DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng's village turns into tourist hotspot: Visitors take stones as souvenirs

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, 40, finished his primary education in this village. 

DeepSeek's stunning success in AI has not just put the spotlight on its founder Liang Wenfeng, 40, but also the small village he hails from. The obscure and underdeveloped Mililing village in southern China, where Liang's parents work as primary school teachers, has become a popular tourist site.

The tourism boom has prompted the local authorities to give the whole hamlet a facelift, the South China Morning Post reported. The village has about 700 residents, with most of the younger generation engaged in shoe manufacturing units while the elderly are involved in agriculture, the village committee’s director Liang Wenfen told the publication.

Liang finished his primary education in this village before being admitted to Wuchuan No 1 Middle School, an important educational institute in the region. In 2002, he went to study at the prestigious Zhejiang University with a high score from the country’s challenging university entrance examination, known as gaokao.

Village gets 10,000 visitors every day

But as the world took note of Liang's achievements, many people began to visit Mililing out of admiration and curiosity. According to the committee director, since January, groups of travellers have been coming to the village, including families with kids and employees dressed in their companies’ uniforms. During the Spring Festival holiday period (from January 29 to February 10), the village received 10,000 tourists every day, he added.

To deal with the sudden surge in popularity and amid complaints of poor infrastructure by the tourists,  the local authorities decided to revamp the village. The exterior walls of 29 houses were repaired and painted, while dilapidated buildings were demolished. Roads were widened, sewage drains were constructed, trash from the streets was cleaned and de-weened, and trees were planted, SCMP reported.

Liang Wenfeng’s grandfather fears harassment from tourists

The recent development has, however, put the DeepSeek founder's grandfather in a difficult spot. He is the only person currently living in their four-storey house in the village, and the elderly man has to keep his front door shut for most of the day as he fears being harassed by the tourists.

Some tourists even take away "soveniers" from the place. “Some visitors took away a pile of soil, some stones or pieces of leaves,” a resident identified only by his surname, Yuan, told the publication.