Lifestyle
Ekaterina Kaligaeva, a student from Belarus who has been living in Beijing for more than four years, has traveled from Dali to the picturesque city of Xishuangbanna to see for herself the bustling economic revival of Yunnan province in southwestern China.
Here, bustling markets and busy tourist attractions highlight the region's return to economic vitality. Like many visitors, Ekaterina was excited to wander around Yunnan's scenic spots, soaking in the natural beauty and local culture.
She learned from a hotel manager that the tourism industry in Yunnan has regained momentum following the introduction of optimized COVID-19 management measures, with many tourists descending on Dali during the recent Spring Festival holiday.
"This Spring Festival may be the best year for tourism development in my ten years of working in Yunnan. Right, the best year in a decade. Although the Lantern Festival is over, our hotel is still full,” said the hotel manager in Dali City, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.
Kaligaeva's travel partner Matthew Kelly, a postgraduate student at Yenching Academy of Peking University contributed to her vlog with his thoughts on China's high-speed train network.
"It's so amazing. I just never expected this high technology here in China. It's so cool and so comfortable as well. Such a big seat! I'm six-foot-tall and so comfortable, and you even have a place to charge your phone and everything. It's more comfortable even than a plane and more convenient than a plane," said Kelly.
In Lijiang City, Kaligaeva donned a traditional Tibetan style outfit and took some pictures in the city's historic old town.
Blue Moon Valley, a popular tourist attraction in Liliang, has seen a growing number of tourists since the introduction of optimized COVID policy.
"It has become much better since the COVID policy was optimized. It was not convenient for everyone to go out because of COVID. Now, after the optimization of the COVID policy, the tourism industry's revenue in Yunnan, whether it is in Dali, Lijiang or other places, has increased by a hundred percent," said Chen Xiufang, a university professor whom Kaligaeva met at the Blue Moon Valley.