The New Year is approaching, and nostalgia is rising again.
In the New Year, in the cultural memory of Chinese, nature and the countryside have a constant relationship. This is not only the unique farming civilization and homeland thoughts contained in the "New Year", but also the "New Year" opens a special window for people to observe the countryside.
Among them, there is a cultural phenomenon worthy of attention, that is, the rise of the "return to the hometown", which mainly refers to the observation and writing of some intellectual young people and scholars who have left the countryside when they return home during the Spring Festival and other seasons. Although there is no shortage of such articles that pay attention to the development of their hometowns for many years and make professional suggestions for serious research in a certain field, more are often some individual feelings that are partial to sadness and sing about the countryside, and almost every year there will be some "explosive models". The article focuses on the changes in the local cultural order and peasant values in some places in the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization and the accelerated transformation of agricultural society to modern society, which expresses deep concern and heavy concern, which has aroused the resonance of many netizens.
What's wrong with the countryside? What does the baptism of modernization mean for the development of the countryside? How should we recognize the dramatic changes in China's rural cultural and social order during the transition period? In the past two years, with the changes in the Spring Festival under the epidemic and the aesthetic fatigue of readers, the "homecoming body" has become increasingly dumb, but the thinking it has left for people has not faded. When the hustle and bustle dissipates, it is often a good opportunity to think calmly and analyze rationally. At present, in the context of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and accelerating the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, how to view these problems is a necessary thinking question for whether we should adhere to the existing development mode and path and choose what kind of rural development path.
01
In the special era of the rapid transformation from "native China" to "modern China", the decline of traditional villages is inevitable
To answer the previous questions, we must not only find answers from the current Chinese countryside, but also explore clues from the history of the Chinese nation and analyze the direction from the development process of modernization in various countries in the world.
Mr. Fei Xiaotong once said that Chinese society is local. For thousands of years, no matter how dynasties changed, how societies developed, and how culture evolved, China's countryside has always been based on the traditional ethical order and maintained relative economic and social stability.
However, since the reform and opening up, it only took more than 40 years to realize the transformation from a traditional agricultural country to an industrialized country, and a local China to a modern China. Wave after wave of modernization has violently impacted the production and lifestyle of traditional villages, deeply shaken the foundation of traditional villages, brought about great changes in rural social culture and order, and presented "unprecedented changes in a thousand years".
In the midst of the changes, the dust is flying, the homeland is far away, and all kinds of nostalgia are in the heart. In the past, it was "a small child who left home and returned to the old man", and he was changing by himself, while the countryside did not change; today's countryside is "turning into a rotten person in the countryside", and it is easy to produce a sense of "things are not people". As a result, the nostalgia for the past and the discomfort of rural changes have erupted in this special stall of the Spring Festival.
In this regard, we need to understand the complex emotional projection of the observer. The rapid transition from agrarian civilization to an industrial civilization and the large migration of rural population to the city will inevitably bring about a conflict and separation between the two civilizations. In this regard, those "foreigners" who left their hometowns to work hard in the cities are undoubtedly the most profound, they not only carry the old memories of rural life, but also have strange alienations that can never go back, and it is inevitable that they will express their attachment to their homes and nostalgia for their hometowns in a way of regret, remembrance and even criticism. This is in the context of the acceleration of the urbanization process on the mainland and the aggravation of the local feelings of urban people brought about by it.
Gusheng Village, Dali, Yunnan. Photo by Zhong Xin, reporter of Farmers Daily and China Rural Network
On the other hand, we must see the historical inevitability contained in the changes in the countryside. Looking at the history of developed countries, industrialization and urbanization are the only way to achieve modernization, which will inevitably be accompanied by a large number of rural populations from agriculture to industry and from rural areas to cities. In the process, some traditional villages will inevitably decline. This is evidenced by the fact that from 2000 to 2020, the number of administrative villages on the mainland dropped from 732,000 to 502,000. However, it is impossible for all peasants to move to the cities, no matter how urbanization and industrialization are advanced, there must be a large number of people who must continue to produce and live in the countryside, and the villages they inhabit must not only not decay and not decay, but must also be built into beautiful homes where they live and work in peace and contentment. The Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China made the implementation of the strategy of rural revitalization, which is a major policy decision and strategic measure to focus on the disorder of urban and rural areas in the process of modernization and promote rural prosperity.
