A shop owner demonstrates traditional tea-making in Kenggen last month. YU HAIYOU/FOR CHINA DAILY

Birds and people return

Inside a small room at the county's ecological forestry development center, Lan Chengrong, a wildlife protection staffer, gently lifted a cloth covering a cage. Inside was a young blackbird, rescued after flying into a resident's home. "We've rescued over 20 birds this year," Lan said.

"Many fly into houses or schools because they can't see the glass," he said. For Lan, the growing number of such rescues is an unexpected sign of success: healthier ecosystems mean more birds, even in town.

Lan's colleague, Yuan Haijun, the center's deputy director, said a 2024 survey recorded 140 plant species and 11 animal species across the wetland park. Among them was the Cabot's tragopan, a national first-class protected bird. The species was photographed for the first time in 2022, after decades without a sighting.

"The Cabot's tragopan has extremely high habitat requirements," Yuan said. "Its reappearance proves that our ecological restoration has succeeded — the environment now meets the needs of rare species."

As the birds returned, so did the young people.

Liu Yuwei, Party secretary of Kenggen village, has overseen the transformation of disused animal pens into cafes, tea houses and even a silver craft exhibition hall. "We've rented more than 20 old pigsties and cattle sheds from villagers," Liu said in the village's restored tea house — once a wealthy family's residence, later a primary school. "We renovated them and sublet them to outside operators. The villagers get rent, jobs, and they can sell their farm produce to tourists."

One of those renovated spaces is a coffee shop where visitors sip lattes where pigs once slept. Another is a traditional tea house where locals serve homegrown tea. "Everyone who comes here stops to take photos," he said.

Liu added that the village collective has also rented over 20 old folk homes and is gradually converting them. "Some villagers open their own homestays. Others work in the new cafes. Their annual income from these sources has grown significantly," he said.