Source: China Culture Daily
Three meals and four seasons, simple people, pastoral songs, vernacular... When the strong nostalgia haunts the heart, the deep nostalgia calls for return, many people either embark on the journey of rural tourism, or greet distant families online, or learn about the changes in the countryside in the "cloud". And there is such a group of people, they take root in the countryside, turn life into a landscape, excavate and present a unique rural atmosphere. They are often the protagonists in the video, injecting new vitality into rural development as "rural internet celebrities".
Wang Jiye: The vision is open, and the footsteps are open
Dongfu Village, Xinglonggang Town, Fujin City, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, where Wang Jiye was born and grew up. From farming in 1998 to the present, from the initial small-scale growers to the current new farmers and large-scale households, Wang Jiye has owned his own family farm, is the representative of the first batch of local new professional farmers, and is also a well-known cultural talent for local villagers.
"I usually love to sing, and I am willing to participate in large and small activities in the village, so it is very fun to be with everyone." Music has enriched Wang Jiye's life, and because of this love, his talents have been discovered. Under the organization of the local government, Wang Jiye has participated in the beautiful countryside literary and artistic performances, the Spring Festival Gala of the People of Jincheng, the Fujin Farmers' Art Festival and other performance activities since 2016, and actively participated in the work of epidemic prevention publicity, and in December 2020, he launched the single "Good Brothers in Northeast China", which was widely recognized.
"In recent years, the government has attached great importance to the cultural construction of the countryside, which has built a good platform for those of us who are lovers of literature and art. We learned about the appearance of the countryside in various places and learned a lot of advanced experience. Wang Jiye's vision opened up, thinking more about what he could do for his hometown. Therefore, while continuing to polish his musical talents, he began to try live broadcasts and other forms to promote products in his hometown. "What is a new type of farmer?" Not only do you cultivate the land well, but you also have to manage it well. "Wang Jiye uses actions to encourage and drive people around him to participate, take the initiative to find sales channels for products, and build a brand for rural culture."
Under the cultivation and recommendation of the provincial and municipal mass art museums at all levels, in October 2021, Wang Jiye was shortlisted for the "Rural Net Red" cultivation plan and the central video "There is a treasure in the village" large-scale media integration activity, becoming the only peasant singer in Heilongjiang Province to enter the top 20 of the "rural net red" in the country. For the identity of "rural internet celebrity", Wang Jiye cherished it.
"I feel that I have more responsibility on my body, and I have more confidence in my heart, and when I live broadcast, I will be generous on behalf of our rich brocade, welcome all the old and young people from all over the country to experience unique customs, appreciate the beautiful scenery, and buy some good things." On the day of the interview, Wang Jiye had just completed a video recording of the local cultural tourism promotion. He showed reporters his carefully planned script, which clearly listed Fujin's characteristic resources and representative products.
Riding on the popularity of "rural internet celebrities", Wang Jiye pays special attention to bringing goods for good products in the village, doing his best to publicize and promote the cultural and tourism resources of his hometown, so that more people can understand the modern agriculture of Jiamusi through his program, understand the beautiful scenery of Heilongjiang, and understand the spirit of farmers on the road of rural revitalization who work hard to get rich and run to a better life.
"We modern farmers are to be open-minded, dare to imagine the future, and hope that more 'rural Internet celebrities' will emerge, learn more about the good of their hometown, and do something for rural construction in a down-to-earth manner." The practice of nearly a year has doubled Wang Jiye's confidence. In his view, the villagers are no longer selling their own products alone, but integrating their advantages and striving to make more people know Fujin, understand Fujin, remember Fujin, and come to Fujin.
Renqing Langjia: Expand living space in inheritance and innovation
Renqing Langjia's hometown is the birthplace of the Tibetan Tangkaga Gagachi School. Born into a Thangka family in Qamdo, Tibet, he has been studying Thangka painting with his father since he was 7 years old, and has been going on for 15 years now. In 2018, Ren Qinglangjia was dispatched by the Changdu Municipal Bureau of Culture to participate in the first Chinese Peasant Lacquer Painting Advanced Training Class held by the Fujian Provincial Art Museum in Xiamen, which opened a new door for inheritance and innovation, becoming the first person to explore the "grafting" of thangka and lacquer painting, and thus being selected as a "rural internet celebrity".
Recalling the feeling of painting at first, Ren Qinglangjia used the 4 words of "thrilling" to describe it. Ren Qinglangjia crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to Fujian and saw the new possibility of Thangka in lacquer paintings. The intuitive artistic impact was enough to offset the unknown brought about by the fusion of paintings, and Ren Qinglangjia decided to give it a try. The journey of the fusion of thangka and lacquer painting, two intangible cultural heritage items that have been passed down for thousands of years, began.
Lacquer painting is created by natural lacquer, and allergies are inevitable for traditional lacquer painters. For Ren Tsing Lang Jia, this is even more of a huge challenge. Frequent contact with the lacquer, Ren Qinglangjia was allergic, his hands were swollen beyond bending, and his face was red and swollen to varying degrees. But with the tenacity of a painter, he eventually conquered the lacquer. After a complete training course, he completed the first thangka lacquer painting "The Little Venerable Guiding the Way", making thangka lacquer painting a reality. The white in the lacquer painting is presented with eggshell collage, and Renqing Langjia also explores the original pattern between the broken eggshells during the painting process.
