"Cultural Village Head" Cultivates Culture in Rural Areas

"Pigeons are flying in the blue sky, cattle and sheep are fat on the green grass, and Xinhua Village in the new era is changing every day..." In the activity room of Xinhua Village, Taibenzhan Town, Ulanhot City, Xing'an League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, more than 30 villagers followed Leng Fengge, the "cultural village head", to learn to sing the village song "Xinhua Village - a rich hometown" sentence by sentence.

The 67 year old Leng Fengge is the head of the Ulanhot Old People's Art Troupe. When he came to Xinhua Village in 2022 to be the "cultural village head", he took the lead in creating village songs and organizing villagers to carry out singing competitions and yangko competitions. The villagers who "have nothing to do with sleeping on the kang" were mobilized to become "lively people" actively participating in cultural activities.

Since 2022, Ulanhot has carried out the "cultural village heads" to help promote rural culture, and 51 villages (Gacha) have been equipped with "cultural village heads". The "cultural village head" has many cultural talents, including Wulan herders, retired teachers, etc. Through organizing and carrying out activities such as theoretical lectures, loud village songs, and writing a better life, it not only enriched the cultural life of the masses, but also promoted exchanges and exchanges among the people of all ethnic groups.

"The 'cultural village head' not only brings cultural activities to the countryside, but also 'plants' the seeds of culture in the countryside," Leng Fengge said. After leading the villagers to sing and dance for nearly two years, he was delighted to find that more and more villagers were willing to take the stage. "For the first time, I went to the village to perform with the members of the aged art troupe, and the villagers just sat down and applauded. Now the villagers can sing and perform small plays, and they can also give four or five performances in the artistic performances."

Wang Xiujie, a 71 year old villager in Xinhua Village, did not dare to think that there would be village songs in the village before, let alone that he would stand on the stage and sing village songs. "The song is about our hometown. It's very kind to sing it with the old sisters in the neighborhood," she said.

Bai Hong, secretary of the Party branch of Xinhua Village, said that Xinhua Village is a large family composed of Han, Mongolian, Manchu, Korean and other ethnic groups. With the arrival of the "cultural village head", there are more and more cultural activities in the village, and people of all ethnic groups gather to sing and dance together, enjoying themselves.

Agula, the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage at the level of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is the "cultural village head" of Hugejilegacha in Gegenmiao Town. He compiled national policies, village rules and regulations, family customs stories, etc. into Hercules, and preached to the villagers with catchy lyrics.

"Villagers not only love to listen to Horatio, but also learn to create Horatio by themselves. They have written about not littering, not drinking and gambling." After several lectures, the villager Bai Shanhu found Agula and asked him to revise his Horatio. Agula said, "This shows me the power of culture, which is an infection, but also a guide."

Yang Jipeng, member of the Xing'an League Committee and secretary of the Ulanhot Municipal Party Committee, said that the "cultural village head" fully meets the cultural needs of the villagers and brings many literary and artistic projects into the countryside. Rural cultural activities are "managed, performed and helped", which has injected vitality into the development of rural culture. More and more villagers have changed from "learning culture" to "using culture", from "being the audience" to "being the protagonist", enjoying increasingly rich cultural life.

The seeds of culture are sown in the countryside, which nourishes the cultural life of villagers and also boosts the development of rural tourism.

Sanhe Village, Ulanhada Town, was rated as "a village with Chinese ethnic characteristics". The folk custom pedestrian street in the village is full of stores such as featured catering and folk custom experience. On the small square in the middle of the pedestrian street, the village song "Daoxiang Memory" sung by the villagers' choir attracted tourists to stop and listen.

"The villagers can basically sing the village songs. In the peak tourist season, the village will hold a small square performance. Tourists walk around the village in the song, overlooking the paddy field outside the village, and feel a different poetic atmosphere." Li Xiaolu, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Ulanhada Town, introduced.

It is understood that the "cultural village heads" of villages (Gacha) in Ulanhot have organized music volunteers to collect folk songs in the villages, and have created 17 village songs. In combination with the village songs, the village dances have been arranged and performed, and a total of 160 village dances have been created. In the cultural and tourism activities in rural areas such as the Azalea Festival, the Horse Racing Festival and the Picking Festival, village songs and village dances have become one of the most eye-catching programs, driving the popularity of rural tourism to further increase.

Yang Jipeng said that in the future, we should continue to guide the "cultural village head" to play a role, be a good ambassador to spread positive cultural energy, promote local civilization, tap local cultural resources, and boost the revitalization of rural culture.