Iconic cartoon characters brighten up east China village

This photo taken on June 5, 2023 shows a Chinese comic-themed cafe in Yucun Village of Anji County, Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)

Chen Zhe vividly remembers one particular scene from his childhood. During summer and winter vacations, he would move a small bench, sit in front of the TV, and eagerly wait for the cartoons to start.

"That was the happiest time in my childhood," said 36-year-old Chen, a native of Anji County in the city of Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

He never expected that one day he could return to his hometown to start a business incorporating classic Chinese cartoon images produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

Chen owns Mei@Yucun, a cafe that opened in March in Anji's Yucun Village. Some 1.7-meter-high decorations featuring characters from the studio's animations, such as "The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven" and the "Calabash Brothers" (seven calabash-born little boys with supernatural powers), stand in front of the store.

Cartoon figures also fill the cafe, which sells over 100 kinds of cultural and creative products based on the cartoons, such as notebooks and key chains.

"The images are from the classic cartoons made by this studio. It may be their debut in a rural cafe," he said.

Over the years, Yucun has embraced green development and transformed into a popular tourist destination with a picturesque rural landscape. However, the beautiful scenery has been hard won.

According to Ge Jun, a 36-year-old native of Yucun, the village wasn't always as beautiful as it is today. The site of the Mei@Yucun, now a modern building, used to be a cement factory.

"When I was a child, there were mines and cement factories in Yucun. My father, always covered in dust, worked as a miner in a lime kiln. And the village was shrouded in smoke all year round," said Ge.

The transformation occurred in 2003, when Zhejiang initiated a province-wide rural green revival program to improve the eco-environment of villages and rural residents' quality of life. Yucun shut down the mines and cement factories to save the deteriorating environment.

As the local environment improved, an influx of visitors poured into the village, further boosting the tourism industry.

This aerial photo taken on Aug. 11, 2023 shows tourists visiting Yucun Village of Anji County, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

In 2021, Yucun was named one of the "Best Tourism Villages" by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

In 2022, Yucun launched the 'global partners' program, hoping to attract young people to participate in constructing the village. Over 50 projects have been introduced, covering fields including cultural creativity and the digital economy, with Chen's cafe being one of them.

When Chen worked in Shanghai, he ran a brand incubator company, creating offline spaces for classic Chinese cartoon characters from the studio.

"As more people visited Yucun, I wanted to open a cafe in the village," said Chen. "Then the 'global partners' program inspired me. I wanted to bring coffee and the cartoon characters to the village, adding color and vitality to the countryside."

"Because of the love for domestic animations, it is easy for everyone to establish an emotional connection here. They would think of their most carefree times when they could enjoy animation and find happiness," he added.

More than 1,100 young people have participated in the "global partners" program, bringing novel forms of businesses, such as study tours and zero-carbon technology.

In 2022, the collective income of Yucun reached 13 million yuan (about 1.8 million U.S. dollars). It is expected to reach 15 million yuan this year.

In addition to daily operations, Chen's cafe also holds a series of activities related to domestic animation, such as crafting clay figures and popularizing animation knowledge.

Chen plans to attract more animation teams to settle in Yucun and apply the aesthetics to the packaging of agricultural and sideline products in the village to expand the market for the products. He also plans to transform the external walls of the buildings with cartoon figures, to make the countryside more beautiful and creative.

He Miao, an official of Anji, said Yucun is building a large youth community that welcomes the arrival of more young people.

To meet the diversified needs of young people, Yucun has been improving its infrastructure, including building a shared dining hall and two libraries, ensuring they can not only travel and live here, but also start businesses and work.

Zhang Hui, manager of Mei@Yucun, said Yucun is a place where young people can redefine themselves. They have a positive attitude, a love of life, and a desire to build a better life.

Zhang believes that the countryside will be better. "A beautiful countryside should not only retain its natural landscape but also have modern development."