Figure ①: In September 2023, the Procuratorate of Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province organized the trail search of public interest litigation for the protection of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage, and visited Shangpu terraces.
Figure ②: In September 2023, when the procurator of the Procuratorate of Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province visited the Shuinan Trunk Canal, he found that the canal was overgrown with weeds and had not been cleaned up for a long time. Some canals were floating with domestic garbage such as mineral water bottles and plastic snack bags, which caused white pollution.
On the third of March, go up the Spring Mountain and down the Spring Field. Shangpu terraces, located in Shangbao Township, Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province, usher in the most beautiful farming season of the year, just as the ancient poem goes: "Cultivating clouds and sowing rain, there is nothing spectacular in the world. Who cultivates mountains and waters? Hakka people hoe the moon."
When the realistic version of "Shangchun Mountain" spread out like a scroll in front of us, people couldn't help admiring the magnificent landscape of ten thousand mu terraces and the wisdom and civilization of the ancestors of Shangbao. In the sowing season, Shangpu terraces began to be filled with mountain spring water, and local growers began to loosen the soil before transplanting.
The water in the field is like a mirror, and the terraces of tens of thousands of mu are stacked from low to high, like a chain, like a belt, forming a picture of harmony between human and nature with the busy figure of people and scattered houses.
As one of the three wonders of terraced fields in China, Shangbao terraced fields were rated as "the largest Hakka terraced fields" by Shanghai Great World Guinness, awarded as "the world's important agricultural cultural heritage" by the FAO in April 2018, and included in the ninth batch of world irrigation project heritage lists in October 2022. However, just a few months ago, the millennium terraces were still facing difficulties such as overgrown weeds and siltation in some canals.
Shuinan main canal is blocked by silt
Speaking of the farming culture of Shangpu terraces, the local people have endless words. "The terraces here have a long history and are handed down from generation to generation. They can be traced back to the pre Qin period, originated in the Qin and Han dynasties, matured in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and perfected in the Ming and Qing dynasties. They have a history of 2200 years. Generations of ancestors built houses, dug fields, and expanded and repaired to today's grand scale."
The highest elevation of Shangbao terraces is 1260 meters, the lowest is 280 meters, the vertical drop is nearly kilometers, and the maximum is 62 terraces. The large fields are less than half an acre, and the small ones are only the size of coir raincoat. "The tiller wants his land". It can be imagined that when the ancestors came to this mountain fortress with many fields, in order to survive, they dug along the mountain and built according to the situation. From the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, they did not waste every inch of land. They built a canal to divert water from the gully, ingeniously opened terraces, and realized rice planting and agricultural production.
"The ancestors of Shangbao used water conservancy projects and land consolidation technology, which not only enabled the terraces to effectively use water resources, but also increased the yield of crops. This farming culture not only demonstrated the wisdom and diligence of farmers, but also reflected the concept of harmonious coexistence with nature." The staff of the local water conservancy bureau said that it was necessary to mention the Shuinan trunk canal.
What is Shuinan Trunk Canal? The core area of terrace is located in Shuinan Village and Chishui Village of Shangbao Township. A large number of historical and cultural relics have been formed in the water conservancy system of Shangbao terrace, including both engineering relics and non engineering relics directly related to the project. Shuinan main canal is the most typical engineering remains, while Panhu remains in Chishui Village are non engineering remains directly related to irrigation projects and agricultural culture.
Panhu is a person's name in ancient mythology, and its face is a dragon dog. The dragon dog is not a simple portrait of a dog, but a collection of various animal images: dragon head, dog ear, cow body, dog tail, tiger claw, and unicorn body. It is said that Panhu has human wisdom and superhuman supernatural power, which can protect people from grain harvest and prosperity. Panhu Site is a stone carving, located in a farmland in Chishui Village, Shangbao Township. It is a totem of Yao and She people. It is a physical proof of distinctive agricultural cultural characteristics such as the long history of irrigation projects and people's praying for good weather in ancient times. It has distinctive ethnic minority culture and Hakka culture, which can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. Through the changes of times and years, the Panhu remains still watch the land.
However, in September 2023, the Chongyi County Procuratorate, according to the work deployment of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, organized to carry out the protection clues of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage (hereinafter referred to as "double heritage"), and found that there were many problems in the protection of Shangbao terraces.
