With its pear orchards and ancient buildings, Yunnan's Yanta village is a model of rural vitalization, report Yang Feiyue in Beijing and Li Yingqing in Kunming.

Zhao Quankang was thrilled when Yanta village was named as a beautiful leisure location by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in November.

"It proves I made the right decision to come back," says the 25-year-old, who was born and grew up in the village that sits in the county-level city Anning, under the jurisdiction of Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Yanta is one of more than 250 beautiful leisure villages listed last year, all of which are deemed to have rich natural and folk resources, offer diverse travel experiences, a steady leisure and tourism income and well-developed tourism services.

Yanta is home to a population of about 1,100 villagers and boasts numerous pear orchards and an ancient temple. It has maintained most of its historical features.

Zhao had been paying close attention to the status of his home.

"During my childhood, Yanta village was very poor, and everyone seemed to just want to grow up and get out as soon as possible," Zhao recalls.

"The condition of the houses was wretched, and villagers relied on horses and tractors for transportation."

As soon as he graduated from Xi'an Aeronautical Institute in Shaanxi province, Zhao left to seek job opportunities in first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

"However, I began to feel nostalgic and had always fancied trying to do something for the development of my hometown," Zhao says.

Yanta was chosen by the local authority as a pilot area for rural vitalization through innovation in 2019. After the news reached Zhao, he decided to return.

Experts from China Agricultural University moved in and started offering guidance. It was part of the local authority's efforts to transform Yanta into a rural getaway and improve the lives of local villagers.

Experts from the university have studied and dealt with major problems in rural areas surrounding Kunming and, every year, postgraduate and doctoral candidates have been dispatched to conduct field studies and offer intellectual support to local governments and rural businesses.