The girls of the Yi ethnic group perform a dance to welcome guests.

For a long time, the splendid scenery of Guizhou province has been to its inhabitants a bane rather than a boon.

Despite the province's steady rainfall and relatively mild climate year round, the rolling karst mountains that cover most of this area offer little arable land for farmers to grow crops.

Yet, these mountains and valleys, which have for so long stood in the way of villagers' dreams, could now be their making.

Communities are already being transformed in this province thanks to efforts to make tourism a pillar industry.

In the county seat of Qianxi, where a gala to mark the seventh Guizhou Tourism Industry Development Conference was staged on Sunday evening, a fellow guest from Guizhou Television told me that few of the glitzy buildings that I could see around me, including plush apartment blocks and a four-star hotel, had been standing this time last year.

Development here is occurring at a blistering pace. However, it could be said that nature has given the province a head start.

Guizhou may be classed among the poorest provinces in China, but it is undoubtedly blessed with a wealth of scenic beauty that, if harnessed in a sustainable way, could prove a gold mine for residents and the local economy for decades to come.

The terrain still poses a major challenge for transportation companies because road travel remains the only option in many counties and prefectures.

However, these journeys are a spectacle in and of themselves. Most take visitors along winding, mountainside roads and run through beautiful valleys and ancient villages.

The destinations can be even more breathtaking.

As I write, I sit in a newly developed tourist spot in northwestern Bijie, where I am surrounded by a forest of wild azaleas. The flowers are worthless to the villagers, I'm told, largely because the trees on which they grow are too damp to be used as firewood.

Yet, the forest that lines the hills around this spot makes for a dazzling explosion of pink, red and white in every direction.

In fact, color is very much a theme that runs through this province, which is marketed to potential visitors in Chinese as having "the colorful life".

This is, in no small part, thanks to the large number of ethnic groups who live here.

Traditional folk performances by the Miao, Yi and Hui groups have been the highlights of both the evening gala and the tourism conference: men in gold shorts and tunics twirling ropes of fire; women dressed in pink and black singing, while others blow monotone on handmade horn instruments; and young girls skipping happily dressed in white tunics with large black bundles on their heads.

These unique customs and rituals, which have survived for centuries, contribute to a rich cultural tapestry in Guizhou that, together with its natural scenery, could potentially lead this generation and future generations out of poverty.

craigmcintosh33@gmail.com

(China Daily 04/24/2012 page24)