Today, let's introduce you to a treasure village!
Hangzhou Qingshan Village, an increasingly eye-catching art village, a rural utopia.
I first came to know Aoyama Village because of my friend Fuzi.
At that time, she was volunteering at the Qingshan Village Nature School, so I made an appointment with my friends to play together, went to Longwu Reservoir, saw the bamboo sea, visited the school, and ate delicious earthen restaurants, and I thought it was a beautiful place.
At that time, the story of Qingshan Village had just begun.
Now, I have heard about Aoyama Village again from various friends' Amway and media reports. For example, some time ago, Qingshan Village held a rural art festival called "Qunxiang Art Season", and many designers and artists from all over the world came.
This seemingly remote village has a global perspective.
When I visited Qingshan Village again this time, I found that its temperament was taking shape day by day.
A beautiful visitor center has been built in the village, a large ecological lawn where music festivals can be held, and Fuzi has opened a suburban x Hugo pub in the village, and she is enthusiastic about all kinds of interesting things every day.
Of course, Aoyama Village is still beautiful.
Rice paddies can be seen everywhere, works of art are scattered in the countryside, every family in the village grows flowers and plants, and the fences are high and low, which is clean and has a sense of beauty that seems random but unified by a certain spiritual core.
What the countryside should look like in the future is a little bit on display here.
Next, let's take a look at my village visit guide~
Aoyama Village is a good visit~
Fusion Design Library
Craft lovers who don't know the Rong Design Library!
The formerly abandoned Dongwu Auditorium in Qingshan Village was turned into China's first traditional materials library.
The exhibits in the museum are also the results of founder Zhang Lei and his team visiting all over the country.
The handicrafts on display here are like a catalogue of the magnum opus of Chinese handicraft stories, and behind each material is the story of a craft, a workshop, and countless craftsmen.
The library also has a grand mission, "to bring together the materials involved in traditional handicrafts throughout China and put them on the library's platform for designers from all over the world to use."
The inside of the museum is quiet, but the crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
For example, the chairs at the table are remarkable. This rice paper chair is called "Gone with the Wind". In 2012, it won the only prize at the SaloneSatelliteDesign Report Award at Milan Design Week, the first time that a Chinese design has won this award.
Zhang Lei, the founder of the library, also has a design company, Pinli Shape, which also has a fascinating vision, "so that Chinese designers can design on the legacy left to us by our ancestors." I call it: the future of tradition."
Fusion weaving hall
A new Rongweaving library has opened next to the Rong Design Library, which is also worth seeing.
The museum is unguarded, as long as you scan the QR code on the door to register for authentication, you can swipe the library code to enter the museum. The museum is small, but the content is very detailed and pure, and it shows the presentation of weaving skills on different materials.
The process of watching the exhibition is quite shocking: it turns out that the same knot can have so many different interpretations!
Since the ancient knotted rope chronicles, we have developed so many schemes. The pursuit of beauty in addition to practicality is, to some extent, the useless romance of human beings.
I also found hand-woven fabrics from the Yishan people's studio that I had visited in Guizhou before, and this distant encounter was quite exciting!
Visitor reception center
The Visitor Reception Center is my new discovery this time. It is located near the Rong Design Library, a super striking double-storey building. The exterior of the building uses a lot of bamboo elements, which is very harmonious with the atmosphere of Qingshan Village.
This is also a handicraft collection shop in the village, with bamboo woven vegetable baskets, mosquito repellent fans, hand-sewn sachets... They are all the work of the craftsmen in the village.
These simple but beautiful handicrafts are pleasant to look at even if you don't buy them.
There are also toys such as bamboo knots, bamboo frisbee and bamboo gyroscope, which are responsible for fun.
Although it is a childhood memory, this bamboo person is really the first time I have met, and Sister Hong enthusiastically demonstrated to me its vitality and cuteness.
You can either experience the production process on site or take it home directly.
