The Department of Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang Province recently released typical cases of cultural and tourism integration development in the province, sharing the stories of exploration and practice in various places. Songyang, Lishui City, is listed as a case of rural revitalization in the context of cultural and tourism integration.
Songyang County has a history of over 1800 years and is known as the “Last Jiangnan Secret Realm”. Up to now, there are still more than 100 ancient villages with complete patterns in the territory, of which 75 are Chinese traditional villages, ranking first in the country in number. It is the county with the most traditional villages and the richest styles in East China.
In 2016, the China Heritage Protection Foundation identified Songyang as the only pilot county for the whole county to promote the “Save the Old House Action”, which effectively protected the cultural relics and greatly improved the living conditions of villagers. Meanwhile, during the project implementation process, many ordinary people joined the repair team, driving the revival of the traditional construction industry and the prosperity of the masses.
At present, more than 100 ancient villages and more than 1200 traditional buildings in Songyang County have been listed for protection, more than 210 old houses, more than 200 ancestral temples, and more than 20 ancient covered bridges have been repaired, driving 118 villages into new rural tourism formats such as homestay, ecological agriculture, and cultural industry. On this basis, we have successfully established a provincial-level comprehensive tourism demonstration county, 2 provincial-level tourism style towns, 104 provincial-level A-level scenic villages, and 1 national key rural tourism village. We have also built a batch of high-quality homestay demonstration projects such as Guoyun Mountain Residence, Yunduan Seeking Land, and Mingkeli, with a total of 526 homestays built and a total operating income of 170 million yuan.
Songyang always adheres to the spirit of craftsmanship and quality awareness throughout the entire process of the “Save the Old House Action”. It has introduced a group of excellent technical teams and universities such as Tsinghua University and the University of Hong Kong to participate in the construction of key demonstration projects, attracting many brands to settle in Songyang. The introduction of these excellent teams has brought positive demonstration effects to tourism development, and has also driven local cadres and masses to update their concepts and enhance their quality awareness. Local craftsmen who master traditional skills can also regain their skills.
Now, the first and second phases of the “Save the Old House Action” project have been successfully completed, and the innovative utilization project is also steadily advancing. The rebirth of the old houses has rediscovered the value of the countryside, significantly improved the rural living environment, profoundly adjusted the Morphogenesis of the rural economy, effectively continued the rural context, and presented a vigorous development vitality in the countryside.
Lai Qixian, a researcher of the Agricultural science, said when commenting on typical cases that Songyang started with the protection and development of traditional villages, carried out “the action of saving old houses”, formed a deep integration development mechanism of primary, secondary and tertiary industries with old houses as the carrier, and explored and formed an integrated development model of agriculture, culture and tourism “retaining nostalgia, maintaining roots, developing economy, and benefiting villagers”.
(Editor in Chief: Sun Peng, Wang Liwei)
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