Baiheyuan Village Demolished: What Memories Do You Remember About Folk Tourism?
Abstract
China Youth Commentary
We need to give value to exquisite craftsmanship and ingenious techniques, not let 'characteristic towns' fall into decline.
Relying on unique geographical features and historical legacy, as well as the social effect brought by famous literary works and film IPs, the Baiheyuan Folk Culture Village scenic area in Shiyan, Lantian County, China, was opened in 2016, positioning itself as 'an integrated cultural tourism project combining ecological agricultural tourism, folk culture experience, agricultural activities experience, and rural luxury leisure vacation.' However, the good business situation did not last long, and Baiheyuan Folk Village was subsequently deserted and recently demolished.
Cultural towns aim to integrate urban and rural areas, industry and agriculture, nature and humanity, tradition and modernity, material culture and non-material culture. They intend to develop cultural tourism to make up for the loss of cultural traditions in the process of urbanization. Historical, folk, and cultural elements are the basic elements of such projects, and their mission is also to educate cultural awareness and promote national spirit.
In reality, most of the imitation ancient buildings, interspersed with a few renovated historical and folk-style small towns, make up for the material 'characteristics' of most historical and folk-style small towns. When people step into these 'scenic areas,' they enter a pattern of admiring scenery, taking photos, shopping, and leisure entertainment. Because of the obvious resemblance to similar competitive products, 'a thousand towns with one face' has been created, causing tourists to become bored with the aesthetics.
What impression do we have of the cultural characteristic small towns? Besides the regional-featured buildings, food, and scenery, what occupies a soft place in our hearts is the customs and people-specific to other regions. Only they can evoke the nostalgia that everyone has in their hearts.
For characteristic small towns that emphasize 'folk traditions' but have wasted a good hand, and have deviated from the balance between economic value and folk value, it is necessary for them to return to 'folk culture' through commercialization, so that they can obtain economic benefits while preserving the collective memory of local residents and awakening people's deep-seated self-identity.
Visible buildings and utensils give the characteristic small town a material and aesthetic basis. The non-material cultural heritage that flows in life is the real time and survival rules and paradigms experienced by people, it is a regional unique cultural capital, it belongs to this settlement population and class collective memory. These are the key features that allow locals to distinguish themselves from 'others'.
Local characteristic folk culture space is inseparable from the participation and life of local residents. Let local residents, 'indigenous people' become the true masters of the characteristic small town, thus maintaining the dual value of the material and non-material cultural heritage of the folk culture space. 'Local residents' are transmitting relatively original lifestyles and survival wisdom, they have strong ethnic cohesion due to being born and raised in the region; they are more capable of guiding young migrant workers to continue their lifestyle customs and life rituals when returning to their hometowns, and based on the existing cultural system, rebuild 'new traditions'; at the same time, they can bring local culture into a broader 'audience'.
Conversely, many characteristic small towns have dismissed local residents and recruited foreign operators, which has driven away the authentic lifestyle traditions and inadvertently reshaped the local cultural ecosystem.
The heavens and mountains, the earth, and the prevailing commercial environment will undoubtedly give birth to rich Chinese-style folk culture space. We need to give value to exquisite craftsmanship and ingenious techniques, not let 'characteristic towns' fall into decline.
Written by/Zhang Wenjing
WeChat editor/Wang Zhong
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