Author: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters Du Gang and Zhang Xiaocheng
Xinjiang Tianshan There are countless gullies, with starry villages and large pastures distributed. At present, in Caizigou Village in the eastern part of Tianshan, a small river formed by snow water flows through the entire village. The high and low houses on both sides are hidden under the big elm trees with the mountains. The mugwort and artemisia annua on the roadside are one by one, and the wild rapeseed flowers attract bee swarms. The breeze blows through the golden wheat fields, and the yelling donkeys and barking dogs are heard in the smoke of cooking.
Before 2013, like many villages, Caizigou Village had hollowing out, nearly half of the people moved into the city, and half of the houses remained unoccupied. With the arrival of a group of artists such as Liu Liangcheng , the author of " One Man's Village ", this village is rejuvenated.
bird's eye view of Caizigou Village. Photo by Zhang Xiaocheng, Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter
, farming and reading inheritance in rural areas
, from Urumqi along the G7 Beijing-Xinxin Expressway toward northeast , you can reach Caizigou Village, Yinggebao Township, Mulei Kazakh Autonomous County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. There is a lot of rain this year, and the wheat, chickpeas, , corn, and even weeds along the road are growing more lush than in previous years.
Caizigou Village is warm in winter, with sufficient rain in spring and summer, and the fertile slopes are suitable for grain growth. Most of the villagers living here were Gansu and Shaanxi farmers who moved to the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. Because most of the farmlands are dry fields on steep slopes, traditional farming methods such as horse-drawn plows, hand-sowing seeds, sickle harvesting, wooden wheel trucks, and hand-made wheat threshing farms are still intact in the rapeseed ditch.
In the winter of 2013, Liu Liangcheng and his group came to Caizigou Village. Here, they saw "Han-style Langfang buildings, wooden beams and pillars, wooden doors and windows, adobe or dry-built walls, houses with old fruit trees, these three and two houses were scattered in the ditch," Liu Liangcheng said, "The whole village is like a past story that suddenly appears in front of us. We looked at each house one by one along the road. Each yard was like a home in the old time, with a long-lost intimacy and familiarity."
At that time, the group met a family demolishing a house. The courtyard wall has been pushed down, and a large truck has been parked in the yard. Several people stood on the house and lifted the roof. The eaves, oily felt, mud skin, wheat grass and reeds were lifted down layer by layer. The roof gradually became open, and the loads, beams and rafters of the log structure were neatly exposed, and there was also a wooden frame built into the earthen wall. A century-old house has only a few broken walls and muddy pieces on the ground. The house was demolished and the wood was sold to the wood dealer. This village, which originally had more than 400 households, only about 200 households were left at that time, and most of the people who were left were elderly people with difficulties in their work.
Liu Liangcheng drafted a plan for Mulei County overnight, rescuing and protecting a group of old houses that villagers want to sell, mobilizing artists to claim these old courtyards as studios, and transforming this abandoned ancient village into an artist village. The plan has been recognized and supported by Mulei County. With the cooperation of the township government and the village committee, the studio spent one winter to acquire many old yards.
Writer Liu Liangcheng founded the "Mulai Academy" in Caizigou Village. Photo by Zhang Xiaocheng, a reporter from Xinhua Daily Telegraph. The largest yard acquired is the old school in the village, covering an area of 40 acres and has 4 rows of brick and wood classrooms. After it was abandoned, it has been used as a sheep pen for more than ten years. They cleared the podium and cement floor from the thick sheep manure in the classroom, fixed the collapsed roof, replaced the damaged doors and windows, and found the previous stone path among the weeds. An old school that had been ruined for many years was transformed into Mulei Academy, the cultural center of Caizigou. Although it was renovated, the main building was preserved, and even the iron fence gates on the campus did not change much.
Someone is curious, what are artists doing in the countryside? "Gengdu " is the answer given by Liu Liangcheng. The reporter just entered Mulei Academy and saw Liu Liangcheng wearing a straw hat and carrying a long piece of wood, preparing to build a chicken coop with the volunteers.
Liu Liangcheng (right) and volunteer Li Hongcheng built a chicken circle at Mulei Academy. Photo by Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Du Gang
Liu Liangcheng's friend - painter Lu Ye is also one of the first artists to come to Caizigou.His oil paintings "Trial Presort", "Red Clay Slope", "Season·Accordable Sun Shadow", Chinese paintings "The Falling Years" and "The Wind in the Desert" have a certain influence in the industry. His home in Caizigou is more refined than that in the home of "farmer" Liu Liangcheng. He kept strengthening the original old house and built another two-story building. There is a large studio in the new house, which is where he creates the most.
painter Lu Ye is creating in his personal studio. Photo by Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhang Xiaocheng
After retiring from university, Lu Ye seems to be increasingly unable to adapt to urban life. "Chinese literati, especially when they are old, always have the feeling of returning to the mountains and fields. They are far away from the language system of the city. They should listen to the sounds of wind, rain, insects, birds, and watch the flowing clouds of the Tianshan Mountains and the blooming and falling flowers." He said that rapeseed gorge is a place with these conditions, retaining the original ecology, whether it is everything in nature or those nostalgic old houses. Over the years, he discovered that the rapeseed ditch can filter out a lot of unnecessary social interactions and is a place where it can be settled, which is essential for artistic creation.
