For the Villages, For the World

Mr. Han Qiaosheng has spent a lifetime doing sports commentary, never before has he had such an experience.

He was sweating profusely, squeezing through the crowd, climbing an elevated platform that could only accommodate three to five people, waiting for the match to start.

Beneath him were nearly fifty thousand spectators.

Rongjiang, where the competition took place, is just a small county in Guizhou with a population of 385,000.

Recently, the "He Mei Village Super League" held in Rongjiang County, Guizhou Province has once again gone viral online. This event, initiated by the masses and mainly participated by villagers, has been humorously nicknamed by netizens as "Village Super". HeyTrip discovered that, in addition to Han Qiaosheng who was present in person, renowned football commentators such as Huang Jianxiang and He Wei also gave thumbs up to the "Village Super". Not only that, Michael Owen, the winner of the European Ballon d'Or and an England legendary football star, even specially recorded a video to cheer for the "Village Super".

"Village Super" is a truly grounded football event. Representatives from each village will wear ethnic costumes with local characteristics. Local leaders and villagers will prepare more than 20 types of local delicacies for the fans who have come from afar, all for free. During the halftime break, an interesting incident happened when the organizers presented the "Best Audience Award" to three elderly women who were watching the game attentively and clapping hard. The prize was a bag of rice for each of them.

As for the popularity of "Village Super", Xu Bo, deputy secretary of Rongjiang County Party Committee and the county mayor, expressed his hope to promote Rongjiang's cultural tourism industry and characteristic agricultural products nationwide through the "Village Super's" popularity, so that villagers can benefit and prosper from it. Mayor Xu also hopes that the "Village Super" model can be promoted nationwide, enabling all rural areas across the country to prosper through "Village Super".

Culture sets the stage and economy performs. The deeper impact of "Village Super" beyond football is even greater. As football, the "number one sport" in competitive sports, has a very strong driving effect.

Various economic aspects such as food, ethnic culture, intangible cultural heritage, homestay, specialty products, etc., may all benefit from this, develop in integration, and then drive other industries and regions to form a unique development route centered on the football industry.

At present, the impact of the Village Super on Rongjiang's economy has already been reflected in the tourism industry and the night market economy.

Just like the Zibo barbecue that went viral not long ago, fans and tourists from all over the country have started to flock to Guizhou, some even drove for more than ten hours just to watch the match in person and experience the charm of the Village Super and the beauty of Rongjiang. HeyTrip learned that Rongjiang County attracted a large number of tourists during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, with local hotel orders increasing by more than 11 times compared to the same period last year. Some hotels have even been fully booked for the next few weekends.

The down-to-earth atmosphere, local villagers who invite tourists to stay in their homes, and the enthusiastic folk performances, together interpret the "human world". At the same time, "Village Super" brings more possibilities for surrounding tourism. HeyTrip learned from Ctrip that during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the order of vacation products in Qiandongnan Prefecture increased by more than 150% compared to the same period last year. Folk culture such as Dong Grand Choir, Intangible Cultural Heritage Wax Dyeing, and Long Table Banquet attracted tourists to embrace the beauty of nature.

Take the game commented by Han Qiaosheng as an example, there were nearly fifty thousand spectators on site, and the night market outside the stadium was equally bustling. Rongjiang watermelons, Rongjiang rolled rice noodles, Rongjiang barbecue... Han Qiaosheng was eating fruit while commenting, and he exclaimed that it was a treatment he had never experienced in his life. HeyTrip found that on site, various special delicacies, as well as agricultural products, local specialties held by ordinary people, and even handmade ethnic costumes, were all selling like hotcakes at the Village Super match. Now, during the summer of 2023, 80% of the homestays in Rongjiang County have been booked, a spectacle that has never been seen in the history of Rongjiang.

"Village Super" has not only made Rongjiang popular, but also let the local economy hitch a ride on the "favorable wind" of traffic. HeyTrip predicts that under the atmosphere full of human touch, Rongjiang will become the next Zibo. The continued popularity of the "Rongjiang Village Super" IP will radiate to other industries, becoming the hope of driving local economic growth for a long time. The huge markets in Chongqing and Chengdu in the north of Guizhou, Changsha in the east, and Nanning and Guangzhou in the south will understand the "humanities and landscapes" of Guiyang and the entire Qiandongnan through the window of "Village Super", and thus come to experience the "fresh food from the local land" here.

After "Village BA", now there's "Village Super", who will be the next popular "Village X"?