I am back in Bishan! It has been three years since my last visit. My last visit was half a year after the closure in February 2016. The atmosphere in the village was very different back then. Now things seem more relaxed. People are chatty and open. The village seems to be thriving. More then 40 homestays and inns have opened in the village - mostly by villagers themselves, but also some by outsiders.
Tourist are flocking to Bishan in their summer holidays. Many villagers express their approval of the development and the local village commitee and the local government support the villagers in setting up homestays.
By the village entrance are a map of the homestays in Bishan and wooden plackets with the names and phone numbers for the homestays, so that newcomers can finde their way through the village.
The entire village has been beautified, with flowers along the main roads, an improved garbage collecting system, new and improved paved village roads and road names. The villagers express satisfaction as the development has brought more job opportunities and people in general to Bishan.
Wang Shouchang still works at the bookstore. He has made a new map of Bishan with all the new homestays. Though not all of them are equally succesful, as he said.
Li Jin is still beautiful,
and so are the new kids of Bishan.
Events are organized for the children,
elderly villagers hang out by the small store by the village entrance,
and Fang Laoda is chatty as always:-)
More fieldwork notes from Bishan:
Eco Beauty Supermarket, 2019
Thanks to the S.C. Van Foundation for generously supporting my field trip in China.
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