Xiangxian is a unique imprint left by Chinese culture and a mission call for the new era. In the land of Luzhou, more and more Xinxiang sages with feelings, ideals and strength are continuing the "Xiangxian Culture", shining in their respective worlds, remembering nostalgia, guarding the villagers, and cultivating the rural style in their own practice.
Cultural power is injected into the new countryside
The artist was stationed in the village to paint a rural scene
Cuigang, a village in Sanshigang Township, is already a "net red punch point" in Hefei.
Walking into the "Cui Gang Museum of Contemporary Art", walking in Cui Gang's inter-room art studio, photography, ceramics, painting, sculpture... The many forms of modern art complement each other in the village. In order to let art get a platform for communication, let artists have the opportunity to show themselves, and let the surrounding tourists have a different surprise when they walk into the countryside.
The magic weapon of popularity lies not only in the artistic rural streets, but also in the cultural atmosphere of the New Village Sages. Since the government issued the "Opinions on Supporting the Use of Idle Farmhouses to Develop Rural Tourism", all parts of Hefei have actively revitalized the use of idle farmhouses, promoted the development of rural tourism, and increased farmers' property income. As the first "cultural and creative village" in Anhui Province, Cui gang is based on modern culture and art, attracting all kinds of artists to live in the countryside and exploring a number of creativity and development belonging to the new era of rural areas.
As the curator of Cuigang Museum of Contemporary Art, Hu Hailin is one of the first batch of old artists to sign a contract to settle in Cuigang, and he is also known as the "Xinxiangxian" in everyone's mouth. Together with more than a dozen artists based in Cuigang and calling the village home, he became a vibrant force here.
"Art is a symbol of advanced culture, and it can change the mode of production to bring about advanced civilization. Artists love nature and villages, and will naturally reach a tacit understanding with rural revitalization. Hu Hailin said that the small exhibition hall set up in the village all year round also provides valuable opportunities for artists stationed in the village to exchange and display.
Through the coordination of the village committee, the artists signed long-term rental contracts with the villagers and ingeniously "transformed" the vacant village houses. "The beams of the house used to be full of cobwebs, because young people are going out to work, and the three empty bungalows are lifeless." After Hu Hailin rented it, he adopted the shape of all wood with floor-to-ceiling glass, and the garden was covered with pure white stones, and green plants were all over the wall with roses. The originally decadent courtyard has been transformed into a beautiful landscape. With calligraphy and painting collection and hand-painted oil paintings, it has become a "punch point" that tourists praise a lot.
Xie Ping is creating.
Xie Ping, as an oil painting artist, recorded cui gang's changes with exquisite brushstrokes. "When I first came to Cuigang in the first year, the village had not yet developed much, and I felt a little ashamed to hear the people call us teachers and villagers. But seeing that with the joint efforts of everyone, the level of civilization in the village is getting higher and higher, and the artistic atmosphere can already attract tourists to punch in and appreciate, I feel that we have done a great thing. In Xie Ping's hut, the first image of Cui Gang, painted by a painting, is in stark contrast to the streets that are now full of birds and flowers.
In the eyes of these art novice sages, the smile on the faces of the villagers is the most beautiful paint for painting.
"The most important place for rural revitalization and artistic transformation is to be able to leave 'people' behind." Leaving the villagers behind will have an advanced culture and the idea of development. Leaving tourists behind, there will be income generated by the cultural tourism industry and the service industry. Hu Hailin said that in the past few years of living in Cuigang, he has deeply felt the inclusiveness and acceptance of the surrounding villages in Hefei. Everyone, from the government to the villagers, is actively working hard to improve their lives. Although the collision of cultures will always produce friction, this land selflessly provides the most nourishment for artists and tourists. ”
Old villagers + Xinxiangxian guard the rural context
At four o'clock in the morning, before dawn, Zhang Renchang put on his jacket, rubbed his hands and sighed, and began to revise the village history manuscript of the lighthouse village in Shangpai Town, Feixi County. For this history of the village, for two consecutive years, he has done this.
"Early morning and late at night are the hours when I write my manuscripts, and when dawn comes, I visit one by one to record the past of our village."