Looking for the original appearance of the earth
On the steep slope not far from the rapeseed ditch, there are three huge "earth reliefs", covering an area of about 180 acres, with a large mouth that is a hundred meters long, as if shouting to the universe. People can only view the entire view from the top of the mountain or through a drone. This is the "Growth of the Earth" series created by Wang Gang, who has been deeply involved in the art of the earth, and based on Shanshi.
Art work "earth relief" created by artist Wang Gang in the mountains of Caizigou. Photo by Zhang Xiaocheng, Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter
Why choose rapeseed gorge as the creative place? Wang Gang explained that doing it in mature scenic spots is the icing on the cake. He is more willing to create in deserted places, use art to change people's spiritual ecology and activate the vitality of a place, hoping to help Caizigou better develop tourism.
"Raise Gully, the original appearance of the earth, is a paradise without pollution. Modern urban life makes people's relationship with nature increasingly alienate. People begin to seek harmony with nature, and find the tranquility of farming at sunrise and resting at sunset." Wang Gang said that "Growing the Earth" is to organize local farmers to create the most contemporary art works using the most primitive way of working, presenting the symbiotic relationship between man and nature. "Humans all originate from the soil. In the period when Hongmeng was not yet opened, people and heaven and earth were It is connected, so the avatars of these three characters have no boundaries, expressions, genders, and identity, hoping to leave people with infinite imagination space. "
" In the future, this work will be eroded by rain, water, wind and snow, but it does not need to be repaired, because the artist only completed half of the work, and the other half will be handed over to nature's four seasons to reincarnate, making time the meaning of space." Wang Gang is looking forward to the rapeseed ditch and the "Growth of the Earth" carved by time for decades, or even longer.
"The Original Look of the Earth" has also become the consensus among artists on rapeseed ditch.
Children's literature writer Liu Huimin communicated with friends in the "Yan'i Study Room" founded by herself. Photo by Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhang Xiaocheng
Even though many years have passed, writer Liu Huimin couldn't help laughing when she first came to Caiseed Grotto. One night, the moonlight illuminated the rapeseed ditch, and she and her companions walked on the path and sang songs, and met the pigpen. She climbed into the pigpen and performed for the pig, and seemed to see the pig applauding.
In Liu Huimin's memory, the rapeseed groove at night is particularly romantic. "I passed 999 trees, 10,000 stars, 1 river, 9,000 ants, and 90,000 little bugs to come here."
The people here are also interesting. When she first came to Caizigou, she could only go to her fellow villagers' home to "eat and drink freely". One day, she was still in bed and heard someone shouting on the ridge opposite the other side: "Huimin, Yang Ling!" She and her companions quickly got up and lay down on the yard wall to see. It turned out that the villagers opposite invited them to have breakfast.
She can't remember which winter it was, and it snowed for 5 days and 5 nights in the rapeseed ditch. At that time, there was no running water at home. She and her friends used all their strength to push the door open a little, pulled the snow into the bucket, and then waited for the snow to melt and washed their faces. “It doesn’t feel that it’s hard, all I think of is happiness and warmth."
Liu Huimin walked through many rural and pastoral areas in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and her works also carry the spiritual energy of soil. Her series of picture books "Jangel" is based on the epic of Mongolian heroes "Jangel". In the picture books, Jiangel is like Sun Wukong, with 72 transformation techniques. He rode the god horse Aranzar, held the Alamu magic gun, subdued demons and demons, and built a paradise on earth with his companions. Baomu Ba .
When preparing the picture book "Jenger", Liu Huimin arrived at a grassland in and of Bookser Mongolia Autonomous County. She still remembered the shining night of stars. In a yurt, a herdsman sang "Jenger" in Mongolian . It can be translated as: the golden bridle rustled / the fiery red divine horse ran away / the great Jianger stood on the saddle / the snap- ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— "Liu Huimin said that "Jangel" was originally in Mongolian, and now a publisher contacted her, hoping to translate the picture book "Jangel" into Mongolian, so that Mongolian children can understand these legendary stories.
Walking through many places, Liu Huimin chose Rapeseed Gully as her residence. The reason is like a sentence in her essay collection "Grassland Fairy Tales", "It is this beautiful and peaceful village that gave him all the inspiration and strength."
