"Practice has proved that modernization and traditional protection can not only go hand in hand, but also complement each other, and the protection of ancient villages can become a very important carrier of our cultural self-confidence."
"Ancient villages are the crystallization of Chinese etiquette culture, and learning traditions is not only an external imitation, but can absorb the essence of a long-standing civilization."
"You may wonder, in such a remote mountain village, can it be profitable to build and operate a bookstore? The answer is: not only is it profitable, but it's also very impressive. ”
"Is it true that all natural villages need to be protected, and what are the criteria and basis for conservation?"
Zhang Weiwei's speech:
China, such an ancient civilization, is unique in human history in its rapid rise today in the form of a highly modern state. Traditional Chinese society is a society formed by family, family and clan ties. It is related to the fact that our ancestors began to engage in settled agriculture very early, and settled agriculture naturally created countless ancient villages scattered throughout the motherland. In the sedentary agricultural activities, blood ties play a very important role, and ancient villages have naturally become a carrier of the traditional way of life of the Chinese, which contains countless nostalgia and memories of countless Chinese.
Our old nursery rhyme sings like this: "Shake, shake, shake, shake to Grandma's Bridge", and the water and bridge here are the nostalgia of our generations. In the "Old Things in the South of the City", it is sung: "Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, the grass is blue in the sky, the evening wind blows the willow flute, and the sunset mountain is outside the mountain." "It's a homesickness we Chinese. The song "My Motherland" sings like this: "A big river has wide waves, the wind blows rice and flowers on both sides, my family lives on the shore, I am used to listening to the trumpet of the Gonggong, and I am used to seeing the white sails on the boat", here is our nostalgia, there is also Chinese unique homesickness and the fate of the country.
Stills of the old things in Seongnam
China is the fastest growing and progressive country in the world, and with modernization, Chinese society has undergone earth-shaking changes. In the past, the local society with extremely low natural economy and social mobility has become a modern society with rapid development and strong social mobility. Chinese society has rapidly moved from a closed agricultural society to an industrial society, and now it has rapidly entered the forefront of the world's information society.
It is undeniable that this tide of modernization also has a heavy price, especially the loss of many Chinese historical heritages, and many of our ancient towns and villages have disappeared. The disappearance of ancient buildings is also the disappearance of nostalgia, the disappearance of local characteristics of history and humanities, which is a pity. As society prospers and progresses, we look back and we feel sorry for many of our old things that have disappeared, even sad.
Fortunately, with the improvement of the overall cultural level of society, the protection of historical inheritance has finally become the consensus of the broadest masses of the people and has become a very important task of our party and government. The old houses, courtyards, stages, rivers, ancient wells, grass and trees in our ancient villages, as well as the customs, memories, rituals, etc. that occurred here, are now being revitalized with the construction of new rural areas. Practice has proved that modernization and traditional protection can not only go hand in hand, but also complement each other, and our great historical heritage, including the protection of ancient villages and ancient villages and towns, can become a very important carrier of our cultural self-confidence.
Today Chinese regaining the historical heritage, not simply returning to tradition, but on a completely new basis, on the basis of a new understanding of being highly open and fully participating in international exchanges and competition, more and more Chinese rediscover the wisdom of our ancestors, the artistic conception of our ancient great beauty, and the very rich spiritual world of our ancestors. The return and respect for Chinese culture is formed on the basis of high modernization through international comparison, and it is a cultural awakening and a cultural self-confidence from the heart. This kind of awakening and self-confidence cannot be overestimated in its significance for China's present and future.
In the past few years, I have had the privilege of visiting many ancient cities, ancient towns and ancient villages in China. I went to Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi, Zhaohua Ancient City in Sichuan, Langzhong Ancient City, Zhejiang Wuzhen Ancient City and so on. People there told me that thanks to Professor Ruan Yisan of Tongji University in Shanghai, our ancient city, ancient town, and ancient village have been preserved. When everyone did not know the significance of ancient architecture protection, he ran to the north and south of the river, sparing no effort to call for and promote the protection of ancient buildings throughout China, and his responsibility, his faith, his courage and professionalism deserve the respect and study of all of us.
