Let villagers decide what they want

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A7

December 12, 2019

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Let villagers decide what they want

By Wang Yong | 00:19 UTC+8 December 12, 2019 |

Print Edition

As many cities busy themselves with building “beautiful villages,” a question arises as to what really makes a village beautiful.

I have been to many villages and found they are indeed no longer as muddy as they were, say, ten years ago, given the now prevailing paved paths and painted walls.

At the entrance to some villages, you will probably see an erected stone on which are carved: meili xiangcun (beautiful village).

I love these villages because a paved path for walking or jogging flanked by trees and rivers is quite a luxury in city proper.

But as I go deeper into these villages, I feel something is lacking that makes a village authentic: chicken, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep and cattle.

Only a few cats and dogs can be seen here and there.

“Scattered raising of poultry and livestock is largely forbidden in many villages for the sake of sprucing up the environment,” writes Liu Qi, vice chairman of China Agricultural Economics Association and a researcher at the Counselors’ Office of the State Council, in an article released by Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

The title of his article is: “Don’t leave farmers high and dry above the land off which they live.”

In plain language, the author reminisces about what he calls a bygone era of rural life abundant in free-range livestock and poultry.

Standardized fencing

“It’s a natural law that men and animals eat plants and nourish the land with their night soil,” he explains. “In centralized raising of poultry and livestock, however, animals’ excrement can hardly come back to feed the soil, leading to an increase in the use of fertilizer and a decrease in land quality.”

In some villages, he notices, farmers are even barred from fencing their homes with wood, bamboo or straw, because these materials “are not beautiful enough.” In their stead, plastic fences are used to “standardize” what a fenced life should look like.

Examples abound in the author’s article that illustrate an urbanite policymaker’s ultimate failure to understand the difference between urban and rural life. “Let farmers decide what they want,” he appeals.

Without beautiful villages, there will be no beautiful China.

But superficial gentrification effort does little in gratifying a farmer’ longing for a better life.

Opinion

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Let villagers decide what they want

Email this to your friend