Before entering Shayong Village, Nan District Street, Zhongshan City, from a distance, I saw the Shayong Archway with the words "Relics of Emperor Song" standing at the entrance of the village. A few words showed that this is a village with a long history.
Shayong Archway. Photographed by Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen
Walking through the archway and entering Shayong Village , what comes into view is a modern building - Zhongshan Nan District Culture and Tourism Maker Space (hereinafter referred to as "Southern District Culture and Tourism Maker Space"). In sharp contrast to the antiquity of Shayong Village is the novelty of the Southern District Culture and Tourism Maker Space. The many entrepreneurs in the cultural and tourism industry who are pursuing their dreams gathered here add a lot of freshness to this ancient village.
In recent years, Zhongshan Nan District Street has been gathering young people to help revitalize the cultural tourism industry, insisting on using cultural people to promote the construction of rural cultural teams. Shayong Village, which is currently working hard to build an Zhongshan characteristic boutique demonstration village, is also thinking about how to answer the proposition of "integration of old and new and mutual promotion".
| A small land has a big story
Shayong Village. Photographed by Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen
Shayong Village, which covers an area of only 2 square kilometers, has a history of more than 800 years. The third year of Jiatai in the Southern Song Dynasty (1203) Ma Nanbao 's ancestors Ma Yi and Ma Pi moved here from Jinzi Street in Xinhui County. Because of the sandy river next to the village, it was named "Shayong Village".
Celebrities such as Ma Nanbao, the national hero of the Southern Song Dynasty, Ma Yingbiao, the pioneer of the national department store industry, and Ma Leshan, the modern world-class hand model master, emerged in Shayong Village. Walking in Shayong Village, you can appreciate the praise of Ma Nanbao, the national hero of the Southern Song Dynasty. You can also experience the arduous entrepreneurial history of Chinese department store pioneer Ma Yingbiao and his patriotism while visiting the Magong Memorial Hall. You can also visit the Ma Leshan Studio to experience the creativity and ingenuity of a generation of hand model masters.
Ma Leshan Studio. Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen Photographed
Shayong Village is a " Zhongshan City Characteristic Tourist Village", and Shayong Historical and Cultural Street is a "Guangdong Province Historical and Cultural Street". The neighborhood was formed in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The layout pattern is streets and lanes. The form pays attention to the feng shui of streets and lanes. Many alleys are scattered among them, forming a fishbone-shaped block pattern, starting from Jiaozhong Street and Yingbiao Road in the south, to Changxing Street and Hengling Ninth Street in the north, from Renhe Lane 3 in the west to Zexiu Street in the east, covering an area of 15.97 hectares.
is in Mingting. Photographed by Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen
The block contains historical buildings such as the Magong Memorial Hall, Zhenlong Pavilion, Zaiming Shu School, Nanbao Street Residential Group, Nanyuan Hall, Enzhong Memorial Hall, Zaiming Pavilion, and Yiyuantang. The buildings mostly use the architectural techniques of "Chinese and Western" and "foreign and domestic" to form a unique architectural landscape that integrates Chinese and Western cultures.
| Cultural and tourism facilities bring fresh breath
Today’s Shayong Village is not only rich in history, but also attracts more and more young people. Facilities that are attractive to young people such as teahouses, private kitchens, and handicraft studios have been introduced. The Southern District Cultural and Tourism Maker Space is also located in Shayong Village.
"We have paid great attention to bringing in new blood to Shayong in recent years and providing timely services to young people who come to Shayong to start businesses and find jobs." said Ma Jieliang, secretary of the Party branch of Shayong Economic Association.
Zhongshan City South District Cultural Tourism Maker Space. Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen Photography
As soon as you walk into Shayong, you can see a modern building next to it. When you walk into it, the first thing you see is the cultural and tourism products made by craftsmen from various towns and streets in Zhongshan City. This is the Southern District Cultural and Tourism Maker Space. The spatial positioning is to "build a comprehensive, in-depth, and efficient one-stop service platform for makers to grow, become talents, start businesses and find employment."
