The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in Yuanyang County, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southwest China's Yunnan Province, saw about 1.8 million tourist visits in the first quarter of 2026, a surge of 9.89 percent over the same period of last year, local authorities said.
The county's tourism revenue reached 1.58 billion yuan (about 230 million U.S. dollars) in the first three months, a 9.43 percent year-on-year increase.
The Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2013. The terraces cascade down the slopes of the towering Ailao Mountains to the banks of the Honghe River.
The terraces, now entering the spring ploughing season, have become a major draw for visitors with their mirror-like waters and vibrant rural scenes, boosting cultural and agricultural economy in Yuanyang.
For generations, the local people, mainly of the Hani ethnic minority group, have transformed the local region's mountainous areas into the current spectacular landscape. They have also developed a complex self-sustaining water system that channels water from the forested mountaintops to the terraced rice paddies.
Southwest China's Hani Rice Terraces see surge in tourist visits in Q1
Nearly 75 million people across China have benefited from the country's new trade-in program effective since the beginning of 2026, according to the Ministry of Finance on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, officials from the Ministry of Finance briefed on China's fiscal revenue and expenditure in the first quarter of 2026.
Regarding the consumer goods trade-in program, it had generated 540 billion yuan (about 79 billion U.S. dollars) in sales as of April 19, according to the latest official data released by the Ministry of Finance.
China has allocated a total of 125 billion yuan (18.24 billion U.S. dollars) raised from the issuance of ultra-long special treasury bonds in two batches to support the new trade-in program.
Apart from the unified subsidy policy nationwide, local authorities are also able to roll out their own subsidy policies to further stimulate consumption potentials.
"Under the trade-in program, the sales of new energy passenger cars priced at 200,000 yuan (29,255 U.S. dollars) or higher per unit increased by 5 percent year on year in the first quarter. More digital and smart products have been covered by the trade-in program, which has made them a new hotspot for this year's trade-in program. This led to a 20.8-percent year-on-year growth in retail sales of telecommunications equipment above the designated size in the January-March period," said Wu Gai, deputy director of the Department of Economic Construction with the Ministry of Finance.
Early this year, the Ministry of Finance launched a lottery invoice pilot program across about 50 cities nationwide with a subsidy of 10 billion yuan (1.46 billion U.S. dollars), covering major consumer sectors such as retail, catering, culture and tourism, and sports.
By the end of April 19, 3.68 billion yuan (538.3 million U.S. dollars) worth of lottery invoices had been distributed, driving sales of approximately 160 billion yuan (23.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the related sectors. About 410 million people had received scratch-and-win receipts, with 170 million winning prizes.
China’s new trade-in program benefits nearly 75 million people in 2026
