Narrator: Zheng Sheng, Deputy Curator of Songyang County Museum, Zhejiang Province, and Person in Charge of "Saving Old Houses"
From November 2019 to January 2022, I was transferred to the Leading Group Office for the Protection and Development of Old Houses in Famous Cities and Ancient Villages in Songyang County to coordinate the protection and utilization of old houses in the whole county. How to protect and make good use of the old houses and other cultural relics in traditional villages? Songyang's "save the old house" action gives the answer.
The "Save Old Houses" initiative mainly supports the protection and utilization of low-grade, non-state-owned and immovable cultural relics in Chinese traditional villages. In recent years, we have continuously upgraded the action of "saving old houses", relying on the centralized protection and utilization project of traditional villages and the green development project of the core area of the national traditional village park, from 1.0 focusing on repair, to 2.0 focusing on activation and utilization, to 3.0 built in the area, and 4.0 based on the living plan, forming the "Songyang experience" of low-grade cultural relics protection and utilization, Re awaken the sleeping rural resources and cultural resources, and earnestly "let the residents see the mountains, water and homesickness".
In the "Save Old Houses" campaign, we completed the repair of 312 old houses in 75 villages in the county, covering an area of about 179000 square meters. In view of the problem that the old house has a long history, the structure of the house is aging, and there are risks of accidents such as fire and collapse, we introduce insurance mechanism and use insurance to solve the disaster risk of immovable cultural relics. In addition to the old houses, the ancient roads in Songyang villages have also been properly repaired according to the principle of "repair as old", and the corridor houses, ancient wells, ancient monuments and ancient trees have been preserved. With the restoration of low-grade cultural relics such as old houses as the entry point, the living environment of the village has been improved and the ancient village has regained vitality.
Protection without development is ultimately unsustainable. Songyang's action of "saving old houses", adhering to the principle of "rational utilization is the best protection", leverages the repaired old house resources, leverages the ecological resources including mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes and other historical and cultural resources, innovatively tries to integrate multiple business types, and activates rural development resources. We have creatively designed the digital platform of "saving old houses", and digital empowerment has built the whole chain protection and utilization pattern of "supervision, repair, utilization and experience" of old houses to accelerate the activation and utilization of old houses.
The protection of traditional villages should be considered in the context of the overall planning of urban and rural development and the strategy of rural revitalization. In particular, the basic status of low-grade cultural relics such as old houses should not be ignored. We actively explore the road of rural revitalization led by culture. More than half of the rural old houses in the county have been planted with cultural creativity, mountain residential homestays, intangible cultural heritage workshops, art galleries, digital experience and other forms of business. The exploration of Songyang's cultural industry enabling rural revitalization has provided a new starting point for the high-quality development of culture and tourism, and a new path for common prosperity in mountainous areas.
We hope that, relying on the complete village system and fresh cultural forms, thousands of old houses in Songyang will flourish and low-level cultural relics will glow with new vitality of the times.
(Project team: Guangming Daily reporters Fang Li, Li Hong, Zhang Guosheng, Li Jianbin, Lu Jian, Zhang Shiying, Guangming Daily trainee reporter Li Jiaxin, Guangming Daily correspondent Li Meng)
Guangming Daily (May 8, 2024, 7th Edition)