On the hillside of Rapeseed Gully are covered with wheat fields and scattered trees. Photo by Zhang Xiaocheng, a reporter from Xinhua Daily Telegraph
Poetry and fireworks are far away and the hometown
Zhang Shouxiang, the captain of the village work team of Caizigou Village and the first secretary, said that Caizigou Village has fewer and fewer dilapidated houses. There were only one small shop, but now there are 18 farmhouses and inns alone. The dirt roads are almost gone, replaced by asphalt roads and exquisite murals on both sides of the road.
Invisible changes are the villagers' views on their hometown. In the words of villager Gao Xiuqin, "The mind in the past is different from the mind now, and the artist has changed my ideas. "In the summer of 2013, Lu Ye and four other painters came to Caizigou to sketch, and suddenly encountered heavy rain. Lu Ye knocked on Gao Xiuqin's door and asked if he could stay away from the rain. "With an easel on his back, he should be a good person. "Gao Xiuqin agreed without hesitation.
Later, with Lu Ye's encouragement, Gao Xiuqin opened a homestay. Stewed chicken pancakes, mutton pancakes, and clean and tidy houses became her signature brand. Gao Xiuqin was very satisfied with these changes. In recent years, her family's annual income has exceeded 100,000 yuan, while the income from farming in the past did not exceed 20,000 yuan. She hoped that when she could not work, the children who worked outside could go home to take over.
Over the years, she has become more and more fond of observing painters' paintings. Painting. Compared with Chinese painting and prints , she prefers oil paintings, especially Zhang Anting's oil paintings, with more layered colors and perspectives. When a student came to Caizigou to sketch, she would tell these young people where the painters took the scene, which made her proud.
64-year-old Li Juying recalled that she was not in good health a few years ago and gradually couldn't do farm work. She originally planned to work at a breakfast shop in Changji City. "At that time, I thought that working outside would definitely be better than farming, and it was more convenient to take care of children. Several teachers advised me that it would be better to open an inn, which would be fine. Teacher Taotao and Liangcheng also named my inn "Second Sister-in-law of Grade 2". "
What she unexpectedly expected was that over the years, more and more people traveling to Caizigou and sketching painters have been increasing. A painter from Beijing also wrote her a poem "In and Out, Safe and Happy Life".I have seen many painters painting. She loves the works of painter Yan Li the most because the rapeseed ditch she painted "similar but not like", "I didn't expect that my home, who has lived for most of her life, is so beautiful."
The location of the villager Yang Yanping's home is not suitable for running a farmhouse, and she has less contact with writers and painters, but she is happy about the changes in the village. "There are more tourists, which is a good thing for our village as a whole. If the village can build an observation deck and build some wooden plank roads to the depths of the village, like a city park, it would be even better." She once looked at the sketching painters from afar, wondering if she would enter their canvas.
Liu Liangcheng saw wood in Mulei Academy. Photo by Du Gang, Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter
Not only the villagers wander in poetry and fireworks, but more the artists. Unlike Liu Liangcheng, who grew up in the countryside, many artists were born and raised in the city, and rural life was also a "challenge" for them. Liu Huimin was particularly worried about the heavy rain before the Dragon Boat Festival, flooding the house and the weeds in the yard, which made her busy, and she was busy creating new works. Painter Zhang Jianxin is going to have a solo exhibition in other provinces and regions in the near future, but he is still thinking about the leaking houses in the village. "Everything is good in Caiseed Guln. Because he grew up in the city, he must adapt to the changing climate in the countryside, the special house structure, and the weeds that need to be removed."
In addition to the worries, it is more about the exchange of interesting souls. One evening, Lu Ye, Liu Huimin and others went to Liu Liangcheng's house for a dinner. They talked about the price of mutton, where to buy a small shovel for weeding, and whether they need to change a larger iron pot at home; they talked about the onions, garlic, , strawberry, celery, four dogs named moon, sun, stars, little black, duck, chicken and geese... In their conversation, animals and plants seemed to think the same as people.
In Caizigou, Liu Liangcheng completed two novels "Traveling Message" and "Benba", and an essay "Talking Things on the Earth to the Sky". "Transfer Message" fictionalizes two kingdoms that believe in different religions. He lets one person and a donkey bear the heavy responsibility of "Transfer Message", travel through the smoke of the battlefield, and experience the love of life and death in person. In the second half of this year, the novel "Benba" set in the epic of "Jenger" will be published. Lu Ye is creating an oil painting with the background of the Kizil Thousand Buddha Cave.
Nowadays, many young people from all over the country go to Mulei Academy to volunteer and study with Liu Liangcheng. Starting from , Jingzhou, Hubei, Li Hongcheng, who traveled thousands of kilometers to Caizigou, recently cooperated with Liu Liangcheng to build a chicken coop. He said: "More and more people are flocking to the city, forgetting the countryside, and unable to go back to their hometown. Caizi Valley builds a bridge back to its 'hometown', where I found my dream hometown."
Source: Xinhua News Agency