Dear Professor Nguyen, we are doing this program today to a large extent to express a high respect to you personally, to the cause you represent, and to all the workers in China who are engaged in the protection of ancient cities, ancient villages and ancient buildings.
To this end, we specially invited Comrade Li Hanqin, secretary of the Songyang County Party Committee of Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, and I went to Songyang County two months ago to investigate the protection of their ancient villages, and I was very impressed, and the ancient villages there were intoxicatingly beautiful.
Ruan Yisan's speech:
Let me tell you about our traditional Chinese houses. Our traditional houses are the survival wisdom of our folk customs, construction skills, social ethics, aesthetic awareness, and the richest and most concentrated carrier of national cultural achievements. For example, the poetic Jiangnan Water Town expresses the highly mature civilization literacy and life art of our Chinese civil society, from the water corridor, water alley, water pavilion, water port, water wall gate in Jiangnan Water Town, because of the water into the street, because the water into the city, because the water into the town, is the best ecological living environment. In this Jiangnan water town, the surrounding environment and the surrounding paddy field environment, pond water catchment, water alley water diversion, water transportation, water trade, water conservancy irrigation, enrich the products of the water town.
Most of our traditional houses are brick and wood houses, which are tenon structures. This tenon structure dates back to the Liangzhu culture of the 4th millennium BC and is the content of the Liangzhu culture found in the village of Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. So four thousand years ago, we Chinese have discovered this important skill very cleverly. Tenons can withstand future earthquake disasters.
In the ancient city of Zhaohua in Guangyuan, Sichuan, after I went there a few years ago, I saw very good wooden houses in the ancient city of Zhaohua, and I helped them build a street. After the 5.12 earthquake that no one expected, it was very clear that all the wooden houses we helped them build on the street existed intact, while the houses of the common people collapsed, and the current mixed structure is a disaster that cannot withstand the earthquake.
In Zhaohua Town, Yuanba District, Guangyuan City, the ancient name is Ye Meng, with a long history and humanities. (Infographic)
Some people say that the performance of brick and wood structures is not good, I think it is not right, the problem is that we do not understand it well. Like our houses in the Jiangnan area, including the old houses in Shanghai and Suzhou, the old walls in the past were empty walls. In addition to saving materials, it is very important that it plays a good role in air insulation layer, and our double top can not only beautify the space, but also help heat insulation and keep warm. Although the wooden structure is prone to fire, but the ancients discovered the function of fire prevention very early, we built the horse head wall, Guanyin pocket, and then in the process of this town, use water alleys, water ports, water tanks to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters.
Ancient villages are respectful of heaven and earth, respect for the text, traditional architecture is the crystallization of Chinese etiquette culture, the ancient Chinese people attach great importance to the influence and interrelationship of nature on people, people's gathering ecology is handed down from the ancestors, is the rational use of mountains, geography, gave birth to the prosperity of life. In these villages, its family shrines, temples, land temples, and land temples reflect people's reverence for nature.
Local houses create a ceremonial space for family reunions, so this is important. Traditional houses, whether it is the northern courtyard, the southern hall-style residence, as well as the three-bedroom and one-walled wall in Guizhou, Yunnan, the four-in-five patio, as well as the northern Shaanxi cave kiln, the pit courtyard, etc., all reflect the family reunion.
From the very beginning, family reunions emphasize people's home etiquette - respecting heaven and earth, worshiping ancestors, family reunions, harmonious blind dates, orderly growth and childhood, and differences between inside and outside. Therefore, this building is not only safe, warm, and insulated, but also forward and backward, front and back buildings, and middle hall boxes, which is the traditional Chinese etiquette space of orderly grandchildren, difference between men and women, respect for the elderly and love for children.
The layout of the Four Waters Guitang in Huizhou, Anhui Province, is a courtyard-style, which has created the family-centered etiquette concept of Chinese people, which is a very important feature of China. These hutongs, lanes, family by household, the front door to the back door, the name of the person is also affectionate, like the Li family mother, the Wang family mother-in-law, rich and poor, regardless of class, large houses and small houses are connected, the children will be in groups, there are green plum bamboo horses, through the door of the family. The form in which we live gives birth to the good qualities of people, family affection, harmony, family love, morality, mutual assistance - the characteristics of our traditional residents.