When dynamic words such as "maker" and "entrepreneurship" collide with Shayong Village, they also add a youthful atmosphere to this 800-year-old village. At the same time, the profound cultural heritage of Shayong Village provides an excellent entrepreneurial atmosphere for entrepreneurs in the cultural field.
South District Culture and Tourism Maker Space is equipped with functional area supporting facilities such as office areas, conference rooms, roadshow halls, product display areas, reception areas, and leisure areas. It provides entrepreneurial subsidies, entrepreneurial guidance, project roadshows, promotion and other services to entrepreneurs who settle in the space. Currently, more than 20 companies have settled in the space.
"The company settled in the Maker Space last year and currently has more than 30 employees. It is mainly engaged in short video marketing and live broadcast operation business. The Southern District Cultural Tourism Maker Space has complete supporting facilities and some policy support. After settling in, the Maker Space staff actively helped us connect with policies and project cooperation," said Gu Heng, an entrepreneurial young man. Zheng Jingbo, operations director of
Southern District Cultural and Tourism Maker Space, said that in the future, he hopes to build the Maker Space into an entrepreneurial incubation base for young people in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, providing a high-quality entrepreneurial platform for more outstanding talents.
| The "post-80s" founders chose Shayong.
Going forward, bypassing several alleys, we came to a teahouse. This was a teahouse opened in an overseas Chinese house. There are 93 overseas Chinese houses in Shayong Village, and 11 overseas Chinese houses have been revitalized and transformed into modern service facilities such as private restaurants and teahouses.
Overseas Chinese houses were revitalized and transformed into teahouses and private restaurants. Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen Photographed by
Ah Xin, a "post-80s generation", opened Fengyuan Teahouse in Shayong Village. By chance, she introduced interested friends to come here and opened Fengyuan Private Restaurant. These facilities were all opened in overseas Chinese housing. It was Ma Haiquan, a villager in Shayong Village, who made her decide to start a business in Shayong Village.
"I have been working hard outside, but I still have the mentality of the older generation of returning to their roots, and I want to return to Shayong." Ma Haiquan said.
Ma Haiquan made a living abroad in his early days. He returned to his hometown in 2015. After visiting Sanxi Village, East District Street, Zhongshan City, which also has many overseas Chinese houses, he felt that he should also revitalize the overseas Chinese houses in his hometown. I returned to Shachong and rented several abandoned century-old houses, hoping to contribute to the revitalization of Shayong's rural area.
"I want to show off to the overseas Chinese," so he renovated the rented overseas Chinese house and actively invited friends to open a teahouse and cook private dishes. Axin was one of them.
"Shayong has a profound cultural background and is currently building a high-quality demonstration village. It has a certain appeal and everyone is happy to come." Ma Haiquan said.
A Xin said bluntly that Ma Haiquan was his talent, "At that time, we and some friends got to know Shayong Village carefully and felt that it had good development prospects. We wanted to find an overseas Chinese house here to cook private dishes. The first person we looked for was Ma Haiquan, who we called 'Brother Quan'. In the early days of starting his business, we were catching up with the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic. It turned out that one of the partners left Shayong due to personal reasons. Brother Quan cherished the overseas Chinese culture in his hometown and actively invited me to stay and rented his overseas Chinese house to me as a teahouse. He even offered me rent exemption and other assistance at the beginning.”
After about three years of development, Axin’s teahouse operation is on the right track. "Shayong is a very good place with a profound history and the villagers are very simple. They have a sense of belief in protecting their hometown. During the few years here, my income, mental state and other aspects have been improved. I like the customs and customs of South District and Shayong very much. I believe that it will be better here in the future, and I also hope to start my own business. It can bring some help to Shayong Village and do something for the revitalization of Shayong Village while growing up.”
After seeing Ma Haiquan revitalizing overseas Chinese houses, many overseas Chinese also contacted him and the Shayong Village Committee, wanting to rent out their overseas Chinese houses and put these old houses back into use.
| Girls from small villages went to the Provincial Games
Recently, Ma Yuquan, the representative inheritor of the Zhongshan municipal intangible cultural heritage representative project (Shayong Majia Qiang), is busier than usual.