"The use of new materials with lacquer makes thangka not afraid of moisture and mold, and the introduction of techniques such as inlaying also makes thangka's artistic expression stronger." When I showed my grandfather and father the new lacquer art thangka, they appreciated the beauty and encouraged me to continue. Ren Qinglangjia said.
The recognized Ren Tsing Lang runs at full speed, from a beneficiary of the concept of poverty alleviation through art to a disseminator of cultural volunteer service. In July 2019, the Fujian Provincial Museum of Art and the Changdu Cultural Bureau jointly held a lacquer painting skills training class, and Ren Qinglang was a pioneer and became the assistant teacher of two Fujian painters. After more than a month of hard work, 10 young thangka painters in Qamdo successfully graduated and exercised their ability to create cross-border art. Such joint cultivation is still ongoing.
From the initial reluctance to try, to the current thangka major painting schools to join the ranks of thangka lacquer painting, the integration of lacquer painting makes thangka more art collectible. Ren Qinglangjia looked in his eyes and was happy in his heart. He also has a wish in his heart: to drive more Thangka painters to learn lacquer painting, through art integration and innovation and cultural and creative development, to find a new road, expand living space, so that the artistic value of more painters can be recognized by the market, and let traditional crafts shine in the new era.
Ren Qinglangjia, who has become a "rural Internet celebrity", has also prepared a studio to focus on the achievements of Thangka lacquer painting through various forms such as videos and text pictures, and gradually explore the addition of lacquer elements to other Tibetan cultural symbols, such as beads, to stimulate more potential for integration and innovation.
Liang Qianjuan: Returning to the hometown to start a business "new farmer" to open up a new spiritual homeland
She is a "new farmer" who gave up her high-paying career and returned to her hometown to start a business; She is the "Liang Treasurer" who sells goods live and leads the villagers to get rich; She is a deputy to the National People's Congress who has participated in the National People's Congress for 4 consecutive years and can always bring good suggestions... She is Liang Qianjuan, who is known as an "e-commerce expert", but positions herself as a volunteer.
Liang Qianjuan is from Hui County, Longnan City, Gansu Province. Before 2013, she worked in a fortune 500 company in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, from an ordinary worker to a white-collar worker, and was recommended by the company to study in Australia. Once when she returned to her hometown to visit her relatives, she found that the walnuts, honey and other agricultural products in the village were all spoiled because no one came to buy them, which was a pity. "During my time working outside the home, I found that green and healthy agricultural products are very popular in big cities. Our longnan pure natural agricultural products are very rich, every time the vacation is over, I will pick some good agricultural products to bring to the company's colleagues, they all say it is delicious. I thought you should make good use of the resources at hand. Since then, Liang Qianjuan has had the idea of returning to her hometown to start a business.
In 2013, Longnan City vigorously supported the development of e-commerce. Liang Qianjuan seized the opportunity, decisively quit her well-paid job, and returned to her hometown to prepare for the opening of an online store. After accumulating a certain amount of e-commerce knowledge and experience, in 2014, her Taobao store was officially opened, named "Longshang Manor", specializing in selling native products from her hometown.
In those years, most of the people in Shitan Village, Shuiyang Township, Huixian County, were very unfamiliar with online stores, anchors, and goods. Liang Qianjuan went from house to house to explain her e-commerce ideas, collecting agricultural products door to door, and the villagers did not understand to fully support. After going online, agricultural products were sold one after another, and the online store soon received support and encouragement from many netizens. The villagers in the surrounding villages saw the benefits and came to the door with their own good goods. Native honey, native eggs, walnuts, dried cowpeas, gray cabbage... The category of native products is becoming more and more abundant and more popular, and it has become a "fragrant food" on the network platform. The name "Liang Treasurer" has spread in the village.
The time spent with the hometown, the environment in which agricultural products grow, and the folk customs and cultural activities in the village are recorded in the form of short videos and live broadcasts, so that more people can understand the local cultural history, natural scenery, industrial development, etc. From the initial traditional e-commerce to live e-commerce, new media e-commerce, Liang Qianjuan has been telling the story of her hometown and selling agricultural products in her hometown. Today, she has 470,000 fans on the Kuaishou platform, carried out 275 live broadcast activities to help farmers, and the annual sales of the online store have increased from 60,000 yuan in the early days of entrepreneurship to more than 5 million yuan, driving more than 400 farmers to increase their income and become rich, of which more than 100 households were former poor households.
While doing e-commerce, Liang Qianjuan also carried out more cultural practice with like-minded friends, and built a farmhouse & traditional comic book reading base, so that the seeds of traditional culture can sprout in the hearts of children, let the red story be passed on by word of mouth, and let children in remote places fall in love with reading and read good comic strips. "Now, at night or on weekends and holidays, the left-behind children in the village and the children around them come to read, and some of them are reluctant to go home late at night." Liang Qianjuan proudly said that she hopes to build the rural bookstore in her hometown into a "net red" punch card place, not only to let the characteristic products of the villagers go out of the mountains, but also to let the children's dreams fly out of the mountains.