"After investigation, we found that Shuinan Trunk Canal, the most typical legacy of irrigation and drainage canal system in the heritage of Shangbao Irrigation Project, was plagued with weeds and had not been cleaned up for a long time due to natural wilderness and poor management. Some canals were silted up with silt. Some canals were floating with domestic garbage such as mineral water bottles and plastic snack bags. There was white pollution, which was an eyesore and also affected Irrigation water flows and pollutes water quality. " Lai Hengjun, the head of the second procuratorial department of the Chongyi County Procuratorate, told reporters that the serious blockage of the Shuinan main canal led to poor water flow and water pollution, which affected the functions of the terrace irrigation system, such as irrigation, flood control, drainage and ecological conservation. Undoubtedly, there are loopholes in the management and protection of canals.
Public interest litigation protection for millennium terraces
In further investigation, the prosecutor also found that Panhu Stone Carvings also had a lack of protection. "The Panhu stone carvings have been severely weathered and trampled on by the masses at will due to the lack of protective measures such as fencing." Lai Hengjun said that the Chongyi County Procuratorate filed a case for investigation on September 25, 2023.
According to relevant regulations, Chongyi County Agricultural and Rural Bureau takes the lead in protecting agricultural cultural heritage, and Chongyi County Water Conservancy Bureau (hereinafter referred to as "County Water Conservancy Bureau") takes the lead in protecting irrigation project heritage. Shuinan main canal is an agricultural water conservancy project in use, and the county water conservancy bureau is mainly responsible for supervising the irrigation canal agricultural water conservancy project. Chongyi County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Press, Publication and Tourism (hereinafter referred to as "Chongyi County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Press, Publication and Tourism") is responsible for the supervision of ancient cultural sites with historical value. On October 7, 2023, the Chongyi County Procuratorate issued a procuratorial proposal to the County Water Resources Bureau, suggesting that it conduct centralized cleaning of the involved canals, carry out comprehensive verification and rectification, and establish a normalized management and protection mechanism. On October 13, Chongyi County Procuratorate issued a procuratorial proposal to the County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, Press, Tourism and Tourism, suggesting that it immediately build fences and set protection signs for Panhu relics, and actively promote the application of Panhu relics for cultural relics protection units.
Although the relevant competent departments all recognized the importance of protecting cultural heritage, the rectification of the problem was once stalled due to differences in the understanding of different departments on issues such as canal protection and the origin of Panhu remains, and overlapping responsibilities.
How to break the public interest litigation
On October 24, 2023, Chongyi County Procuratorate organized the county water conservancy bureau, county agricultural and rural bureau, county cultural, broadcasting, new tourism bureau and other departments to hold a joint meeting to clarify the responsibilities of all parties. Finally, all departments reached an agreement on the rectification method and time limit, cleaned more than 10 kilometers of canals, and arranged personnel to conduct regular inspection and cleaning. Relevant departments have formulated a long-term protection plan. The local county government has issued the Plan of Chongyi County on Establishing an Administrative and Judicial Protection Cooperation Mechanism for Shangbao Terraces, and set up a protection cooperation leading group headed by the county leader.
Soon, Shuinan Trunk Canal, which has been flowing for hundreds of years, was restored to be smooth, clean and flowing. Panhu remains were approved as a county-level cultural relics protection unit, and fences and signs were built around it. At present, the problems existing in the protection of Shuinan main canal and Panhu remains have been effectively rectified.
"The protection of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage has the nature of public welfare, and the procuratorial public interest litigation has the role of complementing administrative law enforcement. By making and issuing procuratorial recommendations, the procuratorial organ coordinates all departments to actively perform their duties, and establishes a common protection mechanism, which has great potential in promoting comprehensive and long-term protection of cultural heritage." Lai Hengjun said.
"The report of the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to strengthen the protection of cultural relics and cultural heritage, and strengthen the protection and inheritance of historical culture in urban and rural construction." Shi Sai, chief procurator of the Chongyi County Procuratorate, said, "There is a long way to go to carry forward the excellent traditional culture of China, and to strengthen the protection, transmission and rational use of cultural relics and cultural heritage requires joint action by the whole society."
Shangbao terraces cover an area of more than 50000 mu. The core area of terraces is located in Shuinan Village, Chishui Village and other places in Shangbao Township. There are a large number of historical and cultural sites in the water conservancy system of Shangbao terraces, including Yangming cultural sites such as the "Pingchaliao Stele" carved on the rocks by Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty. The Chongyi County Procuratorate handled the case through procuratorial work, provided all-round legal protection and services for the overall revitalization of the countryside, and urged the protection of Shangbao terraced agricultural culture and irrigation project heritage. The administrative public welfare lawsuit aimed at the problem that cultural relics should be protected but were not included in the protection scope. When handling cases in the field of cultural relics and cultural heritage protection, the procuratorial organs always adhere to the first priority of administrative organs in safeguarding public welfare. When the administrative organs can not effectively protect cultural relics even though they have exhausted administrative means, the procuratorial organs can further achieve effective protection of cultural relics by starting administrative public interest litigation procedures to urge the performance of duties.