According to the work arrangement of the Zhongshan Municipal Education and Sports Bureau, Ma Yuquan participated in organizing the Zhongshan Dragon and Lion Team to compete in the 16th Guangdong Provincial Games. He also personally trained and led the traditional South Lion Zhongshan representative team of the female youth group to participate in the competition. Before departure, these girls, with an average age of 14 years old, underwent intense final training at the Majia Gun Project Base in Zhongshan South District and the Zhongshan Liangdu Dragon and Lion Art Museum.
html On August 15, Ma Yuquan shared a news in WeChat Moments: The Southern District Women’s Team won the fifth place and third prize in the Women’s Youth Group of the Dragon and Lion Project of the Provincial Games. This is the first time that a team represented by the “Zhongshan Intangible Heritage Training Institute (Traditional Lion Dance) Southern District Liangdu Dragon and Lion Art Museum” won the honor of the Women’s Youth Group in the Provincial Games’ Dragon and Lion Project.As a representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, Ma Yuquan has been sparing no effort to promote the influence of Majia Gun among the younger generation.
Ma Yuquan and her daughter display Shayong Ma’s gun. Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen Photographed by
"I have a strong feeling for the history, culture and historical allusions of my hometown. My father gave me an education, allowing me to grow up in this atmosphere of inheriting traditional culture since I was a child. I feel the responsibility to inherit the mantle. After the Shayong Majia Gun became a Zhongshan municipal intangible cultural heritage project, Zhongshan City departments at all levels gave support, which made me more determined to pass on the Majia Gun." Ma Yuquan said.
In order to inherit traditional skills such as Majia Qiang and Nanshi , Ma Yuquan organized the establishment of summer classes, semester classes, juvenile classes, youth classes, and adult classes, and actively promoted traditional skills performances into campuses and communities. Through columns such as "Intangible Cultural Heritage Youth Talk", more people can feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage and assume the responsibility of inheriting traditional culture. "Among them, we pay special attention to the training of children in the youth class and increase the cultivation of the new generation of inheritors."
In addition, with the support of the Propaganda Department of the Zhongshan Municipal Party Committee and other departments, Ma Yuquan, as an "Outstanding Folk Literary Artist of Guangdong Province" and Vice Chairman of the Southern District Federation of Literary and Art Circles, adheres to the leadership of party building in his daily work and organizes a study of the "Red Literary Light Cavalry" intangible heritage Majia Gun to achieve sustained publicity effects.
"In order to revitalize rural development, the Southern District Shayong Economic Association Rural Revitalization Promotion Association was established. I am a member of the Shayong Cultural Conservation Department and the Rural Revitalization Promotion Association. In recent years, I can feel that more and more young people are willing to come to Shayong Village to find employment and start a business. At the same time, I think that with the overseas Chinese culture, There is still a lot of room for development in Shayong with treasures such as intangible cultural heritage. The primary task of rural revitalization is to put people’s lives first, especially young people. The Southern District is the hometown of overseas Chinese, and there are many people moving out for employment and immigration. How to retain and bring in young people in the process of rural revitalization is a question that needs to be continued to explore,” Ma Yuquan said.
Shayong Village. Photographed by Nanfang + Ye Zhiwen
In the future, Shayong Village will continue to introduce young elements. According to Ma Jieliang, Shayong Village will transform the old factory building into an innovation and entrepreneurship space for young people through "industrial transformation to commercialization", so that this ancient village with a history of more than 800 years and the emergence of many famous figures will have endless vitality. At present, the work is progressing steadily, and Shayong Village plans to use 3 to 5 years to turn the blueprint into reality.
[Writing] Nanfang Daily reporter Yuan Shimin
[Photography] Nanfang Daily reporter Ye Zhiwen
[Author] Yuan Shimin; Ye Zhiwen
[Source] Southern Newspaper Media Group Nanfang + Client