It is conceivable that with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the evolution and differentiation of rural areas will intensify, some villages should gradually move closer to the urban form, some traditional ancient villages need to be developed in protection, some villages should be prioritized and built, and some villages will gradually decline, which is in line with the law of village evolution and development, and also shows that China's rural areas are undergoing a difficult and firm transformation. This is also the proper meaning of rural revitalization.
02
Problems such as moral irregularities and disorderly development are not unique to the countryside, nor are they universal phenomena, and it is necessary to dialectically look at the tears that have occurred in the social order of abandoning the traditional rural areas
The result of modernization is wonderful, but the process of modernization is not so good. The farther away a society's original characteristics are from the requirements of modernization, the longer and more painful the stage of its transformation. For a traditional agricultural country like China, it is undoubtedly a transformation to "reshape modernity" on the basis of "disintegrating tradition".
On the one hand, the disintegration of the rural acquaintance society, the intensification of urban and rural population mobility, the weakening of common interests in villages, and the rupture of the traditional rural governance order, on the other hand, the new order and governance methods have not yet been effectively established, which is a prominent problem facing us. At present, some places in the countryside do have problems such as the demise of traditional culture and the disorder of moral norms. However, these problems are by no means unique to the countryside, and to some extent, it is precisely the spread of "urban diseases" and "industrial diseases" in the countryside, which needs to find solutions from the context of urbanization and industrialization development.
For example, the demise of traditional cultures, which is a common problem faced by societies in transition, is particularly evident in rural areas. In the process of the transformation of traditional society to modern society, some traditional customs and customs have disappeared, some traditional festivals and celebrations have changed, and some traditional cultural activities are difficult to carry out because of changes in population structure, production and lifestyle, and people's aesthetic orientation, and urban and rural areas are cool and hot. It is just that the urban population is dense, there is a large cultural consumption market, and there are colorful cultural activities to choose from, which dilutes this imprint; while the rural population is sparse, the market for cultural activities is narrow, coupled with the relative lack of public cultural construction, the lack of cultural activities, especially collective cultural activities, and the disappearance of traditional culture is particularly prominent.
It is precisely in this situation of lack of cultural activities that we have seen that farmers in some areas use mahjong and poker to communicate, connect feelings, and relax after returning to their hometowns, which is actually beyond reproach. Compared with watching TV, it is also a collective leisure method and an effective social medium. Of course, for individual people who gather to gamble illegally and criminally, they must be strictly investigated and punished. As for the problem that young people are obsessed with playing mobile phones to see WeChat, the current use of smart phones by farmers is not a rare thing, mobile phones undertake a variety of functions such as information services, emotional communication, entertainment and leisure, and technology has changed life and facilitated life. At home during the holidays, I use my mobile phone to send blessings to friends from afar, record small talk and anecdotes in the countryside, and occasionally come to a plate of "eat chicken" games to soothe the mood, and such things also exist in urban and rural areas.
As for the problems of confusion and confusion of values and morals in some areas, such as relatives turning against each other and losing their reverence, this is a typical manifestation of social irregularities in the process of the impact of the old social order and the new social order has not yet been fully established, and it also reflects the urgent need to strengthen the construction of spiritual civilization in rural areas and build a more effective rural social governance system. The emergence of the idea of "money worship" is not a phenomenon unique to the countryside. Farmers earn money in market competition while also promoting the progress of social productive forces, which is one of the important driving forces for rural development. However, the pursuit of money in disregard of the law and morality needs to be paid attention to, guided and educated, and those who violate the law must be punished in a timely manner.
The so-called unbroken and unbroken, abandoning the traditional local social order is an inevitable process of tearing. At present, the governance structure, operating rules and social order of the mainland local society are undergoing profound evolution and reshaping, and the clan etiquette, kinship and traditional ethics that maintain the local social order have been transformed and upgraded, and will be integrated into modern concepts such as democracy and rule of law, freedom and equality, and the spirit of contract. The process is not always easy and enjoyable, and it is inevitable that there will be problems of irregularities and disorder. We must look at this dialectically, and we must not turn a blind eye to some sores and let some sores fester and erode the body; we should not exaggerate and artificially exaggerate, elevate individual problems to the overall problem, and alienate the normal situation into an essential contradiction, which is not only a "stigma" to the countryside, but also easily leads to us losing the patience and original intention of firm rural development.