Sister Hong, who was in charge of explaining on the spot, is a famous craftsman in the village. Later, I found that I still came across her billboards from time to time in the village, and it was said that there were many interesting things in her studio.
In addition, there are Lailai Bamboo Weaving Studio (experience various weaving such as willow weaving, rattan weaving, straw weaving, etc.), Buqiu Grass Bamboo Art Workshop (can provide bamboo weaving experience, bamboo product procurement), Yongsheng Dry Flower Studio (using village flowers and plants to make fans, bookmarks, postcards, mirrors, photo albums, etc.) scattered in the village, you can also book a handicraft experience.
café
Parallel universe café
This shop is located in the Rong Design Library. There is a side door on the left side of the library, and you can walk out of the door and cross a large lawn. The courtyard in front of the café is so beautiful, when the weather is cooler, it is good to just come and sit here.
This café is currently open for Buddhist business, and when I went there I was unguarded, I waited for a while for the clerk to appear, and it was currently a villager's sister from Aoyama Village who was currently watching the shop.
There is only basic coffee and some sparkling water to order. I ordered a glass of watermelon sparkling water, which is considered a normal product.
There are many tabloids produced by Qingshan Village in the store, and if you look through them, you can have a more vivid understanding of this village. There is also a theme exhibition of "Migratory Birds, Resident Birds", which is also on display in the store.
This exhibition is very interesting, and it is a report on the results of bird watching by the people of the village. How to observe a bird? How many species of birds are there in Aoyama Village? What are roadkills and bird strikes?
The people of Aoyama Village feel the deep love for the birds!
Nice café LightCup Cafe
This café is located at Aoyama Nature School. When you enter through the doorway, you will first walk through a small bamboo forest, which also hides an art installation.
Like the nature school, the café is newly built, but it uses traditional rammed earth construction techniques, and the bright yellow walls are beautiful in front of the green hills.
The atmosphere of the café is also beautiful. The warm yellow lighting, a variety of ornaments and just the right amount of jazz music make people feel very relaxed.
The clerks were chatting very naturally, and they also praised the boss Sister Chen's aesthetics and how generous she was to the employees. The first time I heard about the bushi of employees forming a group behind the scenes to build a boss.
Back to the products in the store. Here, in addition to regular coffee such as American style and latte, you can drink a lot of delicious drinks, such as hand-made lemon tea, iced lime sea coconut, green rose bubbles... It's refreshing to look at the combination. I ordered a hand-beaten lemon without stepping on the thunder, and it was quite refreshing to drink a cup in the summer.
For dessert, there are cake rolls and tiramisu. Although they come from Hema and Starbucks respectively, it is not easy to eat such a small cake produced in the village.
There are also a lot of donation certificates on the wall, and there is a wall of sharing beautiful stories, and the words left by the children who come to participate in the nature school are quite touching to read. Memories will fade, but writing can retain the mood of the time.
By the way, you can also buy a lot of handicrafts in the store, which are all treasures that the owner has scooped up from all over the world. The owner is beautiful, and the canvas bags and selections in the store are very exciting.
Next door to the café is Aoyama Nature School, a nature education base converted from an abandoned village elementary school.
It provides a variety of team building and parent-child education activities, you can follow the WeChat public account "Qingshan Study Club" to check the latest activity schedule and registration of the school.
Bistro
Suburbs x Hugo Tavern
This is the bistro opened by Fuzi, which is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you want to go, remember to make an appointment in advance.
It was originally positioned as a bistro offering delicious handmade plum wine.
Further on, the content in the space becomes richer and richer. Today, it is more like a community art space, holding various community art exhibitions and some nature exploration activities from time to time to explore nature topics and personal growth.
It is like a village stronghold and a wonderful space where various discussions can take place. If you go to Aoyama Village, remember to pay attention.
The last time I visited, Fuzi was not in the village and unfortunately missed it. But when I talked to the villagers about Hugo, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive: 'Oh! That tavern." "Fuzi took good care of that space!"
Parallel universe Song Xiaoguan
The Parallel Universe Song Xiao Library is very deep, if it is not specially searched for the past, it will not be found at all! There are also several wine jars in front of the store, which is also full of atmosphere.
Later, I chatted with the store manager for a few words, only to find that this location was her intentional choice: "People with intentions will naturally find it!"
Friends who come to Aoyama Village by car generally do not drink, so there are still many local villagers and people who stay for a few days.
From the list of drinks, you can see that a lot of thought has been put into it. Its drinks are a combination of Chinese and Western, such as this cooked water, thirsty water and cold water, which is dug up from the list of summer relief drinks of the Song Dynasty.
Unfortunately, it was almost evening when I found it, just a quick glance. Next time, I want to try its cocktails: lip picking, red rivers, meet again... The name alone accurately grasps the careful thinking of the Orientals.
Earthen restaurant
When I go to Qingshan Village to eat, there are still many earthen restaurants.
Laoyao Hotel and Qingqing Hotel are next to each other and are the most famous earthen restaurants in the village. I went to the Lao Yao Hotel, the door was small but really lively.
Their family is not happy to produce, and they basically have to wait for a while. If you order at the open stall, you can see the ingredients.
White cut chicken, fritters loofah, braised crucian carp and other reviews are very good. Because I came alone, I ordered a dried tofu with roasted edamame shoots and dried tofu with sauce, and made a rice bowl, which was also delicious for 20 yuan.
The location of the hotel is also called Towerside, because there used to be a tall tower in the vicinity. Today, although the tower is gone, there are various supermarkets, restaurants and craft workshops, and it is still the liveliest place in the village.
The villagers tacitly called it "village entrance CBD". I thought it was everyone's joke, but I didn't expect to see it this time, and really put up such a sign at the intersection.
In the past, there was a market in the village that would be held here, but now, a new vegetable market is being built, which can be regarded as reviving the former charm of the CBD at the entrance of the village.
Travel:
The traffic in Qingshan Village is not convenient, self-driving is the most suitable, Hangzhou can be 50 minutes away. You can also make an appointment for a ride, which costs about 50 yuan from downtown Hangzhou to the village.
If you travel by public transportation, there are buses from Hangzhou city to Qingshan Village, but there are not many departures, remember to look at the departure interval and the first and last bus times.
Getting around the village is mainly by walking. In addition, I found a bicycle station (it is next to the Rong Design Library), you can rent a car by scanning the code, and it will be much easier to scan a bicycle to visit the village.
lodging
If you want to stay longer, the accommodation in Qingshan Village is mainly homestays with different themes such as pet-friendly, parent-child sojourning, art healing, and cost-effective. You can pay attention to the public account "Future Qingshan" and choose on it.
If you want to stay for a long time, Qingshan Youth Apartment will also be open, and you can understand the situation by paying attention to the public account "Qingshan Youth Club Longwuli".
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To summarize the story of Qingshan Village, it is actually a human story.
Initially, Zhang Haijiang came to Qingshan Village to do the water source protection project of Longwu Reservoir, and at his invitation, designer Zhang Lei renovated the Dongwu auditorium in the village and moved the Rong Design Library here, and then Dr. Bird Zhu Hongyu also came and began to do nature education courses...
"A tree shakes another tree, a flower pushes another flower", more and more interesting people come to Qingshan Village and become new villagers.
The people in Aoyama Village are very connected to each other. The studio of bamboo weaving artist Lai Lai is near the old Yao Tucai restaurant, and Xiao Zhi's illustrations are scattered throughout the Rong Design Library, and familiar people can immediately recognize it: "Oh, this is Xiao Zhi's work!"
And the feeling of you coming here is like a message from a child on the wall of a beautiful café: "I'm happy, I heard the rooster, I saw the smile on everyone's face."