ArticleManagerSun Linlin prepares meals for customers in the back kitchen (photographed on January 23). Photo by reporter Xu Chang
Wu Qingrong serves dumplings for guests in the back kitchen (photographed on January 25). Photo by reporter Xu Chang
Yang Fengyan is in Erhe Xue Township. Xinhua News Agency
One is the “black peony” who “eyes are above the top” and is dedicated to doing big things; One is the enthusiastic “Sunflower” who is dedicated to home; One is the “mountain red” that does what he says and spits on it becomes a nail … Three women play one play, they were born “love” for work, they once fled the mountain village, why did they return to the countryside? Once dreamed of shattering hometown, why did it rekindle hope?
As the countdown to the third anniversary of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics begins, China’s ski market has ushered in a golden period of development. In recent years, Shulan City, Jilin Province has taken advantage of this “winter wind” to develop ice and snow tourism to promote rural revitalization, and the century-old Xiaotun Erhetun in the Laoyeling Mountain Col has become famous, and the “snow nest” that has been closed by heavy snow and difficult to travel in winter has become a famous snow town that attracts nearly 100,000 people every year.
The two fires are on, the hearts of the people are hot, and the people who have left their homes have returned. The three women also rode the “winter wind” of ice and snow tourism and staged a scene of chasing dreams.
The entrepreneurial dream of “Black Peony”
Driving into Erhe Snow Township, the first thing that catches your eye is two rows of green brick and red tile houses, the two- or three-meter-high “Sun Family Courtyard” signboard is “domineering” and conspicuous, and the parking lot is also stylish and bright. This is the largest farmhouse in Xuexiang, with a total area of more than 1,000 square meters.
Sun Linlin, the head of the Sun family’s courtyard, is tall and long-legged, with beautiful facial features, but his skin is slightly dark, and he is nicknamed “black peony”.
Beautiful women are naturally restless. Sun Linlin, who was born in a rural area, does not like to work in the fields, and “has to leave home to clean up toilets in the city.” From the small county town of Shulan to the big cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Harbin, she has worked as a waiter, sold children’s clothes, opened a barbecue restaurant, and opened a wine shop… It’s been a lot of tossing over the years. But due to the lack of clear planning, most businesses ended in failure.
At the end of October 2016, Sun Linlin was running a driving school in Shangying Township, Shulan. By chance, she heard that Erhetun was brewing to create a snow village tourist attraction. Sun Linlin was moved when she heard this: “People in the city now love to run to the countryside, ice and snow tourism plus rural tourism is the trend, I want to follow the village to do it!”
The family did not agree with her to toss again, and the people in the village were not sure, and even the village branch secretary advised her to wait. But no one can stop what she believes is reliable. Sun Linlin invested 100,000 yuan to transform her old house while building a color steel house of more than 100 square meters.
It was already December when I built my house. Winters in Tohoku are exceptionally cold, and only hot water can be used for cement. The house was framed with snow, and the geothermal pipes were frozen hard. She and her husband took turns burning wood for warmth.
Everyone in the village thought that this woman was crazy, and the family also thought that she “did”, and she was unmoved. “I just can’t wait, this is an opportunity, I must seize it. Otherwise, I can’t sleep well and can’t eat, it’s like being possessed. ”
She opened a 260-square-meter farmhouse more than 20 days later, becoming the largest of the seven farmhouses in the village at that time. No one expected that more than 8,000 people came to Xuexiang at once, and Sun Linlin “took it out” at once and made a steady profit.
Sun Linlin, who made money, once again let people see what it means to “be more powerful than the Northeast masters are Northeast women”. In 2017, she decided to invest 2 million yuan to build a new Sun family compound of more than 1,000 square meters.
2 million, which is almost astronomical for the people in the village. And Sun Linlin said, “If you want to play, play big.” Only big can carry more people. For this 2 million, Sun Linlin borrowed all the people she could. In the end, the house was built and the guests came, but the Sun family compound was delayed in opening because there was still 30,000 yuan left to buy tableware.