03
To solve the shortcomings of modern production and lifestyle, we must rely on modern methods, and we cannot take the "road of returning to the truth" of pure return to the truth.
The mainland is an agrarian society with a long history, people have an innate concept of locality, a deep-rooted sense of rural origin, a strong sense of identity with the language, culture, diet, lifestyle, values of their hometown, etc., and local feelings have been deeply engraved in the national genes. Under the filter of nostalgia, people will inevitably look at the changes and development of the countryside, and will inevitably be distorted; looking back at the scenes of the former homeland, they will always be unable to help but beautify it.
As a result, not only the grass and trees, bricks and tiles of my hometown are memorable for a long time, but even the village life that I once wanted to escape, the dry food that was once difficult to swallow, the agricultural labor that I wanted to get rid of, and the time that was once boring, all became amiable and lovely.
But is this really the rural life we aspire to? Should this be the inevitable face of the countryside?
Looking back, for a long time in the past, the value of farming civilization and local land was subconsciously disapproved by many people, and even once labeled it as "backward". With the implementation of the top priority strategy and the economic and social development of urban and rural areas, people have begun to re-understand agriculture and the countryside. But at this time, some people have gone to the other extreme, believing that the past is better than the present, and the tradition is better than the modern, advocating sticking to the countryside and sticking to the tradition, and advocating a so-called "return to the basics" life. This is not seeing the inevitable changes that occur in the countryside with the progress of society, and it is not another short-sighted and lack of self-confidence.
It is true that the modern production and lifestyle is not flawless, and will inevitably produce some new economic and social problems, especially once the relationship with nature is not handled well, it may have a negative impact on the ecological environment. But that doesn't mean we have to go back in time and go back to the old path of development.
For example, many people are now very concerned about the ecological environment in rural areas, especially the soil compaction caused by excessive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in rural areas. However, it cannot be said that pesticides and fertilizers must be banned because of this. Regardless of whether we are a developing country and a country with a large population, our agricultural production must meet the people's growing demand for the quantity and quality of agricultural products at the same time, and cannot blindly pursue organic and original ecology. Even in Western developed countries such as the United States and the European Union, organic agriculture is not mainstream, but only as a concoction and supplement. To promote the green development of agriculture and the development of ecological agriculture, it is not to not apply chemical fertilizers and pesticides at all, but to apply fertilizers and drugs scientifically, actively carry out organic fertilizers to replace chemical fertilizers, promote high-efficiency and low-risk pesticides, and achieve win-win production development and ecological protection.
There is also the problem of the micro-mode of farming civilization represented by traditional agricultural farming methods, and the spiritual connotation of agricultural civilization needs to be inherited and continued, but the expression of agricultural civilization is not immutable, and it is bound to be different under different era conditions. Gone are the days of cattle farming, and the old ways of farming can be preserved in museums and passed on in the form of performances in rural tourism, but they cannot exist on a large scale and widely in the form of daily production methods. There are fewer peasants cultivating land, but socialized service organizations such as unified defense rule and land trusteeship have risen vigorously, solving the problem of family operation by family. Farming civilization has not disappeared, its connotation and extension have also been expanded, modern agricultural machinery and equipment, agricultural science and technology, demonstration parks are not another kind of agricultural civilization in the modern era?
You can take a look at this set of data: by the end of 2020, the total number of agricultural socialization service organizations in the country has reached 955,000, the number of small farmers served is 78.047 million, and the area of agricultural production trusteeship and service for small farmers is 1.07 billion mu; the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress in the mainland is more than 60%, and the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvesting in the country has reached 71%; the amount of crop fertilizer and pesticide application has increased negatively for four consecutive years, and the pass rate of routine monitoring of agricultural products has reached 97.8%.... Facts have proved that the shortcomings of modern society still rely on modern ideas, modern technology, and modern education to overcome and correct, and traditional production and lifestyle can provide inspiration and ideas, but it is impossible to go back to the past. In this way, not only will you not be able to find your homesickness, but you will also lose the present.
04
The "homecoming" article, which is full of literary flavor, obscures the positive changes in the countryside and does not fully reflect the real situation in the countryside
Some people once described that the current countryside is like a construction site for building a house on an old foundation, the old one has not been demolished, the new one has not yet been built, and nature is a mess, and it is all dilapidated. But after a while, the old ones are cleaned up, the new ones are built, and then they are renovated and renovated, and they will immediately look new and full of vitality.
