Preserve the past to live the future

An old man nearly 70-years-old plows a field in a village in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Nov 26, 2014. Although most of the young people have left the village to work in the city, the old man continues farming the fields. [Photo/IC]

Tangible and intangible, both vulnerable

The Chinese countryside not only shelters most of the Chinese population, but also contains many good, deep-rooted beliefs, philosophy, lifestyle and universal humanity.

"However, many people in China are misled by a fervent passion for city-building and very eager to discard this rural legacy," said Jiang Haoshu, a civil servant in Beijing and active volunteer in village services. "And it gave rise to much unnecessary destruction and self-rejection in the countryside."

In China's rural areas, it is a common conception for villagers to demolish old houses to build bigger new ones as a status symbol and to showcase growing wealth. Unfortunately, the design resources in the rural areas are not growing accordingly.

"As a result, rural architecture has less and less personality. Ancient designs are not kept, traditional carpenters have changed jobs, and new rural houses start to copy designs in the city," explained Professor He. "In the end, a village no more looks like a village and it is not a city either. It looks like nothing."