In December 2023, the case was selected as a typical case of public interest litigation for the protection of cultural relics and cultural heritage issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Contribute procuratorial power to the protection of "double heritage"
"As an important global agricultural cultural heritage and world irrigation project heritage, Shangbao terraces are an important part of China's historical and cultural heritage system, and have important historical and cultural values for the research of China's ancient agricultural production and life, natural environment, cultural inheritance, etc." said Wen Fei, a deputy to the National People's Congress and smelting engineer of Jiangxi Pingxiang Pinggang Anyuan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd, In view of the overlapping responsibilities of the main bodies and unclear protection standards in the protection of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage, it is of great significance for the procuratorial organ to play the procuratorial function of public interest litigation, promote multiple departments to clarify their responsibilities, coordinate governance, improve the mechanism, and promote the overall and long-term protection of cultural heritage.
Lei Yanqin, deputy to the National People's Congress and secretary of the Party Committee of Zhangping She Nationality Township, Guixi City, Jiangxi Province, also said that the procuratorial organ urged the water conservancy and cultural tourism departments to fully perform their duties according to law, establish a mechanism for administrative law enforcement and judicial protection cooperation, promote the inclusion of "double heritage" into the management of cultural relics protection units, clarify protection standards, strengthen daily management and protection, and effectively promote the protection and inheritance of cultural relics and cultural heritage. In the next step, we should strengthen the judicial protection of "double heritage", make full use of the rule of law to serve the construction of a strong cultural province, and contribute procuratorial power to the protection of "double heritage".
"The Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on the Key Work of Comprehensively Promoting Rural Revitalization in 2023 put forward that we should deepen the implementation of the inheritance and protection project of agricultural culture and strengthen the protection and utilization of important agricultural cultural heritage. The Supreme People's Procuratorate also issued the Tips on Strengthening the Public Interest Litigation Work of Agricultural Cultural Heritage and Irrigation Project Heritage Protection." Shi said that in recent years, Chongyi County Procuratorate explored and handled 20 public interest litigation cases in the field of "dual heritage" protection, including 16 administrative public interest litigation cases involving forest, mine, water, forest land, and 4 criminal incidental civil public interest litigation cases.
"But in handling cases, we also encountered some difficult problems." Shi Sai further explained that first, the application of laws and policies was difficult. Compared with general cultural heritage, agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage have gaps or deficiencies in the application of laws and policies. For example, relevant laws and regulations are lacking or incomplete, and specific protection measures and practice standards are not clear, which brings difficulties to the performance of procuratorial public interest litigation. The second is the difficulty of evidence collection. In the case of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage protection, evidence collection is faced with such problems as the long time span of damage behavior, the wide area involved, and the complex influencing factors, which make it more difficult to collect and fix evidence. Third, conflicts of interest and coordination difficulties. In some cases, the protection of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage may conflict with local economic development, residents' life and other interests. How to balance the interests of all parties requires careful consideration in public interest litigation. Fourth, the administrative organs have different understanding of their functions, which is likely to lead to the situation of no management. Fifth, there are difficulties in financing. The procuratorate of Chongyi County has solved the above problems one by one in handling cases, and has promoted the establishment of a departmental alliance and cooperation mechanism for terrace protection.
To this end, the Chongyi County Procuratorate set up a special working class, launched the procuratorial culture brand of "benefit · heartland", put forward the core ideas and content, and promoted the concept renewal and work implementation with the "unity of knowledge and practice". The hospital also carried out cross provincial cooperation with the procuratorial organs of neighboring counties to strengthen public welfare protection in the field of quality and safety of agricultural products with local characteristics, such as tea, tea oil, Huangyuan rice fruit, Jiuceng peel, rice, etc., and carried out protection activities for national key protected plants (such as Alsophila spinulosa, Golden haired dog fern, orchid, etc.) and red resources, to promote rural environmental improvement, and strive to promote the protection and inheritance of rural history and culture with solid results The national strategy of rural revitalization contributes procuratorial power to the protection of "double heritage".
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