Beijing's Miyun county, the place that supplies much of the capital with its drinking water, is hoping to make the most of its natural landscape of lakes and mountains and develop into a tourist getaway.

The transformation has already begun and a recently opened recreation vehicle (RV) campground in Henanzhai township was busy during the National Day holiday.

With a total investment of 10 billion yuan, Miyun plans to travel further down that road and build the country's largest RV campsite, where it will offer holidaymakers low-carbon and low-pollution tourism, according to Guo Lixin, director of the Miyun Tourism Bureau.

"RVs offer people a chance to get in touch with nature," he said. "And living in our zero-emission vehicles is more environmental friendly than living in hotel rooms. The scenery will not be disturbed after the campers leave."

The RV campsite is just one step in Miyun's ambitious plan for the coming five years during which the county hopes to transform into Beijing's Shangri-la.

Two other billion-yuan high-end resort projects will be built in the coming years with investment from the China Travel Depot and a company from Taiwan, according to Wang Jianmin, vice-director of the county's development and reform commission.

One project calls for a resort and convention complex to be built near the Great Wall that resembles a scenic ancient town from South China. The resort should bring in 4 million visitors a year, he said.

Miyun, which is northeast of Beijing, covers 2,226 square kilometers and has a population of 430,000 people. Some 63 percent of the county is covered by forests and the air quality is said to be the best in the region.

Another plan is to develop wine tourism, said Sun, vice-director of the county's publicity department.

Along the Chaohe River, vineyards are already offering tours, grape-picking, wine-tasting and information about wine producing and the county hopes such tours can be expanded to other vineyards and improved.

In the meantime, some industrial operations in the county that used to create pollution have been made more environmentally friendly and the county is hoping to be able to showcase ways to improve industries.

The Shouyun Metal and Mining Co is such an enterprise. The iron mine with a history dating back more than 50 years used to be a heavy polluter but is now drawing in tourists who come to see the replanted mine that is now covered with greenery over 40 percent of the site.

The former mine now boasts a mining theme park and museum.

The site now hosts summer camps for primary school students and is an important source of young people's understanding of mining and its environmental cost.

China Daily

(China Daily 10/21/2010)