The first batch of bloggers who entered Ailao Mountain have already failed

Recently, Yunnan's Ailao Mountain has unexpectedly become popular on the Internet for its mysterious and pristine natural scenery, attracting the attention of many bloggers and tourists. This article explores how Ailao Mountain became an Internet hotspot and its dual impact on local tourism and environmental protection.

The first batch of bloggers who broke into Ailao Mountain have already failed.

On October 9, the Douyin blogger "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" released an apology video for trespassing into the Ailao Mountain Nature Reserve and camping for two days and one night during the National Day holiday. The related topic immediately became the number one hot search on Weibo.

In the video, "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" admitted that she did enter the primeval forest, but did not damage the natural environment and was willing to actively cooperate with the relevant departments in the investigation. On October 10, she released another video saying: "I just went to Ailao Mountain for a walk. How would I know about the notice issued in 2022..."

At 7 o'clock tonight, "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" will broadcast live on his Douyin account for the first time, recalling his experience of entering Ailao Mountain.

However, the video of "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" camping in the Ailao Mountains is no longer visible, and as of press time, the account of "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" cannot be searched on Douyin.

Like "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo", another account suspected to be restricted from search by Douyin is "Yamadou".

This is the official account of the pigment company "Shanqu Painting Materials". On September 28, it released a video of pigment artist Zhang Junjie going alone to Ailao Mountain to look for pigment ore. The Ailao Mountain in the video reveals a strange atmosphere, and there are suspected unidentified creatures in the mountain. So far, this video has received more than 7.41 million likes.

This video also directly boosted the popularity of the "Yamadori" account. According to the new Douyin, the number of followers of "Yamadori"'s Douyin account has increased by 6.018 million since the video was released on September 28.

However, on October 8, the relevant departments of Ailao Mountain stated that the "mountain miners" had not reported entering the mountain to take ore, and they had been criticized and educated, and asked to return the ore.

Despite the controversy over the rollover, the topic of Ailao Mountain has only been gaining popularity recently, with related videos on Douyin having been played 3 billion times. Why has this primitive mountain in Yunnan become popular on the Internet? After becoming popular, how should practitioners grasp the opportunities and limits of traffic?

01 More than 50,000 people went to check in during the National Day holiday. Why did Ailao Mountain become popular on the Internet?

The popularity of Ailao Mountain is, to a certain extent, inseparable from the video of a lone adventure into Ailao Mountain released by "Shanqu".

As soon as he entered Ailao Mountain, Zhang Junjie saw a sign that said "Bears are around", but he showed no fear at all. He said in a cold tone: "If (the bear) pounces on us, we will have no choice but to kill it."

What made netizens feel that Ailao Mountain was extremely dangerous was that when Zhang Junjie was rowing through an area of ​​Ailao Mountain, thick fog suddenly rose on the water surface. He noticed something unusual in the water and hurriedly rowed ashore.

"I can be 100% sure that there is definitely something in the water, and it is definitely not a fish. No, no, we have to get ashore quickly. I have a bad feeling," Zhang Junjie said in the video.

Fortunately, Zhang Junjie finally found the ore and walked out of Ailao Mountain.

Netizens who saw the video could not help but speculate what kind of creature Zhang Junjie encountered in the waters of Ailao Mountain. Some people analyzed the video frame by frame and believed that Zhang Junjie had been "targeted by a ferocious beast" while rowing.

Soon, Zhang Junjie responded to netizens, advising everyone not to make blind guesses. The so-called "ferocious beasts" were just tree roots, and because the image quality of the mobile phones used to take the photos was poor, many images of suspected wild animals were actually light and shadow problems.

Zhang Junjie's response did not discourage the curious netizens. Many people took advantage of the National Day holiday to travel to Ailao Mountain, which directly made Ailao Mountain popular.

In a short time, Ailao Mountain changed from a sparsely populated "forbidden zone" to a crowded "scenic area".

Official data from local culture and tourism showed that during this year's National Day holiday, the Ailao Mountain Scenic Area received more than 50,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 15%.

An aerial video posted by Douyin blogger "Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland" showed that the uphill drive to Ailao Mountain was blocked by cars during the National Day holiday, and homestays with beautiful scenery in the mountains were in short supply.

When Ailao Mountain was transformed from a niche tourist attraction into a popular check-in spot, people on the Internet began to make memes, turning the original mysterious color of Ailao Mountain and the flow of people during the National Day into jokes.

"The terrifying 'mountain setting' of Ailao Mountain was finally broken by the lifelong curiosity of the Chinese people."
"During the National Day holiday, '100 million people' came to Ailao Mountain"
"The wild animals and plants in the mountains are becoming socially anxious when seeing so many people."
"The miasma in Ailao Mountain is not enough to breathe"

Naturally, there are many "Chinese who want to make photos in their lifetime" among the scenic spots. There is a photography blogger who specially wore Hanfu to Ailao Mountain to take photos. The gloomy atmosphere of the place made netizens joke that it was the filming of "A Chinese Ghost Story".

After this photo blogger became famous, some people questioned whether her act of entering the primeval forest was destroying the environment.

However, the blogger said that the place where he took the photos is located in the Jinshan Primeval Forest Scenic Area in Ailao Mountain, and one can enter by buying a ticket for only 10 yuan.

According to the local tourism industry, the Xinping area of ​​Ailao Mountain is divided into two categories: national nature reserves and county nature reserves according to different management levels. The two types of reserves have clear boundaries, and the two areas are divided into three types: core area, buffer zone and experimental area. As long as tourists abide by the regulations of the scenic area, travel safety can be fully guaranteed.

