A Sweeter Home

How a suburban village in Beijing became prosperous By Li Xiaoyang

Looking out from almost every window in his house, Jim Spear, an American in his 60s, can see the Great Wall. He was so impressed by the imposing ancient defense structure when he first came to China in the 1980s that the visit became a turning point in his life.In 2005, the retired Spear and his Chinese wife Tang Liang settled in Beigou Village in Beijing’s suburban Huairou District.

Nestled at the foot of one of the most famous and visited sections of the Great Wall in the capital city, Mutianyu, Beigou is home to a little more than 100 households. Starting from humble beginnings, the village has become a home for many new migrants, including expats, and has a growing tourism and art industries.

Since settling in Beigou, Spear has been breathing new life into the village’s old brick houses. In 2015, the couple built Brickyard Retreat, a resort and restaurant in a former tile factory. According to Spear, they aimed to build a tourist-friendly hotel that would attract young people to visit rural areas.

“Instead of tearing down the old houses, we have renovated them while preserving the original frames so that the hotel merges into the local environment,” Spear toldBeijing Review.

During the renovation, they used pieces of the glazed tiles that had been produced and left in the discarded factory on the walls and paths.The hotel, which now features both Eastern and Western architectural styles, has tiled roofs and old wooden doors, and offers a good view of the Great Wall through its many French windows.

So far, Spear has turned about 40 empty houses, rented from local villagers, into villas.The idyllic life in the village has attracted both Chinese urbanites and about 30 households of expats from countries including the United States and Canada, boosting the development of Beigou and turning it into an international community.

A model of transformation

As Beigou becomes popular, its pillar industry has shifted from chestnut growing to tourism.According to Wang Quan, secretary of the village’s Communist Party of China branch, the changes in the village have been great over recent years.

According to Wang, the per-capita income of the villagers was around 4,500 yuan ($617) in 2004, but had risen to 30,000 yuan ($4,116) by 2021. There are now around 30 inns in Beigou and the total annual revenue brought by tourism is now over 30 million yuan ($4.1 million).

“Villagers once mainly relied on growing chestnuts or working in other places to earn a living. Now many of them work in the tourism industry,” Wang toldBeijing Review.

Brickyard has inspired local people to renovate their houses, and has also provided jobs for the villagers. Song Cuihong, in her 40s, used to sell souvenirs, snacks and bottled water on the Great Wall, needing to carry her goods on foot for around an hour to reach a suitable spot. After Brickyard opened, she started working there,mainly washing dishes at first. After years of experience, she is now one of the resort’s chefs.

While many work in the hotels, around 70 percent of the villagers have opened their own grocery stores, homestays and restaurants.

The transformation of Beigou is more than just commercialization. According to Wang, they have also been working on creating a better local environment and improving the conduct of villagers, giving Beigou a facelift. The village now has a cinema, an art museum and a free canteen for elderly people, and has become greener and cleaner. “Villagers have developed increasing awareness of environmental protection,” he said.

Michael Hart, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, visited the village for a chamber event in October this year.“I was most impressed by how the village gives both a traditional and international feel, from its modern architecture to its friendly villagers,” he toldBeijing Review.

The Brickyard Retreat in Beigou Village, Beijing’s suburban Huairou District,in August

The story of Beigou is one of the many cases demonstrating that the ties and friendships between American and Chinese people can bring positive and concrete change to rural areas that benefit the local communities while also contributing to more balanced development across the country, Hart said.

An artistic bloc

In 2009, Kan Dong, now President of 2049 Group, a Beijing-based investment company, visited Beigou to assist in poverty alleviation and has lived in the village ever since. The company has made continuous investments in the village, developing a hotel and a restaurant and purchasing Brickyard in 2020. The company’s investment portfolio also includes Wa Art Architecture Museum, which showcases the history of Beigou’s transformation.

Beigou is now a destination for art enthusiasts. From October last year to January this year, the museum hosted an exhibition titled Topo-Urbanism,which featured artworks, such as paintings, sculptures and installations that integrate art with rural culture, giving the village a different taste and attracting many visitors. During the exhibition, artistic works could be found almost everywhere in the village.

With a strikingly modern appearance, the museum was built mainly with materials found in the village, making it still appear as if it had grown from the village. Many villagers now gather on the square outside the museum in their leisure time.

“This kind of museum marks rural-urban integration. It will help cultivate a sense of art in local children,” Han Zhe, a travel blogger, said on social media.

Rural renewal

Beigou is only one of the suburban villages of Beijing that has prospered by developing tourism in recent years. Many of the villages in the mountainous areas, in particular, faced development challenges as growing crops was restricted and mining was phased out as part of ecological preservation efforts. Tourism then emerged as a profitable alternative to traditional industries.

Due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, travel to suburban areas has become even more popular. Many homestays in Yanqing, Fangshan, Daxing and Miyun districts of Beijing have become top destinations for the city’s urban tourists.

According to travel agency China CYTS Tours Holding Co., Gubei Water Town in Miyun saw over 500,000 tourists in the third quarter of this year, up 4.71 percent year on year. Events held in the town themed onhanfu, the recently repopularized traditional clothing of China’s Han ethnic group, have further made it a hot destination this year.

Homestays play a key role in rural tourism.To attract visitors, their operators need to develop distinctive services that suit the local surrounding environment, Pan Helin, a professor at Zhejiang University, toldBeijing Review.

Suburban homestays in Beijing are attracting guests because of their idyllic environments and through activities such as camping and agritourism. Many have maintained traditional architectural styles and intangible cultural heritage techniques.

“With improving rural infrastructure, tourism will be a strong driver of the local economy,” Pan said. BR