at the junction of qingshuihe county in the inner mongolia autonomous region and pianguan county in north china's shanxi province, there's a place where the great wall meets the yellow river: laoniuwan village, which has a history over 500 years.
the barren soil at this village reflected a widespread saying -- "no harvest for nine years out of 10".
lyu chenggui, born in 1965, is a native of laoniuwan. in 2009, lyu saw a future in developing tourism in his hometown and returned to laoniuwan as the new secretary of the village party branch.
he led villagers to demolish dilapidated houses, afforest the village, open rural entertainment areas and learn business and service skills.
through a decade of hard work, laoniuwan villagers have given up simply being farmers and moved to a new village 1.6 kilometers away.
their original loess cave dwellings were transformed into rural entertainment areas.
today, laoniuwan has become a place where tourists can explore unknowns in an ancient world.
