, and it was ultimately planned and operated by a Beijing company as a whole. Nowadays, these external teams have gradually withdrawn and the project has been handed over to local personnel for independent operation. Zhou Yunbo said, "We have outsourced our operations team before, but in practice, we have found that in order for rural cultural tourism to develop in the long run, it still needs to be managed by local people themselves

In 2024, this boutique homestay project with a total investment of 150 million yuan officially landed. The project plan covers an area of 285 acres with a building area of 94486.5 square meters. The overall layout is based on a "one axis and three cores" layout, relying on the water system to create a landscape.

Li Zengwei said that 98% of the employees on Shanghu are villagers from their own village. If the relocated villagers want to come back to work, they will also be given priority in hiring when there are vacancies in the positions. After deducting the five insurances and one housing fund, the average monthly salary income of villagers is now around 3500 yuan

The full opening of the Shenbai high-speed railway in 2025 will bring a large number of customers from outside the province to Shanghu and even the entire Tonghua area. More and more tourists from other places are coming to this mountainous area to listen to bird songs in the morning and watch the stars at night. Shanghu is equipped with one-on-one exclusive butlers for tourists, providing services throughout the entire process from travel, check-in to check-out. To make up for the insufficient passenger flow during the off-season, Zhou Yunbo invited professional doctors last year and launched three phases of forest health and healing projects based on local mountains, forests, and water resources, which attracted a lot of passenger flow.

Zhou Yunbo said, "There are quite a few similar homestays in the province, and we must break away from the single homestay model and transform towards a comprehensive vacation area. Currently, Shanghu mainly focuses on two features: immersive cultural experience and original natural resources

Establish a community for all age groups to live together

In Tonghua, Jilin, Jiangnan Town is a "trump card" in local tourism projects. This project is operated and constructed by Jilin Hongfutang Health Industry Development Co., Ltd. The planning and design mainly refer to Wuzhen Yayuan and have been upgraded. It does not simply copy the traditional elderly care model, but focuses on creating a community suitable for all age groups to live together.

Han Yuefei, the marketing director of Jiangnan Town, said, "In the early stages of the project, more emphasis was placed on real estate sales. Nowadays, the situation in the real estate industry is already different. In the past, as long as the planning concept was put forward, the house could sell well without waiting for the supporting facilities to be implemented. Now, it is necessary to put the supporting facilities and services into practice before people are willing to come and live

The Starry Sky Neighborhood Center is the main place for residents in the park to relax and unwind in their daily lives, with multiple pool tables placed inside the venue. On weekdays, many retired elderly people gather here to play cards and billiards. The winter in Northeast China is long and outdoor activities are inconvenient. The park has specially built a 200 meter circular indoor walkway on the second floor of the neighborhood center to meet the daily exercise needs of residents. During holidays, the property and community also organize activities here.

Both sides of the neighborhood center are equipped with employee owner canteens and community elderly care canteens. The dishes are made into small portions, with unit prices ranging from 1 yuan to 15 yuan. Elderly people over 70 years old, sanitation workers, and people with disabilities can also receive exclusive discounts.

Han Yuefei said that the original intention of setting up the canteen is mainly to facilitate the residents of the park, especially to meet the daily dining needs of the elderly. The dishes are mainly light, soft, glutinous, with less oil and salt. At present, the cafeteria receives two to three hundred people per day, mostly elderly people.

The planned sales products for the park include various sizes ranging from 39 to 209 square meters, as well as flat and courtyard products. The first phase of small-scale products is mostly sold in the form of refined decoration. The interior of the house has been renovated to adapt to aging, with the stove and switch sockets lowered. All furniture is designed with rounded corners, and the bedside and bathroom are also equipped with one click call devices, which can simultaneously contact the property management, hospital, and family members.

In terms of medical facilities, Jiangnan Town originally planned to build its own rehabilitation hospital, which was eventually handed over to Dongchang District People's Hospital for operation. This hospital specializes in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and has established a medical and elderly care linkage mechanism with the community. The overall project draws on the mature medical and elderly care model in Zhejiang, and has established nine service systems including affordable housing, medical care, health care, and social services. It is also equipped with day care centers, senior universities, audio-visual rooms, and other places, taking into account the daily care and leisure life of the elderly.

