Foreign tourists enjoy traditional bamboo dancing in the village. [Photo by Chen Sisi/For China Daily]

"Selling things online gives me a sense of accomplishment," says Chen, who is also an active member of the village choir. She says they practice often and perform for visitors on holidays.

"We enjoyed the cultural exchanges with foreign tourists, especially. We sing Li folk songs to Russian tourists and they sing songs of their own to us. Though we don't understand the exact meaning of the songs, the feeling of getting close to a different group of people is good enough," says Chen.

"The most remarkable change in Qiandui was that most of the villagers have come to understand that happiness could only be harvested through hard work," says Fu.

He says abundant ecological resources have attracted investors. Some investors from Fujian province and Hong Kong, for instance, have visited the place and shown a strong interest to develop healthcare projects in nearby areas.

With its germ-killing negative oxygen ions reaching as high as between 20,000 and 30,000 per square cubic centimeter, 20 times more than those in the big cities, Qiandui and its nearby villages in Qiongzhong are expected to become ideal places for leisure and recuperation.

"I like to drink the tea that smells of fragrant herbal medicine, enjoy seeing the manner the Li women villagers brew tea, seeing their bright eyes and hearing their hearty laughter," Luo Ling, a netizen, writes in her travel weblog.

"Everything here makes you feel safe, sound and at peace. The change of seasons means a different beautiful scenery. Every element in Qiandui village is an image of beauty," Luo adds.

The per capita net income of villagers increased to 14,077 yuan in 2019, up 3.7 times in six years, and the total number of tourists received was nearly 35,000. Among them, about 4,000 tourists came from Russia.

Honors have also followed as the village makes continuous progress, such as "national ecological cultural village", "national forest village "and "provincial science and technology demonstration village".

Fu, the village leader, says the local leadership will further improve Qiandui's tourism facilities, develop more tourism business forms to turn the whole village into a model and bench mark of international rural tourism resort in Hainan.