Post-quake restaurants offer food for thought

Even though it was a Wednesday evening, two tables of diners were enjoying their food at the courtyard restaurant owned by Luo Guilin, a 45-year-old Tibetan resident of Xinchang, a village in Anshun Yi township, Shimian county, Sichuan province.

"We have a special love of wild vegetables in spring and came especially to enjoy them in Luo Guilin's home restaurant," said Xiang Dong, a resident of Shimian county seat 15 km from Xinchang.

Luo used to earn his living by planting corn and potatoes, and raising sheep in the village which stands 1,450 meters above sea level. The village has 546 households and a population of 1,600.

During the Lushan earthquake on April 20, 2013, 287 houses were damaged, 85 of them severely, including Luo's.

The post-quake reconstruction work saw Luo's house rebuilt with assistance from the government. "I never dreamed of living in such a good house with an inside toilet. With all the trees and flowers, the village is like an urban garden," he said.

It used to take three hours to reach the county seat from the mountain village, but since the temblor roads have been built to link the village with the outside world and the journey now takes about 40 minutes.

As a result, residents from the county seat and neighboring counties have started to swarm into the village at holiday periods. "They come to pick oranges and loquats from the trees for fun, and to breathe the fresh air in the village, which has no factories," said Ni Hong, head of the government of Anshun Yi township.

Since 2013, the township government has led villagers in planting 100 hectares of nuts, 33 hectares of loquats, 27 hectares of hot peppers and 67 hectares of vegetables. The crops will be ready for the table later than those planted lower down the mountain, according to Ni, a member of the Yi ethnic group.

The plants have improved the rural environment and attracted urban visitors. After the quake, Luo was the first villager to convert his courtyard into a family restaurant where visitors can dine, drink tea and play mahjong or card games.

He said the visitors are especially eager to enjoy the wild vegetables and bamboo shoots found in the mountains, as well as his home-cured bacon and homegrown vegetables. The village is home to 287 members of the Yi and Tibetan ethnic groups, and Luo's restaurant offers the most popular local dishes, such as stewed mutton as well as other meats, fried potatoes and butter tea.

The restaurant's five tables are crowded with diners every weekend. Some travel long distances, while others come from the neighboring Garze Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture.

The success of Luo's restaurant has prompted several other villagers to follow suit. Zhou Guibing, 42, is a close neighbor of Luo. He and his wife Ma Haiyan turned their spacious home into a restaurant last winter, and now provide visitors with bacon and fresh vegetables.

"We have earned 40,000 yuan ($6,450) in less than a year, while our income from farming was around 10,000 yuan a year," Zhou said.

According to Ni, the government has helped the villagers by exempting their restaurants from tax, and township official Zhou Yugang said every resident who turns his or her home into a eatery is given a grant of 20,000 yuan from the government's post-quake reconstruction fund.

Contact the writers at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/21/2015 page8)