Sun Linlin, who was full of foaming mouths, flipped through the phone book every day, borrowed money everywhere, and finally borrowed 30,000 yuan from a distant sister-in-law, and hurriedly purchased and opened. In the 2017-2018 snow season, 100,000 people poured into the snow township. Due to the large scale and spacious place, Sun Linlin’s family has gained more customers from large-scale tour groups, and tourists are flocking to it every day. At this time, the people in the village were completely impressed by Sun Linlin.
However, this “black peony” is still not satisfied. The popularity of ice and snow tourism has given her greater ambition and confidence. She said she used to drift outside but didn’t know what she was going to do, and in the snow country, she found her purpose.
“I want to do all-season tourism and want to do high-end B&Bs.” In the ice and snow, she has already begun a “summer dream”: the sunset, the courtyard is full of leaves, people lie under trees, the roof is cooking…
The happy dream of “sunflowers”
A curtain insulates the wind and snow, and in Erhe, Lin Hai farmhouse is always the one with the most laughter. “Wen a pot of old wine, meet a few friends, stew a little stupid chicken, stir-fry panshan wild vegetables, and come to the Lin Hai Farmhouse…” The proprietress who exited the chapter made the tourists lean forward and back.
This interesting hostess is Wu Qingrong. Loud voice, enthusiastic smile, like a vibrant sunflower in a field.
Wu Qingrong was born in a poor peasant family, his mother was not in good health, his father could not read, in order to provide for his younger siblings’ education, he dropped out of junior high school to work in agriculture. She is skilful, what is she like. Not only did the farm work work work well, but also used painting paper to paste the walls, clean up leaky roofs, and build cabinets with wood, but also did all kinds of housework. Although she did not go to college, she never gave up her dream of changing her destiny.
However, it is really too difficult to change your life by farming, and you are busy until autumn in the year, and you can’t see a few bucks. The men of the village, including her husband, soaked in the smoky mahjong parlor all day …
You can’t live like this anymore. With the help of her brother, she left the village several times, ran to Changchun to open a massage parlor, opened a mixed vegetable shop in Shulan, and also applied for a nursery teacher and learned cross stitch. Although the business is still passable, she has never been able to let go of that family, especially the children, and after going around for several years, she still has to come back.
After Shulan City decided to turn Erhetun into a snow township, government leaders repeatedly mobilized her to open a farmhouse. But after talking several times, Wu Qingrong “did not enter the oil and salt” and said that he did not agree with anything. “I’ve seen enough of this snowy scene, can anyone pay for it?” I’m going into town to do business. ”
But unable to stand the leader’s repeated persuasion, at the end of 2017, she took the attitude of trying it out and spent tens of thousands of yuan to clean up her house. Unexpectedly, the scenic spot was flooded with 100,000 tourists that year, and she recovered her cost in only two or three months.
Wu Qingrong, who tasted the sweetness, found the direction of his life, devoted himself to the farmhouse operation, and became more and more energetic. Her house is not the biggest, but the most distinctive: golden corn hangs in the doorway, the walls are dotted with flowers and embroidery, the kitchen is designed to separate hot and cold dishes…
Wu Qingrong’s husband also seems to have changed as a person. Since the start of ice and snow tourism, there are no idlers in the village, some villagers are bosses, some work in scenic spots, and the mahjong hall has become yellow and has become a theme post office. Wu Qingrong’s husband was obsessed with cooking, followed the mobile phone recipes every day, and became a famous chef in the village. The two children have also become more sensible, and every day in addition to studying and helping out…
Wu Qingrong, who loves to read, used to watch some “chicken soup” and write some feelings when he was in a depressed mood, but now he is in a happy mood and his thoughts are surging, and he has become a happy joker.
Referring to the relationship between husband and wife, she said, “He didn’t have a good time before, I wanted to get rid of it”, now “he is stir-frying in the back kitchen, I receive it in the front hall”, “husband and wife are together, and the loess turns gold!”
