CHENGDU, (Xinhua) — Luo Lan first came to Hongyuan in southwest China’s Sichuan Province by chance, only to find that its landscape reminded her of Scotland, where she had studied.
In 2021, she visited the county with fellow alumni to do charity work. Having studied in Glasgow, Britain, she felt an immediate sense of familiarity. “And the locals were warm, sincere and honest,” she recalled.
Located in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and established in the 1960s, Hongyuan County commemorates the Long March with its name, which literally means “the grasslands the Red Army crossed.”
From 1935 to 1936, the Red Army climbed snow-capped mountains and crossed grasslands and swamps in what is now Hongyuan County, one of the Long March’s most treacherous stretches.
The grasslands are often dubbed the “sea of death.” “The perils of the grasslands were no surprise,” wrote Harrison Salisbury in The Long March: The Untold Story. “Beneath the flowers lurked bogs that could swallow a man in a minute.”
Today, Hongyuan is home to numerous monuments and memorial halls honoring the Red Army. To help local farmers and herdsmen boost their incomes, the county has also developed tourism around its vast grasslands.
Luo became part of that transformation.
One year after her first visit to Hongyuan, Luo, then working for a real estate company, saw an opportunity to develop a hotel featuring movable wooden cabins. “The houses are elevated on stilts to avoid damaging the pasture,” she explained.
Starting with just five rooms, the hotel proved an immediate success, with bookings filling up throughout the travel season in its first year.
“This land attracts travelers from far and wide hoping to experience a slower pace of life,” Luo said. “Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, they can feel the vastness and tranquility of the Hongyuan grassland, enjoy the wind, the starry sky and the sunset.”
When her company later withdrew from the project, she refused to give up and launched her own business in 2023. Today, her homestay in Xiahalama Village has four two-story wooden cabins, four single-story cabins, two space capsule rooms and five steel-framed houses, hosting about 4,000 guests a year.
The homestay also offers a special “nomadic day tour” package. Guests milk yaks with herders, make butter tea in the morning, enjoy an authentic Tibetan breakfast, and ride horses through flower-strewn meadows in the afternoon. Bilingual local Tibetan guides lead the tours, offering visitors a firsthand experience of nomadic culture.
Next to the homestay, Luo also opened the “Chi Yun Qu” (Cloud-Eating) cafe, which blends Tibetan aesthetics with modern design and draws around 16,000 visitors annually. The signature “Butter Latte” combines Tibetan butter with Italian espresso, and the latte art features traditional Tibetan patterns.
Sonam Rizgin, a village cadre in Xiahalama, told Xinhua that visitors come not only from nearby areas in Sichuan and Chongqing, but also from elsewhere across China and even overseas. The peak season runs from May to October, with July and August the busiest months.
“Currently, 21 villagers work there, and students return to work part-time during school holidays,” he said. Tourism generates about 400,000 yuan (about 59,799 U.S. dollars) in annual income for the village.
Hongyuan County was lifted out of poverty in 2020. Chen Zhimin, a county publicity official, noted that entrepreneurs from outside the area like Luo not only help raise villagers’ incomes but also bring fresh ideas to local communities.
“For example, they bring new media communication skills, create immersive experiences of indigenous nomadic culture, and blend tradition with fashion,” she said.
With such support, the county has hosted equestrian competitions and music festivals to promote itself as a tourist destination.
“Well-known singers perform at the music festivals. During these events, daily coffee sales can exceed 10,000 yuan, and accommodation is fully booked,” Chen added.
Hongyuan is not the only place along the Long March route to emerge as a popular tourist destination.
Jiajin Mountain, the first major snow-capped mountain the Red Army crossed, has become a hiking destination for outdoor enthusiasts. As of August 2026, the Jiajin Mountain scenic area had recorded 13,327 tourist visits so far this year, up 1.45 percent year on year.
Songpan County, another area where the Red Army crossed the grasslands, received 10.64 million tourist visits in 2025, up 15.53 percent year on year, with total tourism spending reaching 31.81 billion yuan.
Improved infrastructure and better transport links have helped fuel this growth.
Aba, which covers 84,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of the island of Ireland, is connected to China’s national rail network, providing access to major cities such as Chongqing, Xi’an, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Expressways are lined with gas stations and electric vehicle charging facilities. A journey from western Sichuan to Gansu that once took the Red Army months can now be completed by road and rail in a day, or in some cases, just a few hours.
The Aba grasslands are now served by two airports. Hongyuan Airport, which opened in 2014, is only an hour’s drive from Luo’s homestay.
“The altitude is high, and the temperature difference can reach 40 degrees Celsius. It starts hailing in September, so you can imagine how hard it was for the Red Army back then,” Luo said. “But conditions are much better now. We have underfloor heating, access to all kinds of food, and we can even eat tropical fruits.”
She acknowledges that her business is still finding its feet and faces challenges, including high energy costs. Yet compared with the hardships the Red Army endured, she remains optimistic.
In her cafe, Luo keeps a collection of books for guests to read, including several about the Long March.
Reflecting on the past, she said: “Today, we are enjoying peace and sitting here sipping coffee. Isn’t this exactly what they hoped to see during the Long March?” ■
