云Sina Dingzhu, a Tibetan farmer born and bred entrepreneur in Diqing Prefecture, Yunnan Province, helped villagers to bid farewell to secluded and poverty-stricken life, effectively protected the superior ecological environment and rationally developed tourism resources of his hometown, and found out a path of sustainable development for ethnic minority areas.

A Good Money Maker from Deep into the Canyon

Sina Dingzhu was born in Bala Village, Nixi Township, Shangri-La County, Diqing Prefecture. This Tibetan village is located at the foot of the snow-capped Gezong Mountain and is secluded deep into the isolated canyon.

Although it featured singular and magnificent landscape and good ecological environment, the development of Bala Village was very backward due to extremely inconvenient transportation. Villager Abing said that the post road on the cliff was the only way to the outside world for villagers in the past and it would took two days to go out of the village. He also told that some people hadn't left the canyon in their life.

"I haven't worn shoes before 10, and when I went hunting with adults, I was on bare feet." Sina Dingzhu, 45, remembered the hard life in the past. At the age of 13, he left his hometown for Kunming, the capital of Yunan Province. He'd worked at road construction sites as well as for wood-working factory.

When he had some savings, Sina Dingzhu began to do business, starting up a catering business in downtown Shangri-La and opening the first hardware store in Diqing Prefecture. After doing business for more than 20 years, Sina Dingzhu has accumulated tens of millions of assets and become a good money maker well-known in his hometown.

Never Forget his Villagers When He Become Rich and Contribute to Poverty Relief of His Hometown

Sina Dingzhu, who first got rid of poverty, always missed his hometown. He said, "If I lead a good life alone when my villagers are still trapped in the mountains without access to electricity, without a highway to the outside world and without the hope of getting rid of poverty, will I be happy?” So he made up his mind to do something practical for the poverty relief of his hometown.

For many years, it had been a dream of people in Bala Village to build a road connecting the village to the outside world. He'd also considered: Is it worth giving all his assets for his hometown to construct a road? After the road was constructed, how did villagers earn a living? The rise of tourism in Diqing Prefecture dispelled his worry.

In September 2004, construction was commenced for the highway from Shangqiaotou Village, Nixi Township, Shangri-La County to Bala Village. This 28 km long road would be the scenic road to the Shangri-La Grand Canyon as well as the path to prosperity for Bala Village and other four Tibetan villages along the way. It was so difficult to construct a road on the cliff that the relatives and friends of Sina Dingzhu thought he was crazy. Some people said that he would eventually go bankrupt.

However, he was not overwhelmed by the difficulties; instead, he was even more determined. From planning and design to construction and supervision, he was present for the bidding of all stages, for the purpose of saving construction funds as much as possible on the basis of ensuring the quality of the project. When he was faced financial difficulties, in order for the smooth operation of the highway construction project, Sina Dingzhu had no choice but sell his catering business and hardware store in the downtown area of the county.

On January 1, 2008, Bala Village ushered in a historic moment: the highway was open for traffic, and the electricity and telephone services were available. Lairong Qilin, CPC Secretary of Bala Village, said that, on that day, villagers held celebration with singing and dancing, and presented a khata to Sinai Dingzhu. The excited villagers kept switching on and off the light, and some people called relatives living in the distant places to tell them this exciting news. At this moment, Sina Dingzhu cried happily with tears in his eyes.

At the end of June 2009, the main part of the Bala Village Highway was paved with asphalt. Today, the time spent on the journey from Bala Village to the downtown area of the county has been shortened from the previous three days to one and a half hours. Many villagers were employed on the construction site, and the annual income of each household increased from 1000-2000 yuan to about 30,000 yuan. Sina Dingzhu told reporters that this road had made five villages bid farewell to secluded and poverty-stricken life. Although the road construction project cost more than 80 million yuan, he did not ask the government for a penny.

Seek the Path of Sustainable Development

Since the end of the last century, tourism has boomed rapidly in Diqing Prefecture, and a large host of tourists from home and abroad have come to Diqing to seek the last paradise on earth. Sina Dingzhu realized that this was an opportunity for the leap-frog development of Bala Village.

At the end of 1999, Sina Dingzhu registered and established Bala Gezong Ecotourism Development Co., Ltd. and began the development and construction of the Bala Gezong Scenic Area.

Since 2003, the scenic area has entered into the stage of formal construction. In addition to the road leading to Bala village, a Tibetan-style hotel was built in the area, and a sightseeing walkway with the length of a few meters was built. At present, the first phase has been completed, with an accumulated investment of 160 million yuan. The scenic area was open for business in September 2007.

Awa, Director of the Tourism Bureau of Diqing Prefecture, said that tourism is one of the key pillar industries supported by Diqing Prefecture, and that the development of scenic areas should focus on seeking a path of benign interaction between protection and development that should have the functions of ecological protection, tourism display, environmental science popularization and benefiting people in the community.

Sina Dingzhu told the journalist that his company had recruited more than 120 employees, most of whom were local residents. In the near future, the second phase of the project will be launched, including the construction of a 4-star hotel and a sight-seeing circular road and the improvement of supporting facilities. He added, "The dream of alleviating the poverty of my hometown has been realized. Now I have a bigger dream. I want to make my hometown a world-class eco-tourism resort and show the beauty of my hometown to more people.”