Regions in China retain original appearance of traditional villages while improving living environment

China has placed 8,155 traditional villages under state protection since the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development released a state protection list of traditional villages in collaboration with several other departments in 2012. Provincial-level and city-level regions in the country have also issued corresponding protection lists of traditional villages.

Photo shows Wubaotian village, which dates back over 400 years, in Shangpuxi Yao ethnic township, Chenxi county, central China’s Hunan Province. (People’s Daily/Sun Liji)

Recent years have seen multiple places in China rolling out specific policies and measures to protect traditional villages, and have designated them as key sites under government protection at different levels. These policies and measures have played a prominent role in maintaining the original appearance of traditional villages.

While retaining the original appearance of traditional villages, regions across China have also optimized the villagers’ living environment.

“To improve the rural living environment is to ensure better protection and development of traditional villages,” said Hu Binbin, director of the Chinese Village Culture Research Center of the Central South University in central China’s Hunan Province.

Hu put forward measures to make traditional dwellings more livable with convenient and modern living facilities and suggested improving relevant laws and regulations, and supporting eligible villagers in traditional villages in building new houses in places away from their original homes.

Wuyuan county in Shangrao city, east China’s Jiangxi Province, has adopted four measures to protect ancient dwellings and buildings, said Liu Guangyao, deputy director of the county’s housing and urban-rural development bureau.

The county constructs new residential houses, assists villagers in traditional villages in building new houses in places away from their original homes, supports the appropriate use of ancient dwellings, and encourages third parties to “claim” ancient buildings featuring clear ownership for restoration, according to Liu. This way, the county does its best to protect traditional villages while improving the living conditions of locals.

Multiple regions have begun attaching importance to raising villagers’ awareness of protecting traditional villages and motivating them to do so. For example, some villagers are employed as personnel or docents responsible for the protection of cultural relics in traditional villages.

Some places have rolled out measures to inherit skills in traditional villages, such as those for restoring ancient buildings. Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality carried out a survey of craftsmen of ancient buildings, formed a list of such craftsmen and trained more craftsmen.

Some regions have cultivated new rural industries to retain talent by properly commercializing traditional villages to avoid the phenomenon of “hollow villages,” where there are only the elderly and children as young people leave their hometowns to work in cities. “Hollow villages” pose challenges to the protection of traditional villages.

Jinxi county in Fuzhou city, Jiangxi, has sparked villagers’ initiative to protect the original features of traditional villages by sharing in renovation spending.

Zhang Wengui, Party chief of Jinxi county, said the county established a center for the protection and commercialization of traditional villages, and villagers could entrust their old houses to the local government.

“A cultural relics protection foundation funded half of the renovation for each household, and a special fund and fiscal allocation accounted for 30 percent of the expenses,” said Zhang, adding that the rest was self-raised.

“This way, we alleviated the burden for villagers to restore their old houses and motivated them to participate in the restoration of traditional villages,” Zhang noted.

Li Huadong, an associate professor of the Faculty of Architecture, Civil and Transportation Engineering (FACTE) at Beijing University of Technology, said that villagers have continuously raised awareness of the protection of ancient villages, especially those who benefited from the protection, thanks to enhanced efforts to popularize knowledge about protecting traditional villages.

For instance, Cheng Hongxia, owner of an ancient dwelling dating back more than 300 years in Renli village, Yingzhou township, Jixi county, east China’s Anhui Province, once worked outside the village. She has been running an agritainment business at her ancient dwelling after returning to her hometown. “We will continue to protect our ancient dwelling,” Cheng said.