Han Yuefei said that the occupancy rate of the buildings delivered in the community is currently between 90% and 95%, and the overall comprehensive occupancy rate is about 70%. Most of the residents are locals; There are also a small number of southern homeowners, most of whom live seasonally. They come to Tonghua to escape the heat in summer and return to the south or other cities to spend the winter in winter.

With the increasing popularity of cultural tourism, small towns in Jiangnan are also exploring new formats and tracks. Previously, many homeowners entrusted their idle houses to local homestay companies for unified operation. Inspired by this, the park has also planned to create courtyard homestays and boutique hotels. At the end of this year, a batch of housing units of 40-50 square meters will be delivered soon. Han Yuefei said that it will gradually be transformed into a travel product in the future.

The average summer temperature in Tonghua is 22 ℃, which is refreshing and livable. In winter, it is rich in ice and snow resources, and with convenient transportation, it has gradually become a transit point for tourists traveling to and from Changbai Mountain.

Han Yuefei said that the park is expanding its travel business and trying to exchange travel between the north and the south. For example, in summer, it can attract tourists from the south to come here for summer vacation, and in winter, it can organize local people to go to Hainan for winter. We are currently investigating and coordinating these new plans

How to do a good job in traveling

Faced with new opportunities, Zhang Maoqiang is also pondering how to activate existing resources and create new articles for the development of tourism.

Zhang Maoqiang believes that the core competitiveness of Tonghua Travel lies in the "three nourishment": firstly, health preservation. Located in the hinterland of Changbai Mountain, Tonghua is a typical northern mountain city with superior natural ecological conditions, high vegetation coverage, and high-quality mountain and water resources, making it very suitable for people to take care of their bodies.

The second is to nourish the heart. Tonghua has a rich historical and cultural heritage, including the Goguryeo World Cultural Heritage, the red history and spirit represented by the Northeast Anti Japanese United Front and the Korean War, as well as characteristic industrial cultures such as ginseng, wine, and traditional Chinese medicine. Tourists can slow down here, settle their hearts, and cultivate their mood.

The third is to nourish the mind. This is also the core advantage of Tonghua in adapting to the tourism industry. Whether it's Shanghu Homestay or Huarun Hope Town, many of them are not just tourist attractions, but immersive scenes that integrate urban and rural life. Tourists living here can experience the rich Kanto customs and regional culture, and truly immerse themselves in local life.

Zhang Maoqiang said, "Combining the advantages of Tonghua, sorting out the existing resources, attracting what kind of people, improving the travel experience, and extending the stay time are our key directions

Many people equate the group of tourists who live abroad with the energetic elderly who retire and retire, but Zhang Maoqiang does not agree. He said that the customer base of Tonghua Travel is diverse and multidimensional. Taking Wanfeng Tonghua Ski Resort as an example, its customer base is mostly young people in their twenties and thirties. Many tourists from the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta come to Tonghua specifically for a week or one or two months to experience the winter ice and snow travel life in depth. At the same time, this place has also attracted a large number of writers, film and television creators, and new media practitioners. They will live and create here at the same time, and these are not just for retirement and leisure.

In recent years, Tonghua has formed a stable passenger flow. The two major business formats of winter skiing and summer heat dissipation have not decreased in popularity. According to UnionPay Business data, during the May Day holiday in 2026, Tonghua City received a total of 1.6001 million domestic tourists, achieving a total travel expenditure of 977 million yuan and steadily increasing passenger flow.

Currently, Tonghua is integrating natural resources, historical resources, cultural resources, and various tourism elements to connect cultural and tourism sites across the region and create distinctive travel products; Starting from top-level design, we will collaborate with resources such as vacation areas, hotels, homestays, and scenic spots to launch "three days and three nights" themed products, as well as ten boutique health and wellness travel routes. We will create multiple in-depth travel product packages, allowing tourists to stay and enjoy themselves in Tonghua.

Zhang Maoqiang is also considering that there is still a lot of work to be done in the operation of Tonghua throughout the four seasons. For example, Wanfeng Tonghua Ski Resort has significant advantages in winter and urgently needs to enhance its summer attractiveness; For example, how to combine high-quality scenic spots such as Goguryeo cultural relics and historical sites tourist attractions and Jilin Longwan Forest Park with the snow scenery and folk customs of Kanto for product transformation; For example, how can we operate the four seasons well and make Tonghua produce good articles every season

Our goal is to create a year-round sustainable and multi-dimensional travel product system, "said Zhang Maoqiang.