Just like the sunflower finally found the sun, Wu Qingrong felt that he was finding his own happiness.
She has already decided to work to the end in Erhe Xuexiang! She said that not being able to go to college is the biggest regret of her life, but the dream of living a good life on snow tourism is coming true day by day.
The public welfare dream of “Red in the Mountains”
One moment as a tour guide to guide the tour group, the other cameo “mountain king” to interact with tourists… During the seven-day Spring Festival holiday this year, 60,000 tourists poured into the snow town. Yang Fengyan, deputy general manager of Shulan Tourism and Cultural Industry Investment and Development Co., Ltd., was very busy.
Big red sprinkled flower coat, white background and black face snow shoes, in the white snow, like a red red mountain tree.
In addition to being a manager, she is also the image spokesperson of Snow Country. The image promotional video of Xuexiang, shot two years ago, has received more than 3 million hits on Baidu. Her own “beauty article” has also received more than 200,000 hits.
The handsome Yang Fengyan is not a duohe, she runs two hot pot restaurants in Shulan City. “I’m one in two for life,” she said, smiling as she snorted and stomped her foot.
Compared with the status of vice president, Yang Fengyan is more willing to think of herself as a volunteer. She is a photography enthusiast and literary backbone. A few years ago, she came to play and discovered the beauty of this small mountain village. Later, every Spring Festival, she brought her friends here to kill New Year pigs, eat stewed vegetables, and encourage local farmers to open farmhouses and engage in tourism. A villager once took her hand and said, “Fengyan, if we don’t understand farmhouse, you have to help us.” She agreed without thinking.
She gave her fellow villagers an idea, and the house was decorated with old newspapers, small flower cloths, and window flowers. Meals should be made into a peasant taste, make your own taste, not the same as the restaurant…
In 2017, the Shulan Municipal Government established a tourism investment company to build and operate Erhe Snow Township. Yang Fengyan volunteered, no salary, no pay, no points, no return, just have something to do.
Since then, she has left her two children and a leisurely job, and runs between the city and the countryside every day in the wind and snow.
The first time I started a farmhouse, the farmers were at a loss. She took everyone to the regular hotel in the city, and taught everyone how to fold the quilt, how to place the bedding, and change the sheets one by one. The farmer makes catering more extensively, and she is a little standardized: her fingers cannot touch the edge of the plate when serving, and the debris must be picked out when drying the vegetables…
Some farmers accept these service essentials quickly, while others accept them slowly. She checks every day, and if it is not compliant or up to standard, it is directly delisted. The few households that were eliminated did not understand and complained behind their backs. She tried to find a suitable livelihood for these people, mobilized them to either open supermarkets or set up roadside stalls, and those housewives who were really not suitable for trading, she asked the Women’s Federation to come forward, teach them straw weaving skills, and take them to tourist spots to sell…
She helped Xuexiang improve its internal management mechanism, establish merchant alliances, unify vegetable prices, and formulate reward and punishment standards for host households. Once, when a farmhouse hostess put together 12 tables of meals that had been served 10 tables, she asked to collect money for 10 tables and return the extra two tables. The hostess didn’t do it, thinking she was making a fuss. Yang Fengyan resolutely refused to budge and asked for the money back. She said: “Snow Country belongs to everyone, and the brand depends on everyone to maintain it.”
Since becoming this volunteer, she has been stationed in the snow country every day. In winter, I drive from home at seven o’clock in the morning and often arrive home after 12 o’clock in the evening. During this period, she hit the car twice, and once the car fell into a ditch, but fortunately a few kind fellow villagers pulled her out.
She couldn’t tell why she came to Erhe. Maybe it’s a promise, maybe it’s because of the love of home.
When Yang Fengyan was in her 10s, her father brought a family of seven from the countryside to the city. From farmer to businessman, my father changed the life of the whole family. Yang Fengyan said that she has a dream to help more farmers through ice and snow tourism, have more things to do, have more money to earn, and thus change her life.