A signing ceremony proposed by over 100 elderly villagers to protect an ancient village of world cultural heritage was recently held at Xidi Village, located at the foot of Mount Huangshan. Over 1,000 local farmers signed on the spot.
Xidi Village appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), and was placed on the list of World Cultural Heritage sites in November 2000.
The village is famed for its three unique features -- memorial archways, ancient residences and temples. It now has 124 ancient houses. Old roads and drainage systems are still being kept in use.
Farmers in Xidi Village have invested over 7 million yuan (US$850,000) of their own money in recent years in maintaining and renovating the village.
With a boom in domestic travel, Xidi Village also confronts the fact of how to deal with the conflict between cultural relics protection and residential improvement. Last year, a farmer was jailed for a year for changing the maintenance plan without authorization while renovating his ancient house, thus destroying the original look of it. Moreover, an increasing number of tourists to the village also brings threat to the protection of the ancient houses and the environment.
In order to better protect the ancient village, 179 elderly people proposed to collect signatures to protect the ancient village and its green mountains and waters. Over 1,000 local farmers attended the ceremony and signed up.
The local government strongly supported the charitable activity, and promised to speed up environment-friendly construction that can ease the pressure on local farmers. Moreover, a new souvenir market will also be built to regularize gift buying in the village.
(china.org.cn by Unisumoon July 6, 2002)
