Bird watching has become a byword for prosperity for residents in Nonggang village, Longzhou county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Situated near the border between China and Vietnam, the village is adjacent to the Nonggang National Nature Reserve, which is home to over 260 bird species.

Photo shows Lu Haiheng (right) and a bird lover in Nonggang village, Longzhou county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Chinanews.com/Jiang Xuelin)

Over 10 years ago, Chinese ornithologists discovered the presence of Nonggang babblers, a recently described species in the family Timaliidae, in the nature reserve with the help of a local villager named Lu Rong, which attracted a great deal of attention.

The villager then began working as a bird-watching guide. His son Lu Haiheng, who once worked in south China’s Guangdong Province, followed in his footsteps thanks to the village’s growing popularity from bird watching.

Lu Haiheng has built a paid bird-watching site for bird photographers. He can identify bird species by just listening to the sound they make, and has become a famous guide for birdwatchers. He also runs a B&B hotel, and his mother and wife are engaged in the bird-watching industry.

Photo shows a white-rumped shama in Nonggang village, Longzhou county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Chinanews.com/Jiang Xuelin)

He also contacts bird-watching guides in Southeast Asia for bird lovers who want to observe and photograph birds in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Laos. He has over 4,000 friends who are bird lovers, including from France and the UK on WeChat, a popular Chinese social media platform.

The management center of the Nonggang National Nature Reserve has issued rules and regulations on protecting birds and effectively prevented the destruction of forest resources by helping villagers develop bird-watching tourism.

A white-rumped shama perches on a tree branch in Nonggang village, Longzhou county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Chinanews.com/Jiang Xuelin)

At the bird-watching base in the village, there are now about 20 bird-watching guides, more than 10 bird-watching sites, and 16 B&B hotels.