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July 30, 2020

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Humble farmer working hard to keep history alive

Among a row of village houses with grey walls and wooden doors, a two-story building stands out not just for its height but also for the words hanging at the entrance: 鈥淛iahe Museum.鈥

Jiahe 鈥 well-growing rice seedlings 鈥 reveals the agricultural aspect of the museum, including its founder, Wang Jijia, who is a 53-year-old farmer in Zhuanglang County in northwest China鈥檚 Gansu Province.

Wang exhibits old items he has collected over the past 30 years in his museum that he established on the second floor of his house in 2019. Placed inside are glass cabinets, ink stone, phonographs, and magnetic tapes, among others, which chronicle stories of the bygone era.

Wang shoulders the roles of a curator and a collector. 鈥淎s a farmer, I am full of emotion about what happens on the land,鈥 he says.

When he was in high school, Wang was captivated by a pile of papers found at home 鈥 some documents and certificates showing the lifestyle of the older generations.

鈥淟ooking at those crumpled, yellowish papers from the past, I can鈥檛 help wondering the stories behind them,鈥 he said.

That鈥檚 how Wang鈥檚 odyssey with collectibles began.

Since then, he devoted all his spare time wandering around salvage stations, bookstalls, and neighborhoods to collect old stuff, such as books, certificates, and other items of daily use.

Wang鈥檚 farm tools like shovels and hoes, remind him of the days spent with his grandparents on the field. Farmers would toil while singing folk songs to boost their spirits 鈥 a distinct scene in the northwestern countryside, he said.

Wang鈥檚 hometown in the county of Zhuanglang was surrounded by loess plateau, and soil erosion made it hard for locals to find a living from the soil.

However, shedding sweat in the field, he remembers people never giving up never giving up hopes of a good yield.

And after years of effort, they finally built the spectacular local terrace landscape.

Sop, many of Wang鈥檚 objects are from that era celebrating his family history. Over the years, as his collections grew larger. So did his dream. In 2017, inspired by an exhibition in the province, he had the idea of establishing a museum of his collectibles. He hoped to offer the public a chance to recall those past days.

He borrowed money from the bank and used his knowledge from visiting various public museums across the country to design his own museum.

In two years, Wang built the museum that covers about 500 square meters with over 20,000 exhibits, ranging from items as old as several thousand years and new objects from his parents鈥 generation.

鈥淐hinese people are nostalgic, and some of them have experienced ups and downs that were totally different from today,鈥 Wang said.


 

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