Across China: Fire-ravaged Yunnan town struggling to attract tourists

An ancient Yunnan Province town that lost many of its traditional wooden buildings to a fire two years ago is struggling to restore its status as a popular tourist site.

Dukezong, populated largely by ethnic Tibetans, was made famous by British writer James Hilton's 1933 novel "Lost Horizon."

In January 2014, a blaze started by an electric heater destroyed 343 houses in the town, or almost 20 percent of the total.

About 15 percent of the homes and shops have reopened so far, said officials in charge of the renovation.

By mid-March, more than 900 million yuan (about 137 million U.S. dollars) had been spent on the work, with a total budget of 1.2 billion yuan.

Though Dukezong declared its reopening earlier in January, rebuilding work is ongoing and the number of visitors has been limited.

Huang Guoying, a shopkeeper who settled in Dukezong in 2005, gets about 10 percent of the customers she did before the fire.

As it is a low season for tourism, only 2,000 people visit the old town every day on average, according to local statistics.

Officials and shopkeepers said they don't expect a significant increase in tourists numbers over the summer.

"Many people may miss the old town -- so much was lost to the fire. But I believe the culture is still here, and I hope people will come and see for themselves," said Huang.

Song Jianhua, head of the renovation headquarters, told Xinhua that the houses will be more durable and better protected.

Firefighting signs and facilities are now common in Dukezong, which paid a heavy prices for neglecting fire risks.

Twenty-one water tanks have been added to the town of 1.5 square km, and more firefighters will be hired, said Yang Jizu, with the renovation headquarters.

"We have to double our efforts in fire prevention. In the future, we will improve our emergency response and control the flames as quickly as possible," he added. Endi