There are ancestral halls, private schools and academies in the village, which reflect the traditional culture of cultivation and reading, and also embody the filial piety of Chinese sons and daughters, the national spirit of good neighborliness, love of family, love of the hometown, culture, importance of morality, and understanding of etiquette.
Since 2011, China's urban rate has reached more than 50%, ending the era of rural society as the main body and beginning to enter a new era dominated by urban society. This new era brings a new type of housing, not a courtyard house in the past, but a residential space. Today's emphasis on the comfort, privacy and so-called scientific economic principles of personal space, the characteristics of this kind of house are the living room, study, living room, kitchen, toilet, these are functional needs. The houses where they live have improved a lot, and so has their lives, but on the other hand, the traditional relationship between people has changed.
Today, we have rescued about 6819 natural villages, and there are less than 3,000 villages with complete history. In the past 30 years, China has lost more than 1.2 million natural villages, with an average of 100 natural villages disappearing every day. This will create resources that are difficult to regenerate, and it is difficult to regenerate. There are still many villages that are left unattended, and it is crumbling in the middle of no time to take care of it.
The type of building has not yet attracted people's attention, and perhaps it is more valuable than those giant buildings. How can new houses and new towns absorb the connotation of tradition well, not only the repetition of external imitations and antique symbols, but also the essence of a long civilization? When Mr. Pei was doing [Suzhou Museum], he said: I am a Suzhou native, I am a Chinese, I want to make a Chinese house. Therefore, he absorbed the characteristics of Suzhou city construction - white wall gray tiles, small bridges and flowing water people, Suzhou Museum is this feature, it is the absorption of ancient civilization, and then good at use, so it has become a very distinctive building now.
For the culture with Chinese characteristics, we still have to preserve the historical culture and preserve the traditional characteristic houses, such as the "five scattered houses", which is what Mr. Wang Shu, the winner of the Pritzker Prize, did. He himself made it clear: I absorb these nutrients from the houses, and then I can create the characteristics of man and nature that have both traditional Chinese characteristics and can meet the needs of modern times. So our culture depends on our inheritance, on our respect, on our good understanding of it, which is what we want to do well.
Li Hanqin's speech:
As we all know, traditional villages are the treasure house of Chinese civilization, and songyang is the earliest organized county in Lishui City, which has a history of more than 1800 years. Songyang has the largest number and most complete preservation of traditional villages in East China, and 75 are included in the national list of traditional villages.
I would like to share with you four short stories that happened in songyang traditional villages, and through these four small stories, I would like to introduce some of the work that Songyang has done in the protection and development of traditional villages from different perspectives.
Andaihou Village is a national traditional village and a village in the old revolutionary area. In this village, there is a letter and a candy box that the villagers have treasured for 40 years. This is a New Year's gift sent by General Su Yu to the people of the old district in 1981. In May 1935, the local progressive masses "three greetings to the Red Army", so that su Yu, Liu Ying and other revolutionary ancestors led by the Red Army advance division won the support of the masses, based on the establishment of a base area in southwest Zhejiang, set off a revolutionary climax, and in the difficult years of the great strategic shift of the main force of the Red Army in the Central Soviet Region, in coordination with the Red Army Advance Division, excellently completed the arduous task of "attracting and containing the enemy and responding to the Long March of the Central Red Army".
At present, Andaihou Village has repaired, protected and reopened more than 20 red scenic spots, built Red Army shops, Red Army cinemas, red research bases, etc., and more than 20 villagers have become "red docents". In the first half of this year, it received more than 300 teams and more than 10,000 people, and embarked on a new path of revolutionary culture leading red resources and empowering rural revitalization.
Located deep in the mountains, Chenjiapu Village, with an average altitude of 850 meters, is a typical mountain village with high mountains and long roads. We used the old hall in the village, introduced the world-renowned bookstore, invited well-known designers to carry out professional design, and the old hall of more than 200 square meters was transformed into a "bookstore on the cloud". You may wonder, in such a remote mountain village, can it be profitable to build and operate a bookstore? The answer is: not only is it profitable, but it's also very impressive. During this year's "May Day" period, the highest daily revenue can be more than 50,000 yuan.
