Yaowan Ancient Town Tourist Area, Xinyi

The Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal spans across five provinces in the north and south. At the intersection with Luoma Lake, the fourth largest freshwater lake in Jiangsu Province, the Grand Canal turns a bend from north to east. In this bay, there is a millennium old town, which is Yaowan Ancient Town. The locals are good at using the unique mud to burn black pottery, making pottery jars, pots and other household utensils. In this bay, there are more than 20 miles of kiln clusters distributed, which is the origin of the name Yaowan.
In 2008, the Xinyi Municipal Party Committee and Government decided to increase efforts in the protection and development of Yaowan Ancient Town, and established Xinyi Luoma Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd. to comprehensively carry out the protection and development of Yaowan Ancient Town. The protection and development project of Yaowan Ancient Town was listed as a key construction project by the Xuzhou and Xinyi Municipal Governments. In order to improve the basic supporting facilities of the ancient town and improve the transportation environment, Xinyi City has invested more than 1 billion yuan to add an entrance and exit to Xinyi West and Yaowan on the Xulian Expressway, and to build the Ancient Town Avenue, Luoma Lake Ring Road, Shanshui Avenue, and Maolin Extra Large Bridge. The ancient town is about 100 kilometers away from airports such as Xuzhou, Lianyungang, and Linyi, with very convenient transportation. The protection and development of ancient towns adhere to high standards and high starting point planning and design. Nanjing University, Southeast University and other units have been hired to complete protective development plans such as the "Jiangsu Yaowan Historical and Cultural Town Protection Plan" and the "Jiangsu Yaowan Historical and Cultural Block Protection Plan". Since 2009, more than 1 billion yuan has been invested to protect and develop the ancient town in accordance with the planning requirements. The Ming and Qing Dynasties buildings in two ancient commercial streets were repaired successively, more than 1600 ancient buildings with an area of 32000 square meters were repaired, the infrastructure reconstruction project of the two ancient streets was completed, the Nanshaomen Wharf and memorial archway were repaired, the Houhe River and the moat were dredged for more than 1000 meters, and five landscape bridges were built; Completed the construction of more than 10 historical relics, including the Wu Family Courtyard, Zhao Xinlong Sauce Garden Store, East Pawn, Yaowan Pawn Museum, Yaowan Folk History Museum, Daqing Yaowan Post Office, Cultural Revolution Impression Museum, Mananpu Calligraphy and Painting Art Museum, South Shaomen, Jiepailou, North Gate Lock Key, Shanxi Guild Hall, Jiangxi Guild Hall, and Catholic Church; Complete the folk culture block project on the east bank of the moat and the rectification project for the application for cultural heritage protection of the ancient town. A new ecological parking lot of 18000 square meters has been built, with 10 star rated toilets. Basic supporting facilities such as greening, attraction introduction signs, and road signs have been completed within the scenic area. Yaowan Ancient Town has formed four major scenic spots: West Street, South Street, Canal Embankment, and Central River. The Luoma Lake Provincial Wetland Park has also completed planning and is under construction, and significant achievements have been made in protection and development. Luoma Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd. is continuously promoting the transformation of Yaowan Ancient Town from a simple sightseeing style to a leisure and vacation experience style cultural tourism complex, implementing scenic spot lighting, enriching and increasing entertainment and leisure projects, improving the tourism product system and reception facilities, and providing tourists with more comprehensive tourism services. Yaowan Ancient Town has become the most well-known ancient town scenic area in northern Jiangsu.

While protecting and developing, Luoma Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd. also promotes service standardization, continuously improves enterprise systems, and promotes various work such as service management, publicity and marketing, cultural relic protection, and historical and cultural excavation in the ancient town scenic area. The ancient town scenic area has passed the GB/9001 quality management system certification and the national level tourism service standardization evaluation and acceptance, and has been rated as a famous brand product in the service industry in Xuzhou City, The ancient town has been successively rated as a famous historical and cultural town by the provincial government, a tourist characteristic town by the National Tourism Administration, a national famous scenic tourist town by the National Tourism Administration and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, and a candidate list of the Grand Canal for World Heritage Protection by the National Cutural Heritage Administration in 2014; Received honors such as the most charming rural tourism destination in China, one of the top ten slow tourism destinations in China, the most promising ancient town, and the best cultural ancient town in 2013. In October 2012, it was officially approved by the National Tourism Administration as a national AAAA level tourist attraction. The popularity and reputation of the ancient town scenic area continue to improve, attracting tourists from afar and nearby. During holidays, visitors flock to the area. In 2013, the ancient town scenic area received over 1.2 million visitors.
Today, Yaowan Ancient Town is further increasing its protection and development efforts, improving infrastructure, accelerating the construction of the Grand Canal Scenic Belt and Luoma Lake Wetland Park, improving the tourism product system, deepening the transformation of scenic areas, actively carrying out the creation of national 5A level tourist attractions and Luoma Lake Wetland Park tourist attractions, and striving to achieve the goal of creating a national historical and cultural town. In the near future, we will see a more fully showcasing historical and cultural connotations, a more beautiful and charming, and a more warm and comfortable Yaowan Ancient Town.