Recently, in Danbo Village, Songgang Town, Ma'erkang City, more than ten villas with novel designs caught people's attention. "This is our Maidashi project, which allows tourists to experience high-end homestays and enjoy the natural beauty of snow-capped mountains and colorful forests," said Yu Mingxin, manager of Maidashi Company. The project involves an investment of about 45 million yuan and is scheduled to open to guests during the New Year's Day holiday next year.

As the "leading city" of Aba Prefecture, Ma'erkang is focusing on its image as the "Land of Dust Settles · Holy Land of Jiarong," using projects as a key driver, adhering to the integration and interaction of ecology, tourism, and culture, and accelerating the construction of a famous ecological tourism and cultural city.

Yu Mingxin introduced that the company inspected many places before construction began. When they came to Ma'erkang, it happened to be snowing, and the beautiful scenery and culture left a deep impression. In addition, transportation here is convenient, it is the seat of the Aba Prefecture government, Jiarong culture is rich, and the tourism development potential is huge.

Zhuokeji Tusi Official Village also has new plans. "Next year, the film and television base for Dust Settles will be established here, with a total project investment of about 1.38 billion yuan," said Tuosiduo, a staff member of the Ma'erkang Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau. The project uses Dust Settles and Ala Jiangse as IPs to build a comprehensive tourism and vacation destination. At that time, traditional residences such as Zhuokeji Tusi Official Village, Xisuo Folk Houses, and Jiarong Chongkang Street will also be upgraded and renovated to recreate scenes from the TV series Dust Settles.

Chang Wang, chairman of the Ma'erkang Municipal CPPCC and commander of the All-for-One Tourism Critical Battle Command, said that there are 27 key construction projects underway in Ma'erkang's all-for-one tourism critical battle, with a total investment of about 3 billion yuan, to be carried out in three phases.

Culture is the soul of tourism. Ma'erkang has launched the Jiarong Cultural Revitalization Action, continues to organize the Jiarong Guozhuang Cultural Tourism Festival and the Alai Poetry Festival series of activities, and strives to build the "three major brands" of Jiarong Thangka, Jiarong Tibetan Opera, and Jiarong Guozhuang culture.

Using projects as a key driver, Ma'erkang continues to build the all-for-one tourism pattern of "one belt, two rings, eight scenic areas, and seven corridors," focusing on creating scenic spots such as Xuema Mountain, Yunshang Gala, Mosidu, Baoyan Hot Spring, and Alai's Former Residence, vigorously developing business forms such as agricultural specialty product exhibitions and sales, specialty food culture, Jiarong handicrafts, folk experience, and flower-tourism integration, and building a high-quality tourism service supply destination.

In early winter, at the construction site on Binhe Road in the central urban area of Ma'erkang, machines are roaring and the scene is busy.

"The project is the Binjiang Times Square construction project, with a planned total investment of 480 million yuan. It will build boutique residences, open all-format commercial spaces, high-end hotels, a municipal square, and more, and is expected to be completed and delivered in 2023," said the project leader.

Li Qingyong, secretary of the Ma'erkang Municipal Party Committee, introduced that around the goals of being "livable, workable, tourism-friendly, prosperous, and comfortable," Ma'erkang plans to invest 3.183 billion yuan to accelerate old city reconstruction, fully advance new district construction, improve Ma'erkang's urban service functions, and basically build Ma'erkang into a famous plateau ecological tourism and cultural city.

Ma'erkang is located in high mountains and deep valleys. Limited by natural geographical conditions, urban space is narrow, leading to lagging urban construction and problems such as difficulty in parking.

In response, Ma'erkang invited relevant experts from Tsinghua University to participate in design and planning, outlining the urban development blueprint of "one core, two wings, three zones." The one core means the central urban area should be built into an administrative office and business and commercial area; the two wings mean the Riwaba New District and the Eerya New District should serve as expansion areas of the central urban area; the three zones are the Zhuokeji Cultural Tourism Zone, Songgang Cultural Tourism Zone, and Yingboluo Logistics Processing Zone. Among them, 25 old city reconstruction sites are involved.

"In the old city reconstruction, two five-story underground parking lots will also be built, adding more than 1,000 parking spaces," said a relevant person in charge of the Ma'erkang Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Administration.