This bookstore is a comprehensive cultural space, with the functions of theme bookstore, theme cultural and creative museum, art café, cultural activity area and so on. Its construction not only creates a spiritual and cultural place with Songyang cultural characteristics and humanistic and creative concepts for readers, but also revitalizes the original simple and gradually decadent traditional villages.
Pioneer Bookstore Branch in Chenjiapu Village - Civilian Bookstore (Data Map)
Ueda Village is a traditional village with a history of more than 500 years. In 2019, we carried out a pilot in this village to explore the establishment of a new mechanism for collective economic operation with villagers as the main body and the government, village collectives and villagers participating together, and implement the co-construction and co-governance and sharing method of "villagers' shareholding + guaranteed income + priority employment + dividends according to shares", develop and expand the village collective economy and promote villagers to increase their income and become rich. Last year, Ueda Village achieved an operating income of more than 1.8 million yuan, a collective increase of 125,000 yuan in the village, and an increase in the income of villagers of more than 1.3 million yuan. As one of only two cases in Zhejiang Province, the village was recommended to participate in the exhibition of achievements for the fifth anniversary of the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Along the Kenglingtou village is one of the most remote villages in my county, this village still retains more than 180 wild golden jujube persimmon trees that are 200 to 300 years old, and still preserves the original ecological architectural features of mud walls and black tiles. Due to the long mountain road and the decline of houses, most of the young and middle-aged people in the village have flowed out, which has almost become an empty shell village, and has been included in the relocation plan of the whole village, which is about to "disappear" on the rural map. In recent years, we have introduced artist resources through the "persimmon tree" scenery, driving photography, sketching, homestays and other formats, and now along the Kenglingtou Village has become a well-known painter village, sketching village, and established a rural art museum. Today, some of our villagers along the keng ridge have returned, and the village with a population of more than 350 people has developed 16 homestays, with an annual income of more than 3 million yuan, which has also comprehensively promoted the sales of agricultural products in the village, truly resurrected the traditional village with art, and lit up the road to prosperity for farmers.
The four stories are not an isolated case of our rural development in Songyang, such stories happen every day on the land of Songyang. In recent years, we have proposed to build a "National Traditional Village Park" in order to systematically and comprehensively protect and develop traditional villages, and strive to form a replicable, referenceable and generalizable experience at the national level. In the next step, we will continue to take the ambition of "small counties must have great ambitions, and small counties can also develop greatly", will not seek easy things, do not seek refuge, consistently promote the protection and development of traditional villages, and strive to be a model student for the leapfrog high-quality development of mountainous areas to build a commonly prosperous and beautiful society.
Finally, I also sincerely invite everyone to take the time to go to the peach blossom source in the eyes of the world, the last secret place of Jiangnan, walk the ancient road, visit the ancient village, eat local vegetables, live in a homestay, relax and relax.
Roundtable discussion
Host: From the 1980s and 1990s to the present, in fact, many villages in China have disappeared, what factors have led to fewer and fewer villages?
Ruan Yisan: The biggest factor is the process of urbanization. In this case, he (the people in the village) longed for urban life, longed for the prosperity of the big city, and the village naturally declined. [In the process], these historic buildings fell into disrepair and lost their original function. Some houses originally had a set of requirements for use, such as the hall of the house is a place for meeting guests, worshiping heaven and earth, and also a place for family reunions. Now people's lives have changed, there is no such big family, so they have lost the requirements for this use of functions, so they have abandoned.
Zhang Weiwei: Another reason is that these areas are often in the mountains, relatively poor, many young people, young adults have gone out to work, there is no popularity, and slowly the house will be dilapidated.
Host: When we talk about the protection of this ancient village and the protection of traditional villages, how do we find that point of convergence?
Li Hanqin: Development and protection are not only a pair of contradictions, but also can find a lot of points of convergence and common ground. One is to promote overall protection, to innovate and develop, to do a good job in county-wide planning, and the protection must be well protected. Some villagers are reluctant to live in old houses, and young people want to get married and have children, and they want to go to the city to live in new houses. That's okay, our way is to take it (the house) back to the village collective, and the people have gone to the house to protect it. Second, I must have a bottom in mind about what buildings there are in the county, and have an account. If we say that every village and every house must be protected, I am afraid that the financial resources will not be able to eat up, so we still have to talk about some key points.
