Abandoned mine transformed into "Golden Mountain and Silver Mountain" - Decoding the new model of "Green Growth and Added Value" of GRCB

GRCB empowers the ecological restoration of abandoned quarries, helping to build the Senlinhai Xishui Le Park in Paitan Town, embroidering "green beauty" into the construction of beautiful rural areas.

Near Baishuizhai in Zengcheng District, Guangzhou, the blue lake is crystal clear, like a huge gem embedded in the mountains, with high mountains and waterfalls in the distance. It is hard to imagine that such a beautiful place was once an abandoned quarry.

Since 2015, Zengcheng has been carrying out ecological system restoration of local abandoned quarries, relying on natural hot springs, abandoned mine lakes, primitive forests, and other natural resources to create a forest and sea tourism resort integrating outdoor sports, accommodation, leisure, water entertainment, and hot spring health care, attracting many tourists. Behind this is the ecological practice of Guangzhou villages and towns adapting to local conditions, and it is also a true portrayal of financial institutions awakening "dormant" resources and playing the "hundreds of thousands of projects".

As the main force of local finance supporting agriculture and small businesses, GRCB has always focused on the provincial and municipal "hundreds of counties, thousands of towns, and ten thousand villages high-quality development project" deployment, focusing on strengthening agricultural finance, optimizing rural finance, and refining farmer finance. It guides financial "vitality" to the most needed places, helping "hundreds of counties, thousands of towns, and ten thousand villages" to blaze a path to prosperity among green waters and mountains.

First to enter the credit granting

The old abandoned land is rejuvenated

Near Baishuizhai in Paitan Town, Zengcheng, there were many quarries in the 1980s and 1990s. Local villagers made a living by quarrying and transporting, using limestone resources to develop the cement industry, creating the first group of "ten thousand yuan households". However, long-term mining brought "ecological scars" to Paitan. After the closure of the quarry in 2003, due to erosion by wind and rain and geological environmental conditions, a series of problems such as land subsidence, slope collapse, riverbed siltation, and water and soil erosion emerged.

Since 2015, Zengcheng has introduced social capital such as Senhai Group to carry out ecological system restoration of abandoned quarries. It is reported that the first phase of 14 ecological restoration and utilization projects has been completed, restoring the No. 1 quarry "Tianyang Lake"; at the same time, relying on local hot springs and other natural resources, a comprehensive tourism resort has been created, which officially opened in January 2020.

Walking into the forest and sea tourism resort, rows of tree houses come into view, with the original wood-colored castle walls decorated with various green plants, as if entering a fairy-tale world of green wilderness; the parent-child themed duplex rooms are warm and cozy, allowing guests to look up and admire the "starlit sky" or play in the water up close. The 70-meter-deep abandoned mine lake has also been rejuvenated, with many couples, friends, and families seen boating on the lake or enjoying water entertainment facilities.

The "waste quarry" that was once exposed as a tidal flat has transformed into a "popular check-in spot", thanks to the precise irrigation of financial "vitality". Lai Yuanzhe, director of the office of the Forest and Sea Tourism Resort, admitted that at the beginning of the project, many financial institutions viewed the cultural tourism industry from the perspective of the past real estate industry, lacking confidence in the industry and having concerns of "daring not to lend, unwilling to lend" Unlike others, GRCB extended an olive branch from the project conception stage. After multiple rounds of communication and on-site inspections, it eventually granted a loan to Senhai Group for mine restoration and hotel construction, becoming the first bank to provide credit for the Senlinhai project.

"The strong support from GRCB not only solved the worries about the capital chain but also allowed us to be more daring and catch up with the trend of cultural and tourism consumption," said Wang Xiufang, the financial director of Senlinhai. With the funds in place, the first-phase projects of Senlinhai, including the hot spring resort hotel, international RV campsite, popular treehouses, water amusement park, and lake expansion, have gradually been completed and opened. It has now become a demonstration site for rural revitalization and the "Hundred Thousand Million Project," and is expected to be designated as a "provincial tourist resort" by 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, the hotel occupancy rate exceeded 70%, with over 150,000 visitors to the amusement park; the occupancy rate during the "May Day" period was closer to 93%.

