When the "Beautiful China—1st National Ecological Tourism City Construction and Development Forum" held its awards ceremony, in Beijing, on Nov 30, two of Shanxi province's counties -- Youyu and Zhangzi —got the "Beautiful model" designation, with Su Binru, the Youyu county head was on hand to collect the award.

Hosts for this year's forum were the Chinese County Brand Development Association, China's ecological tourism research and promotion association, and China's tourism investment promotion association. There were 12 winners of the "Beautiful model" county designation out of a total of 200. Other awards were for counties with the best investment value.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw