Ex-Toti man is hero of rural Chinese village

A FORMER St Winifreds’ resident Ian Hamlinton (46) has featured on over a dozen national, provincial and local Chinese television channels for investing his time and money into uplifting a small village in South East China.

The former Amanzimtoti High School pupil used his initiative and skills to help poor villagers transform the rural village into the thriving tourism destination it is today.

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Ian left for China 12 years ago to be a tour guide with an international travel company. While there seeing the opportunity, he used his architectural skills and resources to establish a hotel ‘Secret Garden Boutique Hotel‘ in the beautiful Jiuxian Village in Yangshuo County, China.

The hotel started to attract tourists to a village which had never featured among travellers’ stops. Being a qualified architect, Ian transformed an old traditional Chinese house into a beautiful hotel, without losing the magic of the old building. As tourists started to visit the hotel, the local villagers were now able to make an income selling souvenirs and locally made produce. Ian’s hotel grew in popularity and he procured more old houses which he also converted into hotels.

“I rented the first building in 2010 and opened with six rooms in 2011, then expanded by roughly a building a year. Now we have six houses with 18 guest rooms, a restaurant and small art gallery,” explained Ian.

The village’s popularity grew as the hotels were more frequently visited.

“I support the village’s farmers and promote local businesses, recommending guests rent bicycles and scooters from neighbours and eat at local restaurants,” said Ian.

Seeing the foreigner’s success, several of the enterprising locals decided that they could turn their old houses into restaurants or B&Bs and asked Ian to help them do so. Being a qualified architect and by now an accomplished expert on old Chinese houses, he helped them convert their old dwellings into modern businesses.

“I try to promote the whole village as a tourist destination and help friends in the village preserve and protect their own houses,” said Ian.

The main problem they faced at the time was that all the roads into and out of the village were not paved which presented problems during wet weather. The local Communist Party became aware of the upsurge in building activity and came to inspect the village. Ian and the village leaders had a meeting where they persuaded the Chinese government to send teams of workers to lay concrete roads in all the previously unpaved areas. The village is now a thriving tourist industry with a total of 10 hotels and several restaurants, including several home industries. While visiting his parents in December, Ian received a phone call from a representative of the national TV broadcaster, asking him to return to China to help put together a television programme about him and his exploits. They insisted his parents accompany him. All costs for the trip would be covered by the Chinese National Television.

“We spent a month in China being filmed for the upcoming television programme and were taken all over the country to visit historical cultural sites, seeing wonderful cultural shows and dances,” said Ian’s father, Colin Hamlinton.

“We were treated like royalty throughout the month and at no cost to ourselves. Accommodation was always five star hotels and we were treated to the best seats available at shows, our presence was announced as ‘three important foreign visitors’.”

“Over 100 people came to our farewell party including the local communist party secretary, head of the security police, head of the fire services and the village head men. Ian’s presence at the village has impacted for the better on many people, changing their lives forever,” said his proud father, Colin.

Ian is frequently asked to give lectures at universities and business seminars about his work in the village and as a result, travels all over China.

“Importantly, I am accepted as part of this village. I am treated like family, constantly invited to weddings, birthdays and festivals. I am just a lone foreigner here, but never feel that way, it feels like home,” said Ian.