02 Shooting videos, live broadcasts, and organizing hiking groups, who is taking over the traffic of Ailao Mountain?

After Ailao Mountain became popular, many bloggers chose to shoot videos and live broadcasts in an attempt to catch this wave of traffic.

"Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" is one of them.

On October 4, "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" posted a video saying that she had to enter Ailao Mountain for personal matters. Afterwards, she set up a tent in the core area of ​​Ailao Mountain and camped for two days and one night.

During the camping, "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" said that she encountered geomagnetic disturbances, malfunctioning mobile phone microphones, and even encountered a bear in Ailao Mountain. After the expedition, she did not forget to emphasize that Ailao Mountain is very dangerous and asked others not to enter the core area.

In the eight days since the camping video was released, the Douyin account of "Miaojiang Chen Duoduo" has gained 428,000 followers. However, her act of trespassing in Ailao Mountain is suspected of violating regulations, and the relevant departments said they would conduct an investigation.

In addition, some bloggers also broadcast live in the tourist attractions open to tourists in Ailao Mountain, allowing netizens to experience the environment of the Ailao Mountain primeval forest in person.

During the National Day holiday, Douyin blogger "Da Zhuang Kuai Pao" conducted 12 live broadcasts in Ailao Mountain. The highest number of viewers for a single live broadcast reached 2.2759 million. He also gained 38,000 followers through live broadcasts. Currently, his Douyin fan base has reached 340,000.

However, according to the latest regulations, live broadcasts in Ailao Mountain require relevant reporting in advance.

"Da Zhuang Kuai Pao" told the editorial department of Xinbang that the live broadcast of Ailao Mountain needs to be reported to the local Cyberspace Administration in advance. If the live broadcast is not reported, there will be a risk of being blocked.

He observed that after the reporting requirement was issued, the number of bloggers broadcasting live in Ailao Mountain has decreased recently, and the live broadcast signal in the scenic area is also unstable.

The Douyin account "Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland" attracts attention by updating videos of the Ailao Mountain scenic area. Data shows that in the past 30 days, the Douyin account of "Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland" has gained 242,000 followers.

Because the account name is similar to the official account of the scenic spot, some netizens mistakenly believe that "Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland" is the official account of Ailao Mountain.

However, it has been observed that "Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland" is operated unofficially, and while releasing videos of the scenic spot, it is also directing traffic to its hiking routes.

At present, "Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland" mainly promotes a hiking route for 380 yuan a day, which can visit most of the attractions in the Ailao Mountain Scenic Area.

Ailao Mountain Scenic Area/Photo source: Lao Li

"The Ailao Mountain hiking route has been there for a long time, but it is very niche and only some people in the surrounding area know about it and come to visit," Lao Li (pseudonym), a guide who often hikes in Ailao Mountain, told the Xinbang editorial department.

Lao Li is from Yuxi, Yunnan. When he was a child, he often went to the outskirts of Ailao Mountain with his family to pick mushrooms. Local people knew that Ailao Mountain was very dangerous, so they would not go deep into the core area of ​​Ailao Mountain.

Last year, Lao Li, who was tired of punching in at work, started to try being a hiking guide and recruited team members on Xiaohongshu. The Ailao Mountain hike was one of the routes he led.

In Lao Li's opinion, some of the rumors about Ailao Mountain on the Internet are too extreme. He said: "Five or six scenic areas have been developed in the Ailao Mountain Scenic Area. There are well-repaired plank roads in the scenic areas, and you can have fun there normally."

At present, Lao Li mainly provides small group tours suitable for newcomers, recruiting only four people at a time. The route he designed is divided into two days and passes through the Tea King Trail, Jinshan Primeval Forest, Yanziya Waterfall and other attractions.

Hiking scenery of Ailao Mountain Scenic Area/Photo source: Lao Li

"We walk about 12 kilometers a day, and we can take a short break at each scenic spot. It's more friendly to newcomers who don't often walk on mountain roads," said Lao Li when introducing the route. At night, Lao Li will arrange for the team members to stay in a guesthouse on the mountain, which is generally safe.

Because it is a small group tour, Lao Li's charges are relatively high, and his price is 868 yuan per person.

According to Lao Li, the price of other local Ailao Mountain hiking tours is around 400 yuan.

During the seven days of the National Day holiday, Lao Li recruited three groups, a total of 12 people, to hike in the Ailao Mountains, and earned more than 10,000 yuan. He clearly felt that after the "Mountain Tour" video became popular, more and more foreign tourists came to him for advice on hiking in the Ailao Mountains.

Under the note on Lao Li’s Xiaohongshu account recruiting people for hiking in Ailao Mountain, there are dozens of comments asking about itineraries and time. The originally niche hiking route has become a popular route with this wave of popularity.

"Ailao Mountain" has become a substitute for other hiking routes

Unlike other tourist cities that have become popular on the Internet, Ailao Mountain is a natural scenic spot and there are more uncontrollable risks.

Therefore, the relevant local departments issued three notices in succession, prohibiting any unit or individual from entering the Ailao Mountain Nature Reserve to prevent accidents.

But with the popularity of hiking in recent years, this may become one of the breakthrough points for local cultural tourism.

According to Red Star News, a guide in Ailao Mountain said that all hiking groups in the next half month have been fully booked, and reservations need to be made 15 days in advance. The local cultural tourism department also said that it will expand forest tourism products such as forest hiking and leisure sports under safety guarantees to meet the needs of tourists to explore Ailao Mountain and enjoy the big forest.

Only under the background of respecting and fearing nature, can the "exploration" of Ailao Mountain have the opportunity to become a verifiable traffic password.

Author | Xiaoya Editor | Xiaoba