Zhang Renchang was originally a villager in the lighthouse village of Shangpai Town, Feixi County, because of the demolition and resettlement, the villagers moved into the small buildings in the town, and his life got better and better, but he still cared about the village. "The house in the village is gone, but the people are still there, and I want to hurry up and write down its story, which is our roots."
In a chapter of more than 1,000 words, Zhang Renchang needs to visit at least three villagers, inquire, compare, verify, and finally finalize the village history. Because of the demolition, the villagers are now scattered in different residences, Zhang Renchang often takes the earliest bus, to and from township to town, although the body is tired, but every villager who is happy to be interviewed makes him extremely satisfied and happy.
Zhang Renchang is writing the history of the village.
When writing the history of the village, he found that there was a natural name in the village called "Wang Rijin", but no one in the village was surnamed Wang, and no one was called Jin. In order to find out the origin of the name of natural Yin, he visited every villager in Yingli and spent a week to understand the reason.
A flood of books filled with his interviews, with black handwriting being shorthand, red handwriting being modified, and blue handwriting being supplemental. Because he was not proficient in computer operation, he first wrote the first draft on scratch paper, then typed it into his mobile phone word by word, and finally imported it into the computer and kept it for backup so that it could be printed after the draft was completely completed.
Two years, 420,000 words, the draft alone is more than 20 centimeters high. From the origin of the village name and folklore to the characters and memorabilia, a century-old village that has gradually disappeared in the administrative sense has become informative, vivid and full of vitality in his pen.
Some people said that he was stupid, did not take remuneration, and also posted money to write the history of the village, but Zhang Renchang did not think so. "Speaking of this village history is also a coincidence, the village party secretary entrusted me in 2019 to help record the future events in the village, I said that the present is important, remembering the past is equally important, simply self-recommendation, wrote the village history."
He said he grew up in this land and has been here almost all his life. From the age of 18 to 59, he worked as a village doctor in the village, and some villagers could not pay for the medicine, so he helped to make up for it, and people called him "living bodhisattva". With superb medical skills and good intentions, the villagers passed on the word of mouth, and he gradually became a village sage, and even the villagers of the surrounding townships came to see him.
In 2011, Zhang Renchang retired, and the villagers did not give up, hoping that he would start a new stove and open a private clinic to continue practicing medicine. "But I thought that instead of continuing to be a doctor, I would volunteer and give back what I learned to the villagers." At the beginning, he held a small class in the village, a wooden bench, and sat for half a day to teach the villagers about health care. Later, with a great reputation, he was hired by the town and county universities for the elderly to popularize health knowledge to more people. He compiled his own health teaching materials, wrote one volume a year, and has written four volumes and more than one million words for students to circulate. The method of writing teaching materials is the same as writing village history, simple and thick.
Today, he has also joined the "Pai He Chunhui" theory propaganda group, an advanced collective for theoretical propaganda at the grass-roots level in the country, squeezing out spare time in classes and writing village histories, telling everyone red stories and cultural history. Zhang Renchang said that when the village history is officially finalized, he will be able to tell everyone the story of his hometown and pass on the local historical context.
Rural revitalization has merged into new ideas
"Post-90s" maker into the all-round "Xinxiang Xian"
"Since coming to the Ma Ying community to run the farm in 2018, from creating a township Cambodian homestay to now operating various festivals and activities in the village, coordinating large and small affairs, I have made a contribution to the road of serving the revitalization of the countryside, and I have also gained a sense of pride." Wang Yiqiang, a post-90s boy, stood in front of the sand table map of the Ma Ying community and looked quite proud. Being rated as a "Xinxiang Sage" by Changfeng County was something he did not expect, and it is still a little wonderful to recall his reasons for returning to rural development.
After graduation, Wang Yiqiang chose agriculture.
A young man who studied computers resolutely chose farm management and agricultural production after graduating from college. For this decision, Wang Yiqiang explained it this way: "At that time, the newborn calves were not afraid of tigers, and they felt that the pastoral life was interesting. With the persistence of the past 4 years, he frankly said that "the more deep the agricultural industry, the more you can appreciate the difficulties in the middle." But this precious experience allowed me to see more scenery among my peers, in the same amount of time. ”
As a "xinxiang sage", Wang Yiqiang's "new" is not only reflected in his age, but also belongs to the creativity in the young man's head, which allows him to lay a world in Ma Ying.