Within this, lies the wealth creation code of the "Hundred Thousand Million Project." The establishment of the Senlinhai tourist resort project has driven the deep integration of the surrounding scenic spots, homestays, rural B&Bs, farms, and other industries in the eat-stay-play-shop-entertainment-production chain, effectively promoting rural economic growth and increasing income for villagers. In just the past year, it directly created over 1,500 job positions and indirectly created over 5,000 job positions. According to incomplete statistics, from May to October 2023, the turnover rate of surrounding farmhouses increased by at least double, and the occupancy rates of surrounding hotels and homestays increased by at least 20%.

Awakening "dormant" resources

Injecting financial energy into rural cultural tourism

Recognizing in the micro and growing in the macro. As an "old friend" of Senhai Group, GRCB has been cooperating with the company since 2012, providing comprehensive financial services for the project from the seed stage, start-up stage, growth stage to maturity stage, while also offering services such as fund settlement, salary distribution, POS acquiring, and customer traffic diversion, fully awakening the "dormant" resources in rural areas.

The relevant person in charge of GRCB stated: "Our bank has always adhered to the original intention of supporting agriculture and small businesses, focusing on both 'blood transfusion' and 'hematopoiesis.' In addition to injecting financial 'vitality,' we also use our own channels and products to empower customers, customizing a co-branded credit card for Senlinhai." For example, cardholders can enjoy cashback for their first purchase of hotel rooms or amusement park tickets; if the monthly card spending reaches a certain amount, they will also have the chance to participate in a lucky draw, with the highest prize being a $1000 room subsidy. By the end of 2023, over 1600 Senlinhai co-branded credit cards had been issued, and over 800 Jinmi Wenlv cards (Zengcheng Paitan edition) had been issued. Through the setting of various characteristic benefits, the indirect effect of attracting and retaining customers has been achieved.

Considering the future operational needs of Senhai Group, GRCB once again increased its credit line in 2023 to support the Senlinhai tourist resort in restoring six other abandoned mine systems over 5-10 years, creating new types of accommodation such as "water world new housing vacation experience" and "forest tribe living vacation experience," as well as the construction of primitive forests, non-powered amusement parks, large-scale performance centers, and other third-phase projects, helping Senlinhai accelerate its construction pace and further transition from a "popular hotspot" to a "permanent hotspot." The transformation of the abandoned mine in Paitan Town is a vivid epitome of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank using financial "vitality" to support the cultural and tourism industry, striving to be a pioneer in serving rural revitalization. In recent years, the bank has identified the cultural and tourism industry, especially rural cultural and tourism, as a key area of support. Leveraging its wide financial service coverage, the bank actively connects with various towns and villages, innovates product supply systems according to local conditions, removes financing bottlenecks and difficulties, and effectively promotes the multi-channel and multi-scenario integration and development of finance and the cultural and tourism industry.

Currently, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank has strongly supported rural cultural and tourism projects such as Lantou Ancient Village in Huadu, Eco-design Town in Conghua, and Yuexiu Fengxing Countryside Complex in Conghua, effectively assisting the healthy development of new rural cultural and tourism formats, increasing farmers' income, and truly transforming ecological benefits into economic benefits. As of the end of May 2024, the bank's balance of agricultural loans was nearly 45 billion yuan, with over 35,000 agricultural customers, maintaining a leading position in the market in the rural financial service area.

The seasons come and go, but there is no end to supporting agriculture. The implementation of the "Hundred Thousand Million Project" has unleashed a huge demand for finance in agriculture and rural areas. As a rural financial institution rooted in the local area, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank will adhere to the development positioning of supporting agriculture and small businesses, conduct specialized operations based on local conditions, and explore a new path with Guangzhou characteristics that adapts to the development of rural industries in Guangzhou. In the forefront of serving rural revitalization, the bank continues to contribute to the strength of rural commerce