2023 Green Beautiful Liannan Half Marathon & Dreamwalker’s Happy Run Kicked off, and Beautiful Countryside in Liannan Went Viral

On April 16th, 2023, the Green Beautiful Liannan Half Marathon & Dreamwalker’s Happy Run kicked off in Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province. Based on Liannan’s unique national ecological and cultural resources, with the theme of “Colorful Yaoshan, Green Beautiful Liannan”, this year’s Yao Marathon (Green Beautiful Liannan Half Marathon & Dreamwalker’s Happy Run) combines national sports with rural revitalization, showing Liannan’s achievements in common prosperity and inspiring the cultural vitality of rural revitalization in the new era.

The tournament was hosted by the People’s Government of Liannan Yao Autonomous County and Guangdong Farmers’ Sports Association, with the technical certification of China Athletics Association and the technical guidance of Guangdong Athletics Association. It was hosted by Liannan Yao Autonomous County Culture, Radio, Film and Television Tourism and Sports Bureau, Liannan Yao Autonomous County Rural Revitalization Bureau, Guoqiang Foundation and GUSTO, co-organized by GO AND HOPE and supported by Guangdong Rural Development Foundation.

There are two events: a 21.0975km half marathon and a 5km dream runner’s happy run. After fierce competition, Wang Kun won the men’s half-horse championship with a gunshot score of 01:10:53, and Chen Liqin won the women’s half-horse championship with a gunshot score of 01:21:31.

A total of 25 platforms broadcast live, more than 8.5 million netizens watched the live broadcast online, nearly 8,000 contestants gathered in Liannan, tens of thousands of people watched the cultural performance of Yaotai on the water in Sanjiangyuan, more than 20,000 people experienced the characteristic “farm-like” sports meeting, and more than 130 kinds of Yao specialty products, which attracted major mainstream media to report … This is the “heated” scene in this spring day in Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong Province.

The national launching ceremony of “2023 Dreamwalker” was also held at the scene. At the ceremony, Xing Aowei, Olympic champion of gymnastics and Wang Xin, Olympic champion of diving, were awarded the title of charity ambassador, and together with four guests, they launched the “2023 Dreamwalker” charity run for love.

National Launching Ceremony of “2023 Dreamwalker”

Sports+public welfare, exploring a new path of rural revitalization

In this Yao Marathon track, the lighting project of the Green Beautiful National Marathon, the lighting project of Yaotai on the water in Sanjiangyuan and Liuzuo Mountain are all built by Guoqiang Foundation.

Since 2020, under the guidance of the county government of Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Country Garden and Guoqiang Foundation have carried out the rural revitalization and assistance work in Liannan, built a breeding and recycling industrial park, a new era civilization practice center, and a “Shanyaoling” theme homestay resort, and carried out Xu Hongfei sculpture art exhibition and other projects to help the integration and development of the first, second and third industries and build a livable and beautiful countryside.

Also, “Dreamwalker’s Happy Run” is a public welfare hiking project initiated by Country Garden Group and Guoqiang Foundation in 2019. Since the start of the project, 77,843 beneficiaries have left footprints in more than 70 cities across the country, with a total walking distance of 128,267 kilometers. Participants who have completed the project of “Dreamwalker’s Happy Run” can also get a gift package of Yao’s special agricultural products, and participate in consumption to help agriculture and rural revitalization with their footsteps.

All people participate and experience the new look of farmers’ countryside

After three years’ absence, Liannan Sports Business Card-2023 Green Beautiful Liannan Half Marathon & Dreamwalker’s Happy Run, which has returned again, has received wide attention since the registration started. In addition to nearly 8,000 contestants from all over the country, there are more than 540 cheerleaders with Yao characteristics distributed along the track, cheering for the contestants and transforming the marathon track into a flowing humanistic landscape.

With farmers as the main body, the fun shaped in farmers and the countryside, the main venue has also carried out a wealth of expo supporting activities, such as interesting rice planting, carrying loads to and from, and transporting grain by unicycle … A variety of “farm-like” peasant sports meetings have attracted tens of thousands of people to participate in the challenge.

There are also more than 20 merchants who bring more than 130 kinds of Yao’s characteristic products to the creative market and the farmers’ online livestreaming e-commerce festival. Through consumption to help farmers, Liannan’s high-quality ecological products and cultural tourism products will go out, and Yao Marathon will become a sports carnival where all people participate in public welfare and everyone enjoys it. Activities adhere to farmers as the main body, the fun shaped in farmers and the countryside, and jointly build livable and suitable businesses and beautiful villages.

Featured Agricultural Games and Creative Market of Consumption Supporting Agriculture

On the evening of April 15th, the Yaozhai Cultural Performance made a stunning appearance at the Yaotai on the water in Sanjiangyuan. The popular Yao songs and dances not only enriched the cultural life of the local people, but also provided a strong spiritual impetus for promoting the revitalization of rural culture.

Along the beautiful countryside circuit, the beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers is intertwined with ethnic customs.

In recent years, under the call of promoting the rural revitalization strategy in an all-round way, Liannan has built a 150-kilometer-long “Lingnan Cultural Travel Corridor” with unique Yao characteristics, which is the “first track” of Yao culture, and the 2023 Yao Marathon track is running through it.

Participants run around the green and beautiful roads on both sides of the Sanjiang River, enjoy the scenery of the rural revitalization demonstration belt of “Redness in Yaoshan” along the way, and can also punch in the landmarks of Liannan Cultural Tourism such as Guangdong Yao Museum, Yuexiu Covered Bridge, Liannan National Shimo Park and Sanjiangyuan Water Yaotai.

The beauty of a thousand-year-old culture, the beauty of mountains and rivers in ecological construction and the beauty of rural revitalization are all presented on this brand-new track. Run along the Yao Marathon track, keep forging ahead in the south with the same frequency, and love the city together.

The runners are galloping on the brand-new Yao Marathon track.

Featured event IP, empowering Liannan’s culture, sports and tourism

This year’s Yao Marathon has deeply explored and integrated unique resources such as human history, natural scenery and national culture, combined with the new expectations and new needs of the contestants, and created a more competitive IP with Liannan characteristics according to local conditions, empowering the high-quality development of Liannan’s culture, sports and tourism.

2023 is the first year to fully implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, and it is also the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Liannan Yao Autonomous County. As a golden business card of rural tourism, the holding of Yao Marathon’s national characteristic competition is a concrete measure to implement the spirit of “promoting the all-round development of mass sports and competitive sports and accelerating the construction of a sports power” at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Country Garden and Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation will continue to help Liannan, promote the high-quality development of Liannan’s culture, sports and tourism, and help Liannan to stimulate the cultural vitality of rural revitalization in the new era.