In order to provide a comfortable place for the staff, the Ma Ying community decided to build a temporary inn. "With more and more tourists, I wondered if I would like to try to turn our accommodation into a homestay with a rural feeling and become a signboard that attracts tourists to stay." The idyllic scenery, crayfish theme room, and forest fun facts are all full of rural atmosphere elements, under the design of Wang Yiqiang and his partners, they are transformed into trendy and elegant rooms. The Township Cambodian Homestay has also become a shining sign in the Ma Ying community, making tourists linger on holiday nights.
Cultural dissemination is the fundamental way to lead rural revitalization. Adhering to this concept, in line with Ma Ying's "based on its own characteristics to develop tourism resources and advantages" of the education, agriculture, and village assistance routes, Wang Yiqiang and other young makers not only built a special commissary for agricultural products in the village, but also cooperated with the county and town communities to actively introduce literary and artistic performances.
Wang Yiqiang laid a foundation in Ma Yin.
During the National Day in 2021, with the active participation of many village sages and makers, Ma Ying held a 7-day "Autumn Tour of Ma Ying" activity, attracting a large number of parent-child families to come to play and experience, so that tourists can come and go home with fun.
Watch tourists soak up the scent of Damascus roses in the village, or wander through the poplar groves to say hello to flowers, flowers, frogs, grasshoppers, and ladybugs, get close to nature, or pick organic vegetables and fruits, pick lotus in the pond, touch fish and shrimp, barbecue camping... Wang Yiqiang and the villagers are particularly proud in their hearts, "Fun and good-looking, not only the villagers' horizons have broadened, but also attracted more cast members and literary and art lovers to enter Ma Ying and understand the charm of the rural countryside." ”
Community doctors devote themselves to agriculture to paint ecological green landscapes
Cui Yue, a 47-year-old named Xinxiang Sage, is a community general practitioner on weekdays, and on holidays, she rushes back to her 800-acre farm in Shuangdun Jinba Village. Pecan fruit trees are green, chickens and ducks run in the fields, and Cui Cang and his fellow villagers have used 6 years of hard work to paint a beautiful ecological green landscape.
Cold and summer, autumn harvest and winter Tibet, the farming culture brewed by thousands of years of civilization is a dream that she cannot give up in her heart. "Since 2015, I have contracted land in Jinba Village for the planting of pecan fruit trees, combined with under-forest agriculture and chicken and duck breeding, and now the entire land is fully utilized, with a rich type of industry, which can maintain the operation of the farm stably." Switching from a doctor to a farmer in a straw hat, Cui said her family didn't understand the choice at first. "The elderly in the family all say that agriculture is risky, relying on the harvest, and we have no experience, it will definitely be very hard." But what supported her resolute devotion to the countryside was the "absolute feelings" for the countryside.
"I'm a doctor myself, and I know that there are too many benefits of pristine health care. Pecans are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which are beneficial to human health. And the pecans planted from my own hands can be safely eaten, which is also one of my specialties. For the pastoral dream in his heart, Cui Yue not only wants to make good use of this side of the land, but also wants to protect the land of this side, use ecological breeding to restore the environment, and raise the land.
Paying always has a harvest, along with Cui Cang and the villagers for 6 years of hard work, after the National Day in 2021, the Pecan fruit tree also welcomes a bumper harvest. Although this year is only the second year of hanging fruit, and has not yet achieved large-scale mass production, nearly 20,000 catties of fruit still bring considerable benefits. Looking at the heavy fruits in the basket, Cui Yue said that his pastoral dream was realized, and the eternal truth of hard work and prosperity was also eternally profound in the rotation of the four seasons.
Standing in front of his own pecan forest, the "Shingo Sage" proudly said, "You look at this green patch, which is the green we have grown with our own hands." Now there are not only more birds here, but also more wild animals. Farming is not easy, but there is a sense of achievement, the shade under the forest, the dew is frost, the changes of the four hours are carefully recorded, and the charm of farming culture makes me full of confidence in the future. ”
Produced by jianghuai morning post all-media release center
Hefei Newspaper All-Media Reporter / Sun Haoqian Liu Xiaorong
Photography by Gao Bo Liu Xiaorong
Correspondent/Xie Fengqun Wang Lihui
Point and forward proliferation