If we look at the changes in China's rural areas over the years from a broader perspective, we will have a deeper understanding of this sentence and a deeper understanding of the road of Rural Development in China under the great changes.
Just as we must face up to the picture of rural decay depicted in the "return to the homeland", which really exists in many places; we also need to see that in the vast land of the countryside, those sown hopes, those who rise up, those roads that come out of the thorny bushes, those who are more and more firm in their faith and perseverance, are showing us the way of development of the countryside to remove the old and the new.
In the face of the problem of rural aging and hollowing out, in many places in Honghu Lake, Hubei Province, local cadres and universities have assisted the village to form an association for the elderly, setting up a platform for the rural elderly to enjoy and do something for the elderly, effectively changing the situation that the rural elderly lack of care and spiritual life are empty;
In the face of the reality of the lack of rural cultural supply, all localities have re-understood the value of the countryside, explored the implementation of various "intangible cultural heritage +" projects, rural cultural rejuvenation and construction, from unique residential villages, to ingenious agricultural landscapes, from local festivals to colorful folk art, traditional culture is not only not annihilated, but also in the modern development and inheritance of the rapid change, rejuvenation;
In view of the problems of moral irregularities and disorderly development in some rural areas, people have found an effective grasp of the "points system" in practice. The daily performance of the villagers was recorded and converted into points, which not only enhanced the spiritual outlook, contract spirit and sense of honor of the villagers, but also really promoted the development of the village.
Speaking with data is more self-explanatory. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's grain output has been bumper year after year, and cotton, oil, sugar, meat, eggs and milk, fruit and vegetable tea, and aquatic products have been abundant in variety and abundant supply. The per capita income of farmers has more than doubled compared with 2010, the people's livelihood undertakings such as rural education, medical care, and social security have improved significantly, and the rural areas have taken on a new look. In particular, 98.99 million rural poor people have all been lifted out of poverty, rural infrastructure construction has made rapid progress, great progress has been made in the development of social undertakings, and problems such as difficulty in walking, drafting, electricity, communication, and schooling have been historically solved.
Many people see that rural houses are dilapidated and villages are withering, but in fact, many farmers, some have bought houses in the city and settled down, and some have moved into new rural communities and lived a modern life;
Many people feel the human touch and mutual help and friendship in the countryside in the past, but ignore the constraints of traditional customs on individuals, and in today's society, individuals have more freedom of choice;
Some people leave their homeland and will only come back to see when the festival comes, and some people have returned to their hometowns with the technology, funds, and experience accumulated from the city to start a new business...
There will be a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and different people will have different perspectives on the countryside. But as Raymond Williams wrote in Country and City: "Let hope be viable, not despair persuasive." "I think this is also a basic attitude that we should have when we look at the countryside.
05
We must always bear in mind that rural construction is for the peasants, and rural revitalization is for the peasants
Not long ago, there was a news about rural housing construction that aroused public concern. In a home improvement transformation variety show, the designer spent more than 1.3 million yuan on the client, and the transformed rural house with an artistic atmosphere was not only incompatible with the surrounding environment, but also did not meet the needs of farmers' lives and the original intention of the client's transformation, which was jokingly called "sky-high rough house" by netizens.
In fact, whether it is the current "urban tendency" in some areas that are keen to engage in large-scale demolition and construction, co-living in villages, and blindly moving a set of urban to the countryside, or similar to the "romanticism" of the designers who have replaced the functional needs of the peasants for the housing with their own artistic pursuits, they have actually ignored an important issue, that is, who is the main body of rural construction and rural life.
There is no doubt that the countryside is, in the final analysis, the place where the peasants produce and live, the rural construction is built for the peasants, and the rural revitalization is for the peasants. In the face of the profound changes in rural culture and social order in the transition period, we must not only pay attention to inheriting the essence of local culture, but also strive to shape the modern rural order, and build the countryside into a beautiful home for hundreds of millions of farmers to live and work, and the agricultural civilization to live and live.
