Discovering local life beyond landscapes

More than pandas

He, who was born in 1998, arrived in Foping in April 2025 after several years working in rural tourism in Zhejiang province.

She had worked in Moganshan and Anji, where rural tourism was already relatively well developed, with a range of bed-and-breakfast accommodations, cafes and popular photo spots, plus activities such as picking tea, gathering bamboo shoots, and other local cultural experiences.

Foping feels very different.

Set in the Qinling Mountains, the county is quieter and less developed, with fewer artificial attractions. To He, it is "a piece of unpolished jade".

About 80 percent of the guests at the resort where she works come mainly because of the giant pandas. The panda base is about a five-minute drive away, while the golden snub-nosed monkey base is only 100 meters from the resort.

When guests stay here, He often invites them to visit the monkey base the following morning.