Villagers in Gejia Village teach the Buyi villagers to make rag dolls Xu Mingyi provided a picture
Ningbo, March 29 (China News Network) The overall requirements of the rural revitalization strategy are industrial prosperity, ecological livability, civilized rural customs, effective governance, and affluent life, so that rural areas can become beautiful homes for living and working in peace and contentment. In recent years, "art intervention in the countryside" is gradually becoming an important part of the revitalization of rural culture, but there are still many people who doubt this, can art truly revitalize the countryside? Can artistry make the village "hematopoietic"? Can "art + village" turn "bonsai" into "landscape"?
In the past, the rock piles became the iconic landscape of the farming garden, the abandoned wood and agricultural tools became works of art, the idle land became the big stage of the villagers, and the old house became a homestay to make money at the doorstep of the home. Recently, Ge Detu, Ge Pingao and Yuan Xiaoxian, rural construction artists Ge Detu, Ge Pingao and Yuan Xiaoxian of Ninghai County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, crossed 2,000 kilometers and walked into Dingwang Village, Qinglong County, Qianxi Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province. After a week of solid and deep squatting in the village, Ge Detu told reporters that art is revitalizing the countryside.
Dingwang Village awakened by art Xu Mingyi courtesy of Xu Mingyi
Gejia Village is a remote small mountain village in Ninghai County, Ningbo City, which once lagged behind in development, and the locals laughed at themselves as a "three noes" village with no characteristics, no advantages and no potential. In 2019, by chance, through the guidance of Cong Zhiqiang, associate professor of the School of Arts of Chinese Min University, coupled with the local wisdom of the villagers, the villagers of Gejia Village in Ninghai County, Ningbo City, adapted to local conditions and local materials, and transformed their homes, and in less than a year, the original ordinary village became a popular attraction. Since then, Gejia Village has embarked on an experiment of "art revitalizing the countryside".
This model costs less money and villagers have a high degree of participation, so why not take root in the Qinglong countryside where they are helped by their counterparts? Since the strategic deployment of the "East-West Poverty Alleviation Cooperation", Ninghai County and Qinglong County have been holding hands for 24 years, and the two places have been jointly exploring the path of beautiful rural revitalization. Therefore, after the mediation of the party committees and governments of the two places, Gejia Village in Ninghai County and Dingwang Village in Qinglong County were officially paired.
In the past few years, the villagers of Gejia Village and the team of Cong Zhiqiang of Chinese University have come to Dingwang Village in Qinglong County many times to transform the village with art with the villagers of Dingwang. The cement walls have been pasted with wooden finishes, and the cobblestones have been laid under the ancient trees, turning the abandoned door panels into the door plaques of the "Future Academy"... Dingwang Village was slowly awakened by art.
Borrow a hammer, move out a sack of shells, reconcile cement... On March 27, Ge Detu, who had returned to Dingwang Village, restored the "rockery" he had made two years ago with shells to make it look new.
"In the past, this land was full of cow dung and overgrown with weeds, but through our transformation for more than 10 days, we created a landscape of dry landscapes. Today, the villagers of Dingwang have built a Buyi farming garden on the basis of us, and the village has become more beautiful. Ge Pingao's words were full of relief.
"Inspired by you, we designed this cloth bag, which sold more than 800 in half a year and earned more than 100,000 yuan." The villagers of Dingwang Village were overjoyed. It is reported that Dingwang Village, which is distributed in more than 130 Buyi families, has special skills such as embroidery, carpentry, and winemaking, and at present, these "treasures" are being transformed into tourism cultural and creative products one by one, generating economic value.
To revitalize the countryside through art, it is necessary to take a road that is rich in both "heads" and "pockets". With the quiet landing of artistic inspiration, the revitalization of the countryside by art is no longer just "bonsai".
"As a medium, the first step in entering the village is to let the villagers regain the confidence of building a home." In an interview with reporters, Cong Zhiqiang said that in the process of urbanization, multiple factors have caused many villages to become "hollow villages" and "left-behind villages" and have to rely on government subsidies to operate. "But this will not allow the village to develop benignly, but develop a 'wait and rely on' mentality."
In Cong Zhiqiang's view, art revitalizes the countryside, and the villagers are the main body. It is necessary to take the initiative to cultivate the "main force of villagers", organize villagers to deeply participate in the whole process of art design practice, and provide the core source power for the integration of art into rural revitalization. (End)