Rural Sports Transform Mountain Village in China’s Jiangxi, Attracting Over One Million Tourist Visits
Dragon Media News Desk
A remote mountain village in east China’s Jiangxi Province has emerged as an example of rural development through sports tourism, attracting more than one million tourist visits since 2019. Huangsha Village, located in Zhenzhushan Township of Wuyuan County, was once a quiet community where many young residents left in search of employment. Today, the village, home to approximately 1,000 permanent residents, hosts sporting competitions throughout the year, generating new opportunities for local accommodation providers, restaurants, farmers and entrepreneurs.
Huangsha regularly hosts international cross-country cycling races, mountain biking competitions, Jiangxi provincial bridge tournaments, city and county gas volleyball leagues, and youth table tennis events. A turning point came in January 2019, when the third Shangrao City Gas Volleyball League brought 38 teams and more than 300 participants to the village. Its reputation as a sports destination has since grown steadily. In 2025 alone, Huangsha hosted more than 20 sporting events, while last year’s Wuyuan Farming Sports Meet attracted 55 teams and over 600 participants.
A village-level national fitness centre at Huangsha’s entrance provides indoor facilities for competitions and community activities. According to local official Xu Bin, young people previously sought opportunities outside the village, but sporting events now fill local homestays and keep farmhouse restaurants busy. The growing number of visitors has enabled residents to generate income from their homes, agricultural products and hospitality services.
Villager Wang Caimei previously depended on several small plots of farmland for her livelihood. As sports tourism expanded, she converted her three-storey house into a sports-themed homestay, decorating its walls with gymnastics murals and naming rooms after different sports. During competitions, her rooms are frequently fully occupied, while visitors purchase local honey, handmade sauce cakes and wild jujube pastries. The business generates an additional annual income of 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, equivalent to approximately US$7,450 to US$8,940.
Another resident, Fang Guogen, returned to Huangsha after spending more than a decade in the catering industry elsewhere. He invested over two million yuan in a hotel that serves visiting athletes and hosts weddings and birthday celebrations for local families. The business generates more than 200,000 yuan in annual profit and purchases agricultural products worth over 300,000 yuan from local farmers each year, extending the economic benefits of sports tourism throughout the community.
To ensure that tourism revenue is shared more widely, Huangsha established a homestay tourism cooperative that manages 21 sports-themed accommodation facilities under a unified system. Annual dividends distributed through the cooperative total nearly one million yuan, with the highest payment to an individual household reaching 18,000 yuan. According to Xu Bin, the village has successfully converted the growing number of sporting visitors into direct income for local residents.
Huangsha’s transformation is part of Wuyuan County’s broader strategy to integrate sports with tourism, health and wellness, and educational travel. Taking advantage of its mountainous landscape and ancient postal routes, the county has developed the “China’s Most Beautiful Countryside – Wuyuan Sports Tourism Route.” In 2025, Wuyuan recorded 2.05 million visits by sports participants and spectators, generating 1.03 billion yuan in direct spending, according to local officials.
The county has also expanded fitness trails, cycling greenways and rural sports facilities while developing an urban network that allows residents to reach fitness facilities within 15 minutes. Wang Kai, head of the Wuyuan County Social Sports Industry Development Center, said sporting events frequently attract entire families rather than individual participants. Visitors explore ancient villages, enjoy local cuisine and purchase regional products, creating economic activity beyond the competitions themselves. In Zhenzhushan Township, sports and leisure tourism attracts approximately 100,000 visitors annually and generates more than five million yuan in sales of local specialties.
The expansion of sports infrastructure has also improved recreational opportunities for local residents. In the evenings, Huangsha’s national fitness centre becomes a gathering place for dancing and exercise. Villager Wang Dongjiao said residents can use the facilities free of charge, while county instructors regularly provide exercise training. Huangsha’s experience demonstrates how integrating sporting events with tourism, local enterprise, agricultural markets and community facilities can create economic opportunities and improve everyday life in a small mountain village.