Chenjiapu Village (infographic)
Third, we must persist in handling well the relationship between the main body of the villagers and the main body of the foreign market, we cannot simply turn the traditional village into a feast of industrial and commercial capital, we must adhere to the main position of the villagers, and some of the villagers' mountains, forests, fields, especially houses, can participate together in the process of implanting some business forms. Let the villagers also enjoy the share he deserves. In this way, the whole development process is more harmonious.
Zhang Weiwei: I would like to add that because I went to Songyang County and walked through four ancient villages, I found that it was very concerned about differentiation, and from my observation as an outsider, I found that almost every village had a bright spot. For example, in the "Cloud Bookstore", people rush to the bookstore and bring the village up as soon as they go. There is also a village called Yangjiatang Village, which is called "Southern Potala Palace", a large piece of rammed earth made of yellow wall, which is beautiful when watched at sunset. Man-made scenery, so that there is an attraction here, there is a attraction there, each village has its own something different, so I feel very alive.
Host: Do the local villagers still live in this precinct?
Li Hanqin: Realistically speaking, some of the villagers in these four villages have gone out. But some went out and came back. Young people come back and there are things to do, e-commerce economy, live economy, there are the best scenes in the village, backed by mountains, green water and green mountains, babbling water, the picture is also very poetic.
Zhang Weiwei: When we went to Hengkeng Village on the top of their mountain, the old people there were particularly kind, the road was not left behind, the doors were all open, you could enter at any time, and then asked if you wanted to drink tea? Naturally, there is no utilitarian purpose, and they enjoy chatting with you, so many people come to see their village and will be proud.
Host: Teacher Ruan has been calling for the protection of ancient cities, ancient towns, and ancient villages since the early 1980s. When Teacher Ruan first proposed the protection of so many ancient buildings, he also received a lot of criticism. Now do you think everyone's ideas have taken a big step forward?
Ruan Yisan: It should be said that there has been great progress. Remember the so-called removal of the old city to build a new city, the development of industry, the opening of households, the demolition of bridges, the filling of rivers, the construction of roads, the sound of cars, gold and two. At that time, we put forward the slogan of protecting the ancient city, opening a new area, developing tourism, and revitalizing the economy. The so-called six towns in Jiangnan are Zhouzhuang, Tongli, Luzhi, Wuzhen, Xitang and Nanxun, which protect and develop the six towns. A very important point is that leaders like Secretary Songyang, like Zhouzhuang zhuangchundi (former mayor of Zhouzhuang town), Wuzhen has Chen Xianghong (chief designer of Wuzhen scenic spot), these people can understand this policy.
Zhang Weiwei: I asked Teacher Ruan, through your efforts and appeals, how many ancient cities and ancient towns were left under the "knife" in the end? He said fifty or so, which is remarkable.
Host: The protection of each place is easy to go into "a thousand villages and a thousand towns", how to protect personality and find individuality?
Li Hanqin: First, some of the city's planning concepts cannot be simply copied and relocated to the countryside. Because each village has its own environmental texture, a texture that is highly consistent with the natural ecology. Our ancestors were actually very clever and focused on planning.
Second, in this process, we insist on micro-transformation and refinement, and use some "embedded" and "acupuncture" methods to do some repairs to some things that are really dilapidated and cannot be copied, but we must repair the old as the old.
Third, we must pay attention to the local culture. Architecture is the shape, culture is the soul, just like Songyang, behind each village there is its set of cultural textures, our whole village has the surname Meng, the descendants of Mencius, the whole village surname Bao, Bao Zheng's descendants, and the entire village is surnamed Song, Song Lian's descendants. It is necessary to put these excellent cultural genes, such as "gentleness, courtesy and thrift, benevolence, righteousness, wisdom and faith", including the concept of "the unity of nature and man" and cultural genes, which are the best and profound things in our Chinese culture, which can be passed down well. I think these are the ones we think we think about in our usual practice.
