Along the Anning River in July, Miyi County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, ignited the city's passion with a "Colorful Torch Festival". 127,800 visitors, 51.12 million yuan in tourism revenue, and a 92% growth in tourist flow – this folk culture feast not only refreshed the summer buzz of the "Famous Tourist County of Tianfu" but also outlined the "Miyi model" of integrated development of culture, tourism, and health through innovative expressions and industrial linkage.

The Torch Festival is an important traditional festival of the Yi ethnicity and a cultural feast shared by all ethnic groups. In July this year, regions across Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan each showcased their unique charm by hosting diverse and richly contented Torch Festivals. What "unique skills" did Miyi County bring to this regional competition? What characteristics did it highlight? Let's decode it.

Cultural Breakthrough: Modern Interpretation of Traditional Festivals

Colorful torches carry good wishes. Miyi's Torch Festival creatively transformed traditional culture by endowing torches with new connotations through five colors: red, black, yellow, green, and blue. Red symbolizes good marriage, black represents wealth, yellow stands for academic success, green signifies health, and blue embodies peace. This transformation turned the prayer ritual into a visible emotional IP, deeply imprinted in the hearts of every citizen and visitor.

Duoluohe dances to a new chapter. "Duoluohe" is a traditional dance of the Yi people, carrying a thousand years of history and culture. Miyi County introduced "lead-in dances" and "tourist contingents" into this dance performance, integrating the millennia-old Yi dance into modern choreography. This move took intangible cultural heritage from "coming alive" to "becoming trendy", boosting both participation and experience. When a thousand performers danced Duoluohe amid Miyi's picturesque urban landscape, the entire city came alive, attracting tens of thousands of spectators and viral praise online. This "wave of the Anning River" is like a flowing cultural scroll, revitalizing ancient folk customs in Miyi.

New experiences of Sichuan-style folk arts. Listen to the romance of ancient Shu in Qingyin (clear tone), taste the vibrancy of daily life in Jinqianban (money-board), and perceive the flavors of life in Xieju (comic drama). On the evening of July 20th, actors from the Sichuan Folk Artists Association and Sichuan Folk Art Research Institute staged a special public welfare performance in Miyi. This "performance at the doorstep" was a cultural feast that Miyi's Colorful Torch Festival presented to citizens and visitors, leaving them thoroughly entertained, emotionally connected, and joyfully amused. Yan Wenyi, a "new Miyi resident" who bought a house and settled here, said, "Miyi's Colorful Torch Festival is fantastic – it made me rediscover Miyi!"

Service Empowerment: Precise Delivery of Urban Warmth

Benefit packages with warmth. To let citizens and visitors fully enjoy the festival, Miyi County enhanced experiences through refined operations. From free opening of urban public parking lots, exclusive discounts for star hotels and characteristic homestays, to ticket concessions for Zhuanxu Dragon Cave Scenic Area – each benefit package embodies Miyi's full enthusiasm and sincerity.

Quality services attract visitors. A clean city, fresh and comfortable air, lively yet orderly event venues, and heartwarming services made citizens and visitors feel high quality, earning Miyi widespread praise. "The cultural and creative ice cream is very distinctive," "Miyi is great – we'll come back," visitors on-site and numerous netizens expressed their attachment and yearning for Miyi through various means. Wu Dan, a member of the National Youth Federation and inheritor of Xieju, even composed a poem: "Zhuanxu's hometown boasts beautiful scenery, a land of fish and rice with ethnic unity. Terraced fields stack like emeralds, Dragon Cave marvels; industries thrive, sharing prosperity."

Industrial Resonance: One Festival Activates the Entire Regional Economy

Stimulating consumption to release vitality. When culture and tourism thrive, all industries prosper. During the Colorful Torch Festival, Miyi's consumption scenes boomed. Hotels and restaurants in the county saw a summer phenomenon of "no rooms available" and "no tables left". The average occupancy rate of star hotels exceeded 90%, and the 30 daily 188-yuan rooms (including breakfast) at Miyi Ningze Sunshine Hotel were quickly snapped up. At Passion Square, the aroma of Miyi's signature cuisines like copper hotpot and barbecue filled the air, with every seat taken. Zhang Qiang, owner of "Waiting for You Late Night Snack", said, "Business is booming – we serve hundreds of tables every day."

Seizing the momentum to forge ahead. This Colorful Torch Festival became a joy festival for citizens, an experience festival for visitors, and an income-boosting festival for businesses. Miyi County struck while the iron was hot, taking multiple measures to enhance the value of its culture-tourism-health IP. Scenic spots like Zhuanxu Dragon Cave leveraged the momentum to attract visitors, launching supporting summer heatstroke-relief and health packages; four provincial-level cultural and tourism projects such as "Jinbei Banshan・Miyi Sun Valley" accelerated progress, with 14 infrastructure projects including scenic roads in full swing; the "Xinghuo Cup" 2025 Sichuan Youth Canoe (Slalom) Championship kicked off passionately in Miyi at the end of July, and the Sunshine Miyi Second "Tianfu Daoxiang Cup" Mini Marathon will heat up in early August.

The success of this Torch Festival is a vivid manifestation of Miyi County's "culture-tourism-health +" strategy, which takes culture as the soul, tourism as the body, and health as the vein to achieve "one festival driving multiple industries". As characteristic event IPs like the "Colorful Torch Festival" and "Tianfu Daoxiang Cup" Mini Marathon continue to develop, this city – which has ranked among China's top 100 health-preserving counties for five consecutive years – is striding forward on the path of integrated culture-tourism-health development, carrying golden titles such as "Famous Tourist County of Tianfu". (Text/Photos by Yang Lan, Xia Yujiang)