Time and money required to save vanishing villages
Print Edition
Yangmei in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is one of south China’s most beautiful traditional villages. The complex boasts architectural features spanning the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and, despite being hundreds of years old, it is still inhabited.
Sadly, villages like these are at risk of vanishing. More than 900,000 disappeared over the past decade, and it is estimated that 100 villages are gone every day.
One village with historical value disappears every three days in central China’s Henan Province, according to the Chinese Village Culture Research Center at Central South University.
Chinese film director Feng Xiaogang can attest to this. He said he could not find a suitable village setting for his movie “Back to 1942,” which was set in Henan.
“The crew had to move to another village in neighboring Shanxi Province, even though this village was also in a dire state of disrepair,” he said.
Sanjiangpo Village in Guangxi dates back more than 600 years. However, due to a lack of protection, many traditional dwellings are unfit for habitation. Fewer than 300 of the autonomous region’s 180,000 villages are classed as ancient.
Peng Xintang, an official with the region’s department of housing and urban-rural development, said most old villages are in less developed areas, which makes them difficult to reach and thus hindering preservation efforts.
The local government is very focused on economic development but this is done at the expense of ancient villages, Peng said.
“Money is also an issue,” Peng said, as maintenance and restoration requires a constant channel of funds.
Zhu Tao, vice dean of an urban and rural planning design institute in Guangxi, said “resident drain” was also a huge problem.
Zhu said that as villagers moved to cities, the villages became ghost towns.
A nationwide survey, launched last year, identified more than 2,500 traditional villages at risk and included them on the protection list.
Guidelines on renovation
Feng Jicai, chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, said that more than 200 traditional villages on the list had been surveyed.
“The intangible cultural heritage of these villages has been officially identified through this process,” Feng said.
Earlier this month, the Beijing government issued guidelines on traditional village renovation, banning the construction of mock-ancient structures.
Twenty-three villages in Guangxi now receive 3 million yuan (US$480,000) each from the central government every year to support maintenance.
Another 46 villages will also receive financial assistance once their customized preservation plans are completed.
Peng said the protection of ancient villages is a huge and complicated project that requires both time and money.
The public must also be onboard and support the preservation of these important symbols of Chinese culture.
“I hope one day nostalgia becomes a social trend, and more people will want to protect and live in old villages,” Peng said.
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