Tianpudawan is a village in Tianpu, a township in Xinxian, a county in Xinyang, in central China's Henan Province. The village, located in the old revolutionary base area of the Dabie Mountains, in southern Henan, has many residences, which date back to either the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) or early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Han Guangying lives with his family in Tianpudawan. Han Jiasu, Han Guangying's grandfather, was a Red Army soldier. Han Wenhong, Han Guangying's father, is a Party member, who joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) when he was 18. Today, Han Guangying and his wife, Yuan Yeye, run their family's business in Tianpudawan. Their son, Han Jiandong, is a young soldier, who has dedicated himself to helping safeguard the motherland. For four generations, the Hans have inherited the revolutionary spirit and red history.
Call from Hometown
Han Jiasu was born in 1905. He joined the Red Army in 1928. While he was serving in the army, he was severely wounded. Luckily, he eventually healed, and he was able to return to his hometown, Tianpu. He passed away, in the village, in 1986.
Han Wenhong graduated from an automotive vocational school in Xinyang. He answered the country's call for people to return to their hometowns to help construct the countryside.
Han Guangying realized the potential that developing rural tourism could play in building Tianpudawan into a beautiful village.
"More than a decade ago, there was no family inn in our hometown. When visitors found it was difficult to reside in our village, they wandered around, and soon left," Han Guangying recalls.
With support from the local government, Han Guangying opened an inn — the first of its kind in Tianpudawan — in 2017. He named it Laojia Hanshe. In Chinese, laojia means one's hometown; and, hanshe, a humble reference to one's home.
Toward the Same Goal
Both Han Guangying and Yuan are natives of Tianpu. Before Han Guangying decided to open the inn, Yuan ran a stationary shop. She got up very early in the morning, cooked breakfast for their son, and then she opened the shop. Even while running the shop, she took care of her family's chores. To support her husband's decision to open an inn, she closed her shop, without hesitation.
In the living room of Laojia Hanshe, family photos of the Hans are framed and hanging on a wall. The photos record the family's precious experiences, especially related to the red history of the Dabie Mountains. A tearoom and two guestrooms are located on the inn's second floor. Each guestroom has a skylight above the bed, so the guests can admire night skies as they are lying on the bed. This smart design is particularly appreciated by young guests.
In the eastern portion of their courtyard, Han Guangying and Yuan refined half of an old room into a "Laojia store," in which they sell Xinyang's specialties, such as tea, sesame sugar and honey.
During the past 10 years, Han Guangying and Yuan have been each other's warmest companion, especially as they have been trying to achieve the same goal: Giving their guests a "home-like" feeling while residing in their inn.
Han Guangying is responsible for making the overall plan for the development of the inn, marketing and organizing tourist events, arranging the guestrooms and provision of catering services. Yuan works at the reception desk, communicates with the guests and sells agricultural specialties in the store. They cook typical dishes of their hometown to treat their guests. They consider their guests as close family members.
Common Prosperity
As Tianpudawan's first family owned inn, Laojia Hanshe soon gained popularity among tourists. Some villagers asked Han Guangying for tips on operating an inn. Han Guangying invited them to his house, showed them how to refine and decorate a room, how to improve toilet facilities and how to choose bedclothes. He also told them how to set a reasonable accommodation price, how to promote their inns online, and how to communicate with their customers. Based on the model of the Hans' inn, dozens of households in Tianpudawan have opened inns, farm stays and/or specialty shops. The village has become famous as a model village of rural revitalization in the region.
"I am one offspring of a Red Army soldier. I know the older generations of Chinese soldiers sacrificed a lot to ensure we can enjoy a happy life today. I hope to share common prosperity with my fellow villagers. True happiness means everyone in our village can live a good life," Han Guangying says. He has led the establishment of a cooperative for the inns' owners in Tianpudawan. Members of the cooperative provide standardized accommodations and/or catering services to their customers. In their spare time, Han Guangying and Yuan often participate in volunteer work, such as environmental protection activities, doing housework for elderly residents, or helping solve disputes among neighbors. The couple is determined to build Tianpudawan into a better village — by leading villagers in running well their rural tourism businesses.
Red Culture, a Key Part of Family Traditions
For Han Guangying, Laojia Hanshe is not only an inn operated by his family, it is sometimes a "classroom," in which he tells visitors stories about the revolutionary history of the Dabie Mountains, and about his family traditions.
"Once, I received students, who visited our village during their study tour. They were touched by the red history, and by our villagers, who had devoted themselves to the rural revitalization of our hometown. Several students came to me, and they said they would participate in the development of the countryside after they grew up," Han Guangying recalls.
Both Han Guangying and Yuan say red culture is a key part of their family traditions. When educating their son, they remind him to love both the country and their family, be hardworking, live a thrifty life, respect the elderly and care for the young. They have told their son to be honest, and regardless of his career, to work with an earnest attitude.
When Han Jiandong was young, he liked listening to his parents, and other family members, as they recalled red stories about previous generations of their family. After he entered high school, Han Jiandong thought about enrolling into a military school to receive his college education. In the autumn of 2019, then 19-year-old Han Jiandong fulfilled his dream. He passed the entrance exams for Aviation University of Air Force, in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province. He is now an air force pilot.
In May, Han Guangying's family was named a "Most Beautiful Family" by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and the All-China Women's Federation. "The honor belongs to everyone in my family. The biggest strength of our family is derived from our unity, and from the mutual support we provide each other. Family is like a warm harbor. If we protect our family, pass on our family traditions, and if we construct well our hometown, that is the best way we can help safeguard our motherland," says Han Guangying.
Deeply rooted in the Dabie Mountains, the Hans will continue devoting themselves to developing rural tourism, and to helping more and more visitors to Tianpudawan learn about the village's red history and culture.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly October 2026)
Editor: Wang Shasha
