To let the living cultural heritage catch on the historical wheel of rural revitalization, an overall sustainable development mechanism needs to be established
Traditional villages carry more than nostalgia
Our reporter Hao He
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Traditional villages carry rich historical and cultural information such as village customs, production wisdom, ethnic and regional characteristics, etc. They are precious living cultural heritage and the foundation for the prosperity and development of the Chinese nation’s culture.
In recent years, the protection of traditional villages in various places has been increasing. While protecting and promoting excellent traditional culture, it has also explored many useful practical paths for the implementation of a major task after poverty alleviation-the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. .
The stream was gurgling, sitting around verdant.
Between the curtain and the sky, white futons are scattered on the next stepped stone platform.
Recently, at the Xipan Theater in Wanjian Village, Qianshan City, Anhui Province, a unique forum "original ecology" vividly interprets the theme-traditional village protection and rural revitalization.
Four years ago, the open space where the Xipan Theater was located was the same as many abandoned lands in the village at that time, with weeds half a person high.
Four years of planning, protection, and construction have brought this village with a history of more than 600 years to life again.
Cultivate cultural self-confidence fertile ground
For nearly an hour on Panshan Road, the car drove across the bamboo sea and arrived at Wanjian Village with Tianzhu Mountain on its back.
Along the slope, there is a favorite place for children in the village-Firefly Charity Book House.
"This house was originally an abandoned papermaking workshop. Through planning and construction, it has become a place for children's daily activities." China Urban Planning and Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as China Academy of Planning) (Beijing) Planning and Design Co., Ltd. Liu Lin told Reporter, Liu Lin has been stationed in Wanjian Village for 4 years as a planner.
The reconstructed bookstore has 3 relatively independent spaces, an activity area, a reading area and a second-story viewing and resting area.
The warm light, the curved log desk, the bookcases along the ladder, the memos, the blackboard and the register book are full of immature and serious handwriting... all show the children's habits and love for the bookstore.
Wanjian Village has a registered population of 2,526, of which more than 60% of the villagers do not live in the village, and there are nearly 40 school-age children.
How the children spend their after-school time has become a concern for Liu Lin and others who came to Wanjian Village for research for the first time. “At that time, there were old people worrying. The parents of the children were working in other places, and the children had nothing to do when they came back from school. If you leave it outside, you can only watch TV at home for fear of running around."
Initially, Liu Lin and others planned to rely on Wanjian Village to establish a small site.
However, in 2018, the village was withdrawn and merged with Longtan Primary School a few kilometers away. The remote mountain road made it unrealistic for children to go to school to read on weekends.
This old papermaking workshop became the final choice.
In 2018, as the first batch of planning projects in Wanjian Village, the China Planning Institute established this mountainous children’s library by means of party fees and targeted assistance. At present, more than 2500 books have been donated by all parties, including various children’s toys and sporting goods. More than 10 kinds.
At present, the reading volume of children has reached nearly 30 million words.
The bookstore also encourages children to read more and share more in the form of rewards such as points.
Children can also become "little curators" and participate in the operation and maintenance of the bookstore.
"The bookstore is a portal between the children in the village and the outside world. We hope to explore more childlike rural education activities, so that children can have an understanding of their hometown and the outside world, and build cultural confidence in the subtlety." Zhonggui Said Cao Lu, director of the Rural Revitalization Research Center of the Academy (Beijing) Planning and Design Co., Ltd.
Protect inheritance in co-construction and sharing
The renovation of Yingying Public Welfare Bookstore embodies a core concept of the protection of the traditional villages of Wanjian Village-not only to maintain and renovate the ancient buildings to bring them back to life, but also to allow the villagers to fully participate in the planning and construction of their hometowns to inspire them The endogenous motivation for conspiracy and co-construction.
Wanjian Village is a traditional characteristic village in southwest Anhui, with more than 30 characteristic ancient houses.
Its architectural form integrates the regional culture of Anhui school, clan filial piety culture, original ecological farming culture, etc., reflecting the unique characteristics of large-scale southwestern Anhui large houses that gather together, live together in ancestral houses, and are laid out in a central axis.
The village still retains traditional cultural forms such as singing yellow plum opera, dancing lion, and performing lanterns. There is the only well-preserved ancient theater in Qianshan City.
The villagers' love for their hometown comes from the heart.
When the planning team was planning the road between the village's fields, there was a village democratic movement who found the team and showed off the resting platform next to his field.
It turned out that when the villagers were working in the fields, they found that there was a leisure space next to their own land. "I think there should be a platform here. After discussing with the surrounding houses, the big guys will spread it out together."
In the Yang family's old house with a history of more than 400 years and nearly a hundred rooms, all the younger generations have moved out. After the renovation, it will open as a folk museum.
Traditional buildings such as Rui’s old house have been transformed into public places such as elderly activity centers. While improving the villagers’ living environment, they also continue to meet the needs of villagers’ lives and expand the space for public activities.
During the forum, villager Yang Yuanzhen has been busy with various conference services.
In addition to being the director of the cooperative in charge of the catering industry, she is also a member of the Jianxingzhe Volunteer Service Team.
In order to give full play to the power of women, Wanjian Village established the Jianxingzhe Village Service Development Center, which serves as the shift director of the bookstore, cleans the elderly, prepares cultural activities such as "Village Evening", and participates in the co-governance of village public affairs...Yang Yuanzhen laughed , Everyone gathers together to work together, the spirits are different, and I am very happy.
Rural revitalization brings new opportunities
At present, 6,819 villages, including Wanjian Village, have been included in the list of traditional Chinese villages, forming the world's largest farming civilization heritage protection group.
How to protect these traditional villages?
How to realize the sustainable utilization and development of traditional villages?
What kind of protection mode and path can be replicated and promoted?
In the two-day forum, experts and scholars from many fields such as agriculture, tourism, architecture, planning, sociology, etc. gathered together, using five themes-rural construction activities led by planning, promising government and effective markets , Public welfare forces in the era of new media, rural revitalization with farmers as the mainstay, and rural design innovation with the participation of social forces, point out several elements to answer the above questions.
"Through investigations, it is found that most traditional villages with better protection and development have one thing in common: focus on the innovation of organization and construction mechanism." Lu Huilin, a professor in the Department of Sociology of Peking University, believes that the protection of traditional villages is not a simple integration and development of resources. , And to build an overall sustainable development mechanism, with farmers’ subjectivity as the core.
"Only in this way can the village continue to develop when the external assistance forces withdraw."
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the implementation of a rural revitalization strategy.
Traditional villages are the most representative part of more than 690,000 villages in my country.
"We put the protection of traditional villages in the broader perspective of rural revitalization to explore, and will provide more assistance to rural development, urban-rural integration and the realization of the people's yearning for a better life." Lu Huilin said .