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Rongjiang county, tucked away in the rainy hills of south-west China, has little going for it at first glance. The grey tiles covering houses in the county sea give it a rather drab feel. Locals often have to find work elsewhere, travelling to distant factories and construction sites.

Yet this summer it was Chinese from far-off cities who flocked to Rongjiang. They came to watch an amateur football league involving 20 of the county’s villages. It started in May and quickly became a   1．. Weekend matches between teams made up of butchers and farmers drew crowds of nearly 50, 000, straining the local stadium. Millions more watched on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

There are many reasons behind the popularity of the Rongjiang league, which is men only. Start with the 2． of professional football. Despite decades of investment, the country’s players are not very good. The men’s national team, made up of players from China’s top league, ranks 78th in the world (the women rank 14th). It has only qualified for the World Cup once, in 2002, when it failed to score a single goal.

The Rongjiang league, by contrast, has an authentic, even wholesome feel. Football in the county dates back to the 1940s, when it was 3． by university students who were fleeing China’s cities during the invasion by Japan. Today the games are free to watch and feel enjoyably low pressure. Players 4． off their missed shots with smiles. After a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals, fans swarmed the pitch waving China’s national flag. The winners of this year’s tournament, from a village in Chejiang township, walked away with a cow. The two runners-up won three pigs and three goats, respectively.

The league’s cultural diversity is another 5．. The players come from several minority ethnic groups, of which the biggest are the Dong and the Miao. During breaks in the matches, villagers in traditional silver headdresses often dance for the crowd.

To the delight of officials at all levels, the league appears to have stimulated the local economy. During the Dragon Boat festival in June tourism spending 6． up, much of it coming from football fans. Vendors at the hundreds of stalls set up by the local government outside the stadium 7． a brisk trade. A man hawking barbecue skewers says he has doubled his income.

But there are concerns that the success of Rongjiang may be fleeting. Attracting crowds to this part of China is not easy. The city of Zibo, in the northern province of Shandong, provides a 8． tale. It became a social-media phenomenon when word of its delicious kebabs began making the rounds earlier this year. Tourists flocked to the city, where officials turned arenas into makeshift dining halls. But after a few months of this barbecue craze, interest in Zibo slumped.

Still, officials think they have found a winning strategy for the countryside. A new football league began this month and will 9． until October. It involves nearly 300 amateur teams from all around China. Each is named after a food. On August 13th a team called the Sour Soups from the nearby city of Kaili beat the Bamboo Shoots from the southern province of Guangdong. The stadium in Rongjiang was still 10．.