Ruan Yisan: China's land is vast, China's historical traditions are also diverse, the northern courtyard, the southern hall design, to Shanghai into Shikumen, to Yunnan Guizhou has a four-in-five patio, all have their own important characteristics, the question is whether they can absorb their content well. For example, there is a big difference between the courtyard, the courtyard in Shanxi is different from the courtyard in Shaanxi, and the pit courtyard in Shaanxi has appeared. In Shanxi, like Pingyao, there was a kiln, which was flat on the ground, and then compared with the cave-like house, it was made into a gate, involving different forms, and it should be summarized.
Even if Suzhou and Yangzhou are very close, but separated by a Yangtze River, the architectural form is different, Jiangnan Water Town is a white wall black tile, to Yangzhou is a gray wall black tile.
In the construction of Jiangnan Water Town, each village has its own terrain and geographical conditions, but it has a unified function, such as the concept of feng shui is the same, the village should have a mountain, there must be a mountain. But because the terrain conditions are different, it adapts to local conditions and changes according to the situation, you must understand where the changing forces in the middle are, find its characteristics, and develop along its characteristics. So China is broad and profound.
The audience asked questions
Audience: Not long ago, there was a huge statue of Guan Gong in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, which was criticized by CCTV because it violated the protection plan of Jingzhou Historical and Cultural City because the construction process violated the protection plan of Jingzhou Historical and Cultural City. Please ask the teachers, how to avoid this kind of thing, at the same time, we build the Guan Gong statue to carry forward our traditional culture, then the protection of ancient buildings is also to carry forward our traditional culture, if there is a conflict, how do we make trade-offs? What is the criterion for judging in the middle?
Hubei Jingzhou giant Guan Gong statue attracts attention (source network)
Ruan Yisan: First of all, I tell you that I did the Jingzhou planning, and when I did it, I felt that it was not simple, Jingzhou City was small, but its walls were extremely complete, and it had been well built over the years since the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. In addition to the city wall itself, the urn city, its carved towers, one pheasant after another are very complete. But on the issue of making a statue of a public official, my opinion at the time was that this thing was sensationalism.
Zhang Weiwei: I haven't seen or heard this report myself, and I haven't carefully looked at the super-large Guan Gong statue, but I think it's probably not in harmony with the style of the whole city, which I think is a pity. Really sort out the context and texture of the whole city, and then make something along with it, which can really work well. Taste is very important, once the taste is broken, it destroys an ancient city. Now our education reform advocates learning more art, which I think makes sense.
Audience: With the development of social production methods, including poverty alleviation and relocation, the population of some natural villages is gradually clearing, and the vitality of farming culture has also weakened. Are all natural villages valuable and need to be protected? What are the criteria and basis for judging ancient villages or traditional villages?
Ruan Yisan: We still have a choice for the protection of these ancient villages, and this is also the case now. The standard, first of all, the ancient village, it has an ancient history, basically there are more than a hundred years of historical tradition records, such as Songyang more than six hundred years.
Second, the complete features preserved to the present day still exist, that is, more than half of the historical buildings in traditional villages, and these villages still have to be inhabited, not completely empty shells.
In addition, in addition to the buildings in the village, such as its water system, mountains, and other conditions, are important bases for historical heritage. So for these ancient villages, we have basically done research now.
Host: From the perspective of Songyang practice, how did you choose when choosing the object of protection of ancient villages?
Li Hanqin: It is really necessary to focus on some key points and highlight some key points. At present, these villages, which are more livable and have a relatively good ecological environment, should be well protected, like some geological disaster points, water source protection areas, especially high mountains and long roads, and the architectural form is also very general, then we must also treat them differently.
Zhang Weiwei: I would like to add that I still advocate mercy on my subordinates, especially for those who have obviously decided to dismantle them, a little slower, a little slower. Sometimes people's understanding has not developed to this point, looking back at what we have experienced in the past few decades, sometimes it does not meet the regulations, does not meet the standards, unless it is because of various reasons for economic development, we have to take some actions, otherwise, slow down. In another three or five years, ask an artist to take a look, and he may soon have a new idea and become a treasure again.
It's not a simple legal provision, sometimes art, it's alive. There are many things that we may not fully understand before, and once we understand them, they are huge wealth, and there may be some completely new ideas and new ideas.
Let me give you an example, sometimes some of these ancient villages are called old objects, old parts, which are also very valuable. These things make people who understand, people with vision, look at it, it is a historical memory.
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