Musical return to rural life for migrant
Print Edition
In the bar that occupies his former country home, Luo Minghua plays his guitar and sings a song he wrote himself.
“This is my hometown, not beautiful when I had to leave. With flowers falling to the ground, the house was left shabby and dusty. This is my hometown, now shiny and pretty. With birds singing songs, it so fascinates me,” Luo sings.
Tourists drink beer as they listen, clapping occasionally.
A music lover since his childhood, Luo, 44, was born in Dalong, a mountainous village in Dayu County in east China’s Jiangxi Province. Residents once lived in clay houses in poverty.
China’s national rural revitalization drive has helped draw city dwellers to the countryside for rural tourism, and improving conditions in rural areas have also lured migrant workers back to their home villages.
To make ends meet, Luo left his family and worked in cities like many other villagers. Some 70 percent of village houses had been left empty five to six years ago, said Lan Shanrong, Party chief of Dalong Village.
Luo sold bean curd and later worked at construction sites in cities. He also signed up for singing contests across China.
It was during this period that another local villager, Tang Xiangyang, returned home to set up a tourist resort with savings from his mining business. “The green mountains, clean rivers, fresh air and peaceful environment are all precious to urbanites, but the reason I started the tourism business was to attract locals to return.”
In 2012, when Luo returned home to repair his house after flood damage, he was impressed by the new and renovated houses. His village had become part of the Yashan tourist resort.
Fed up with an unstable life in the city, Luo came back home.
Luo ran a lime putty sales business until 2015, when a gold prize he won at a singing contest in Guangdong Province drew Tang’s attention.
Encouraged by Tang, Luo converted his house into a “bicycle bar” to attract cycling tourists. He was invited to form a band to perform at the resort.
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