Inherit excellent traditional local culture. Native China has a profound cultural heritage and historical bloodline. No matter how the times change, the roots of Chinese civilization cannot be broken, and the excellent traditional local culture must be passed down from generation to generation. It is necessary to base ourselves on the development of the times and the trend of agricultural and rural modernization, excavate and refine the essence of traditional festivals and folk customs and other local cultures, transform their traditional and old forms of expression, integrate modern elements, fashion elements, and creative elements, and give them new connotations of the times and modern forms of expression, so that they can take root in the vast countryside and constantly carry them forward.
Strengthen the protection and utilization of traditional villages. Traditional villages are the historical witness and important embodiment of rural culture, and rural ancient buildings are the culmination of traditional skills and local culture. It is necessary to adhere to the priority of protection, highlight the characteristics, rational use, active inheritance, co-governance and sharing, and improve the protection mechanisms such as monitoring and assessment of traditional villages, warning and withdrawal, and pre-approval of demolition and relocation. It not only preserves the traditional style and local taste, but also meets the farmers' yearning and needs for modern civilized life, strives to enhance the sustainable development ability of traditional villages, and realizes the organic unity of protection, utilization and inheritance.
Develop new industries and new formats in rural areas. Expand the multiple functions of agriculture, tap the diversified values of rural areas, vigorously develop new industries and new formats such as rural tourism, rural e-commerce, and mobile phone live broadcasting, so that farming civilization can be inherited and promoted in agricultural performances, agricultural tool production, and farmhouse diets. Develop rural tourism projects with historical characteristics, regional characteristics and national characteristics, and create rural tourist attractions with rich cultural heritage and rich local atmosphere, so that urban and rural residents can taste nostalgia in the "soil", feel nostalgia in the "custom", and find a quiet "spiritual harbor" in the countryside.
Solidly and steadily promote rural construction. In the final analysis, the countryside is the peasants' countryside, and how the countryside is built and what it is built must be decided by the peasants, and it cannot be built according to the ideas of the people in the city, nor can it be built according to the views of the literati and inkers. Actively and steadily promote the construction of infrastructure such as rural water, electricity, gas and other infrastructure, carry out the improvement of the rural living environment, do a good job in the toilet revolution, and gradually let the rural areas gradually have modern and civilized living conditions. Carry out the transformation of farmhouses according to local conditions, oppose large-scale demolition and construction, and properly solve the problem of peasants' employment in farming and land for those who really need to be relocated. If the peasants do not understand or accept it, even if it is for the good of the peasants, they must wait, let it go, and then push forward when the time is ripe. In carrying out construction in rural areas, at all times, we must persist in subordinating quantity to quality, and subordinate progress to timeliness, so as to seek good and not to seek speed.
Enrich rural spiritual and cultural life. At present, most of the public cultural facilities in administrative villages have been built, but some of them are relatively efficient in use, and some are seriously idle and wasteful. It is necessary to persist in shifting the center of gravity downward, the downward shift of resources, and the downward shift of services, give full play to the main role of village-level organizations, cultivate a group of local cultural talents who have taken root in the rural areas, tap a number of active cultural backbones, form a cultural contingent that does not go in the rural areas, and extensively carry out cultural activities that are popular with the peasants, such as "village songs," "village evenings," square dances, and sports meetings, so that the broad masses of the people can participate.
Innovate modern rural governance methods. The rural order in the transition period is directly related to the stability of rural economy and society. We can comprehensively use traditional rural governance resources such as township rules and people's covenants, old people's talk, and modern governance methods such as legal aid and the points system, give full play to the role of mass organizations such as the Red and White Council, the villagers' council, and the moral council, and break bad habits and stereotypes such as uncorrected neighbors, filial piety to the elderly, comparison of human feelings, and generous burials and thin support. Use digital means to empower rural governance, develop and expand application scenarios for the needs of farmers, and improve the level of "smart governance" in rural areas.
The French scholar Mendelas said that 2 billion peasants stand at the entrance to industrial civilization. Today, we are on the road to modernization of a country with the largest population in human history, a difficult and painful process. Under the great waves of the times, China's countryside will inevitably go through a series of processes of being cleansed, selected, and reshaped, which is where the opportunity for China's rural revitalization lies, and it is also the basis for us to eventually realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As long as we always adhere to the principle that "we must not neglect agriculture, forget the peasants, and indifferent to the countryside at any time", and embark on a path of rural development with Chinese characteristics in the protection and development, inheritance and innovation, "shaping" and "casting the soul", we will surely realize the new rejuvenation of China's rural areas in the 21st century!
Author: Xiang Guanping
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