Village China, comprised of Village China Experience and Village China Project, was founded by members of a team who participated in the cross-cultural Yin Yu Tang house project at the Peabody Essex Museum. The invaluable cultural lessons offered by the Yin Yu Tang house project is well documented in a recent article in the Martha Stewart Living magazine. Moved by their own deep educational experiences in Huang Cun, the hometown of Yin Yu Tang, concerned with the value in modern times of preserving traditional village culture manifest in Yin Yu Tang, and wanting to benefit Yin Yu Tang's home village, the group decided to create an institute to:
- To broaden the understanding of traditional Chinese rural culture through immersion in the lifestyles of one specific Huizhou village, Huang Cun.
- To preserve the village of Huang Cun so that it can maintain its rich identity as a typical Huizhou agricultural society; to assist Huang Cun's residents in developing a plan for thoughtful, sustainable progress while honoring their existing traditions and thereby become a model to further inspire preservation and sustainable development in other villages throughout China.
- To preserve the specific building, Zhong Xian Di, its history, its historic fabric and construction techniques.
Since 2006, many groups and individuals have visited the Institute at Zhong Xian Di in Huang Cun including college student groups, graduate architectural student groups, Beijing-based foreign embassy delegations, scholarly researchers, adult travel groups and individual travelers. During their visits, guests tour the village, the school and the surrounding landscape, view and participate in demonstrations of rural traditions including farming, basket-making, furniture-making, and cooking, interact with local villagers, and, in some cases, do academic research. Their stays have ranged from one to seven days. Feedback has been exceptional, with many visitors stating that their trip to Huang Cun was the highlight of their trip to China.
The visual appearance of the Huang Cun has been greatly improved since the project began, and those improvements have been recognized by local county officials as well as by visiting national Beijing delegations. Wang Shukai, Director of Village China, has worked with the villagers to remove litter around the village, the waterways and the landscape, and to create centralized garbage areas. Bridges over the waterways were repaired. Local county, provincial and national government agencies, impressed by the improvements, donated funds to reconstruct the original stone paths in the village and clean and rejuvenate the crescent-shaped lotus pond in Upper Huang Cun village. Modern-style homes, built in the past thirty years, have been removed so that the traditional appearance of the village has begun to be revived. The Beijing government has since promoted Huang Cun as one of ten model villages in the country.
Oh Yeah!
In addition to hosting groups at Zhong Xian Di, the Village China Project hopes to further its mission with several significant projects:
- The Organic Cooperative project would bring in agricultural specialist consultants to create an organic-ization plan for the village, educate the local population in the production of regionally appropriate organic agricultural products, and assist the village in establishing an agricultural coop and distribution network. Because of the growing demand in China for organic food, such a coop would offer the residents an opportunity to financially sustain the village with an agriculturally based economy.
- The Yin Yu Tang Reconstruction project would reconstruct Yin Yu Tang on the building's original site with modern "green" amenities and utilities. The project would be:
- an educational program that would offer international visitors, over a period of several years, to watch and/or participate in historic architectural and construction techniques
- a preservation program to teach local people the historic building techniques and encourage the continued practice and respect for traditional artisanry
- a new model for rural housing in China that incorporates unique traditional local characteristics, modern amenities and sustainable "green," energy-efficient features.
- Huang Cun primary school improvement initiative to assist the local school in expanding the number of grades, classes and teachers.
- Due to VillageChina's positive influence for the village preservation, a recent donation of 400 thousand RMB(about 60 thousand dollars) by an anonymous American owner has helped Huangcun finish an extensive preservation plan for the village’s old residents, temples and all public buildings and surrounding areas. To follow up on the plan, the provincial government has also announced recently that it is in the process of raising 10-million RMB(about 1.5 million USD) to execute the reparation designed for Zhong Xian Di, over 200-year-old residential building and the ancient village Huangcun overall.