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The once isolated but resource-rich regions near the Nanning-Kunming railway, spanning southwest China, have received a greatly increasing number of tourists since the railway began operation in 1997.
The 898.7-km railway, China's largest poverty-alleviating project, runs from Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, through Guizhou Province.
Although the regions near the railway were rich in tourism resources, they had remained unknown due to adverse geological factors and inadequate transportation systems before the construction of the railway.
Now, more and more regions near the railway have benefited from it.
The number of tourists to the famous Stone Forest in Yunnan, who formerly had to suffer bumpy rides in buses, had increased from tens of thousands in 1996 to about 1.4 million in 2001, said a guide, who worked in the park for six years.
"It is the Nanning-Kunming railway that makes our region a rising star in China's tourism market," said Li Yuecheng, vice director of the Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southwest Guizhou province.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2002)
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