Keeping a legacy alive

An aerial view of the old houses in Zhuqiao village, Jinxi county in East China's Jiangxi province.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Village houses in Jiangxi province are getting a new lease on life thanks to government funds and the efforts of the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation

Some years ago, Xu Zaiji moved out from his old family home in Putang village in East China's Jiangxi province that had been passed down from generation to generation for about 400 years to an apartment in a nearby city, part of a trend that left the village almost empty. In March, the 66-year-old moved back to his old house after its renovation. This time, Xu is part of a growing trend in which villagers are renovating their dilapidated old houses and returning to the village where they grew up.

"If they are in good condition, the old houses are cool in summer and warm in winter. I don't like living in my city apartment as it was too hot," says Xu. Some of Xu's relatives plan to return to live with him in the newly renovated 300-square-meter house with open courtyard.

Unlike those in other places who replace their old houses with modern buildings, people in Jinxi just build new ones not far away from their villages when they decide to move out of their old homes.

Putang village has more than 60 old traditional houses dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. With stone walls and wooden interior structures, all of them are either in poor condition or on the verge of collapse. Renovating them can cost tens of thousands yuan, which is expensive for villagers who make their livings farming rice fields. The average yearly per capita income among the villages is less than 10,000 yuan ($1,580), says Xu.

A dragon dance in the village square.[Photo provided to China Daily]

To renovate Xu's house and transform it into a house more comfortable for living cost about 700,000 yuan, which he was unable to afford. In fact, Xu paid about 300, 000 yuan and the rest was provided by the local government and Saving Traditional Houses Initiatives, a program run by the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

On March 18, the foundation launched its second round of renovations in Jinxi county, which has 101 ancient villages with about 11,000 traditional houses built more than 400 years ago, the majority of which are in urgent need of repair.

Over two years, the foundation will spend 80 million yuan on renovating old houses in Jinxi county, with 40 million yuan provided by the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and 40 million yuan by the local government.

Li Xiaojie, director of the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, says that a decade ago, many experts lamented that traditional villages were quickly disappearing. However, since 2012, the central government has been leading efforts to revitalize them to stop them from disappearing.

"China's 5,000-year history of agriculture is rooted in its villages. And a village's history and culture is reflected on its buildings. Without the old houses, there will be nothing left," says Li.

Li's foundation launched its first renovation program two years ago in Songyang in Zhejiang province, where ancient houses built hundreds of years ago were carefully renovated, attracting many young people to return to the villages.

However, the number of ancient houses in Jinxi is far more than that in Songyang, while the government's financial support is the same. It means that it's more difficult and needs local house owners to be more active in repairing their houses, says Li.

Zhuqiao village hosts a qipao show to attract tourists. Qipao is one of the traditional Chinese dresses for women.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Passing on traditions

Yu Xuting started renovating old houses in villages in 2008, when he only had a few men working with him. A local from Jinxi county, the 40-year-old used to travel to other places to restore old houses bought by rich people from rural areas. Now he has decided to devote the next few years into fixing up old houses in local villages in Jinxi, where thou-sands of old houses need to rehabilitating for their original owners.

"In Jinxi, people were blind to the value of their homes. They just left their houses and moved to cities. But things have changed in recent years, and I have started getting orders from local villagers," says Yu.

Last year, Yu and his team, which has expanded to 80, including carpenters, carvers and painters, renovated more than 30 old houses in his hometown. The number of orders he used to receive was just four or five.

"People realize that old houses were not useless as they thought before. And they do respect the legacy of their ancestors as long as they have money to repair it," Yu says.

Between 50 to 70 percent of the cost of renovating the houses in Jinxi is being covered by the local government and the Saving Traditional Houses Initiatives program based on each house owner's financial status.

Also, some companies and even individuals have come to Jinxi to help fix up the old houses.

He Yan, director of the Tsinghua Heritage Institute for Digitalization, has been impressed by the big scale of various ancient villages in Jinxi, where small, mid-sized and big ancient villages can be found depending on their locale.

He's team has spent three years doing research on 68 ancient villages in the area, gathering data on the ancient houses, establishing a kind of village archive and help making videos for documentary use, all for free. Now, her company is assisting the locals by providing guidance on how to repair their old houses appropriately.

For He, the area is a treasure trove of Chinese architecture. She has introduced it to the architecture school of Tsinghua University as a study base for its students.

Last year, she donated a sum of money to help renovate an old house in Zhuqiao village. Most of the villagers are descendants of senior officials or scholars in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

"It's not a big sum money for me. In two weeks, the repairs were completed, very quick," she says.

Fu Qingyuan, an expert on ancient village protection, also donated a sum of money last year. He says he wanted to set an example so more individuals would protect these ancient houses.

Fu says the essence of Chinese architecture lies in the wooden structures of old village houses.

"It's more than simply repairing a house. It's about passing on our traditions to future generations."