Art Empowers New Rural Development

Recently, a set of scenic photos has been widely circulated on various social platforms: a natural green wall covered with ivy, with the words "The Wind Rises" written on it. This scene has been praised as "Hayao Miyazaki's anime coming to life", successfully attracting tourists from Fujian, Wuhan, and other places to come and take photos". I always thought Wenzhou was commercially developed, but I didn't expect to have such an artistic village hidden here," said Ms. Chen, who was amazed that a wall could become a popular spot for internet celebrities.

The village has become an art space, and the fields have become canvases and stages. According to the planner of the "The Wind Rises" art installation, Uncle Spring, this is precisely the charm of "artistic rural construction." "Let artists become the yeast in the revitalization of the countryside, and let the rural context be'fermented' through artistic actions and aesthetic cognition, baking out a unique charm of Zhangli Village".

How did Zhangli Village become an "attractor" of art? This originated from a practice about the "million project" 20 years ago. Zhangli Village is a well-known overseas Chinese village in Lucheng. At the end of the last century, a large number of young people in the village went to France, Italy, and other places to fight, leaving behind mostly the elderly and children in the village. The village's industry has been in decline for a long time, and its development has always been "a step behind".

"Only by wiping away the'dirt' of the countryside can we attract talents to come", said Bao Aitong, the Party branch secretary and village committee director of Zhangli Village. To this end, Zhangli Village officially launched a special environmental rectification action, making micro-improvements and refinements to the rivers, river railings, riverside roads, and utility poles within its jurisdiction, taking the first step in transformation. Subsequently, various rectification actions related to "beauty", such as"Beautiful Courtyard","Pollution Control", and "Comprehensive Rectification of Small Towns", were launched one after another, pressing the "acceleration button" for Zhangli Village's "transformation record".

After repairing the old, it is also necessary to introduce the new. According to the government's guidance and long-term lease methods, Zhangli Village set the rent standards for the renovated idle residential buildings and formulated policies such as rent reduction and exemption. With "interesting" as one of the conditions for entering, the village has welcomed a group of entrepreneurs and artists full of ideas, operating rural art galleries, art bases, creative workshops, and boutique homestays here.

"Now there are about 50 art-related enterprises and bases in our village, more and more every year. The idle residential houses that were once ignored are now three or four times the rent, and at the most popular times, even the houses are not available for rent", said Bao Aitong.

"After passing a bridge, it feels like coming to another world, where I can live the'life I yearn for", said the photographer Xiao Dao, who decided to stay in this quiet village separated from the noisy city by just one bridge after his first encounter with Zhangli Village seven years ago. In Zhangli Village, Xiao Dao found a courtyard and opened an art space called "Shi Nian SPACE", holding his own creative works on Qidou Island from time to time, and successively inviting artists from Wenzhou and all over the country to create and exhibit in Zhangli Village. Xiao Dao said: "Bringing artists to see Zhangli Village, and their resident creative works can also be displayed to show the natural lifestyle of Zhangli Village".

"Cultural power" has taken root and grown in the countryside: the villagers of Zhangli Village have also gone from the simple question of "what is art" to gradually accepting, actively communicating, and even participating in creation, with the artistic atmosphere permeating every pore of the village."Farmers have also started to spontaneously decorate their own courtyards, planting flowers and plants, and even opening creative homestays and cafes, making the artistic flavor of the village more and more strong", said Bao Aitong. Recently, the 2024 Zhejiang Province Art Rural Construction Work Site Meeting announced the first batch of "Zhejiang Province Art Rural Construction Characteristic Villages", the typical cases of "Art Rural Construction" in 2024, and the selected list of "Art Rural Construction" leaders in 2024. Zhangli Village, with its strong artistic atmosphere, was also selected as one of the first batch of "Zhejiang Province Art Rural Construction Characteristic Villages", becoming the only village selected in Lucheng District. (ZhongXin)