A clay figurine made by a folk artist is displayed during the rural tourism culture festival in Yanqing district, Beijing, July 21, 2017. [Photo by Bi Nan/chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2017 Yanqing Rural Tourism Culture Festival opened in Beijing's Yanqing district on Friday, with various activities staged to showcase its abundant cultural and tourism resources.

A grand opening ceremony was held at the Beijing Longwan International Camping Park in Jiuxian county in Yanqing. The festival featured many activities, such as a fair where local handicrafts and agricultural products were on display and for sale, a feast spread on tables measuring a total of 100 meters long, a folk dance performance and a homestay hotel experience.

On display were Yanqing crafts, such as pottery making, paper-cuts, leather carving and pyrography, and visitors could taste local watermelon, tea and snacks. An intangible cultural heritage show, the "Land Boat" (a model boat used as a stage prop in folk dances) performance, was also staged. The 100-meter long table feast showcased 30 kinds of food from Yanqing, arousing visitors' appetites.

A conference on homestay hotels also was held for the first time on Friday afternoon, with representatives from the homestay hotel industry and the homestay hotel association attending. In the last three years Yanqing has built up a batch of homestay hotels with distinctive characteristics and more boutique hotels, highlighting local culture, are under construction.

Yanqing, located in the northwestern outskirts of Beijing, is noted for its natural tourism resources and landscapes, and has summer resorts such as Longqing Gorge, Yudu Mountain and Badaling National Forest Park.