What changed
Li Shan Tou village in Longquan, Zhejiang, opened 10 new visitor-oriented businesses during the 2026 National Day holiday, each run by a selected creator team in a formerly vacant home. The village collective renovated the buildings’ exteriors and made them ready for immediate use after a recruitment campaign drew more than 50,000 views and over 2,000 inquiries.
Why it matters
This is a small rural experiment with a clear target: turn empty houses and terraced fields into reasons to stay longer. The village has about 1,000 mu of terraces and traditional homes, but officials previously said 75% of its houses stood vacant for long periods as residents left to find work elsewhere.
The new businesses range from photography and family memoir products to crafts, tea and local goods. Some are also pulling residents into the work: villagers sell agricultural products, help maintain the fields, provide hospitality, or handle packaging on a piece-rate basis.
The approach builds on two businesses introduced in 2025, Cloudside Coffee and Hexia Listening Tea, which helped show that the landscape could support more than farming. The new openings broaden that bet from two shops to 10 teams, while keeping the village collective responsible for the basic renovation that makes the old homes usable.
The informed guess is that the model can keep village activity going beyond a holiday burst if visitors continue to find reasons to return and the businesses remain viable. The report gives no figures for spending, revenue or jobs created, so its success will depend on whether these new tenants can turn attention into a durable local economy.
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