In Nanshan Village, Pinggu, Beijing, the faint morning light just outlines the undulating contours of the Yanshan Mountains. A group of figures carrying picture boards and cameras knock on the doorrings of ancient village houses, braving the chilly spring and walking on the misty dirt road. Meng Chao, an assistant researcher at the School of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University, and teachers and students from art schools in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region came here more than a year ago. Their ideal of "using art to build rural areas" urged them to deeply root in the soil, determined to awaken the mountain soul between ancient walls and tiles with exquisite brushwork, and let the vicissitudes of cultural memory be reborn under the influence of modern art. Over the years, young people like them who participated in the construction of art villages have spread throughout the vast countryside. They painted brilliant starry skies on the mottled walls of the northwest villages, turned the overgrown courtyards of the Jiangnan water towns into avant-garde theaters, and let the music of the terraced fields resonate with the ripples of the fields, echoing through the Yunling Mountains... The creativity and actions of these young people have allowed the seeds of modern art to sprout and grow in the countryside, and to stand out together with the ancient villages. They were once questioned - 'Do rural areas really need art at present?' When the 'rustic' villages become art gathering places, people who have traveled far away return to their hometowns due to the changing living environment, and tourists come here because of the blending of mountains, waters, and culture, the answer is self-evident. We believe that the roots of art spread within the folds of the soil This artistic practice not only left behind many rural buildings decorated with art and carefully designed creative works; A more meaningful achievement is that it has sparked deep thinking among the local people about the revival of excellent cultural traditions and how the village can establish itself in the present and move towards the future. 1. We are not donors, but learners who have just arrived in the countryside. When Meng Chao heard a student say to the villagers, 'I am here to revitalize this place,' he deeply felt that it was inappropriate. How can you talk like that? That's not the reason either! Moreover, in terms of the origin of art, it's hard to say who the master and disciple are! At the meeting that night, the students understood from Meng Chao's teachings that in order to realize their wish of "building the countryside with art", they must find the position of creators: "We are not givers, but learners, learning from the villagers, nature, and tradition." Meng Chao told the students not to rush to start creating, but to "walk on the ridges of the fields, live in the village houses, and chat with the villagers", feel the rhythm here, and enter the lives of the villagers. He himself is no exception. In Nanshan Village, he sits around the village entrance with villagers every day, chatting about daily life and village history. He learned from the stories of the villagers that the almost dry Dule River in the village was originally called the "Dulou River". Due to sedimentation, the river water seeped into the ground, leaving only a cracked riverbed. Meng Chao felt regretful, 'If there were water, the village would be even more spiritual.'. One day, villager Mr. Liu pointed to the depression in the riverbed and said to Meng Chao, "This used to be a pond, and I used to swim here when I was a child!" One sentence was like a stone entering the pond, causing ripples in Meng Chao's heart - why not design a water feature according to the terrain? Creating water features requires addressing the issue of water sources. He conducted multiple investigations based on the villagers' accounts and ultimately decided to dig up the accumulated sediment and excavate a shallow pond in a low-lying area. No need for water diversion projects, no grand design, only allowing groundwater to naturally emerge. When a pool of clear water shimmered with a faint light, Grandpa Liu became somewhat excited and exclaimed, "This pond is so beautiful!" Meng Chao suddenly realized that their mission was not to pile up external things here, but to absorb the nutrients of creation in the countryside and then feed back this land. In Qianyang County, Shaanxi Province, Ma Wenyuan, a young teacher from Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, also walked into Yanjia Village, which is famous for embroidery, as a student. When he first arrived here, he was shocked by the walls full of cloth tigers and five poison pillows: the rough stitches hide the strong winds of the northwest, and the colorful silk threads reveal the thickness of the land. With a hand accustomed to holding a paintbrush, he picked up an embroidery needle and followed his grandmother, who was skilled in embroidery, to learn one stitch at a time. He listened to her explain how a cloth tiger could ward off evil spirits and how a five poison pillow could protect a baby. The patterns that were once seen as "rustic" actually contain so many details! Ma Wenyuan did not directly bring these embroidery pieces into the exhibition hall, but instead engaged in a direct dialogue between traditional patterns and modern design. He retained the innocence of the cloth tiger and added geometric patterns to its face, designing embroidery works that combine traditional and modern elements. Ma Wenyuan taught his students that there are countless "treasure crafts" like Qianyang embroidery hidden in the countryside. As creators, the first thing to do is not to transform, but to learn. Art village construction is not a one-sided offer. These young people have become humble students in the countryside, and what the countryside has taught them is far more vivid than textbooks. 2. They transformed from bystanders to participants. In the dense forest of Jiumu Village, Anji, Zhejiang, there is a "rainbow" woven from old fishing nets and broken cloth strips. This is the work "Falling Rainbow in the Forest" by Zhang Yifan, an associate professor at the School of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University. The villagers who came to lend a hand while hanging this masterpiece left a deep impression on her. The villagers' movements of adjusting the curvature of the net rope with their heads up are full of "skill", and they speak confidently about "which angle is more dynamic and which area should be lowered". She was surprised by the natural or labor acquired artistic sensibility of the villagers. Later, she learned that one of the villagers had given up his artistic dreams due to poverty when he was young. This time, when she saw "a group of young artists in the village", she enthusiastically came over and "saw what she could do to help". He told me that this collaboration can make him feel closer to his past dreams. "Zhang Yifan was moved by this sentence and realized that many villagers are not bystanders, but artists hidden in the land. On the day the work was completed, some villagers exclaimed, "Just these cloth strips? They look so beautiful!" Encouraged by young artists, they also realized that their own bamboo basket weaving skills, embroidery insole stitching, and everyday activities that can be picked up by bending down are art! In 2021, China Agricultural University established a "Science and Technology Academy" in Xiongfan Village, Xiaogan, Hubei Province. Unlike other "science and technology academies" in other parts of the country, this place has introduced many artistic resources, allowing villagers to enjoy a richer cultural life at their doorstep. Lin Yue, the student dean of the small courtyard, introduced that on weekdays, the pottery bar in the courtyard is often open for villagers to make clay figurines and clay board paintings. The elderly always like to chat about the past while doing, while the young people like to try different forms of pottery. In December, the teachers and students of the small courtyard organize the villagers, set up a stage, and create a "village evening" consisting of self written stilt performances, impromptu dragon boat songs, and other programs, which are widely known throughout the village. In order to give villagers a sense of belonging, teachers and students visited residents, collected information, and worked with villagers to build the village history museum in Xiongfan Village... Villagers told Lin Yue that they felt life had become artistic; Some people also say that they seem to have become artists themselves. This experience made them re-examine and discover the aesthetic value of their daily lives, and also gave them a new understanding and sense of pride in their hometown. Lin Yue also felt her own value in everyone's changes. As time passes, an increasingly strong artistic atmosphere accumulates in the village. The most gratifying achievement for Lin Yue was seeing the artistic potential hidden in the villagers, which gradually burst forth when they participated in the construction of the art village together. In front of her, the villagers were still planting rice, sun drying grains, and raising cattle, but there were more discussions about the glaze color of pottery after meals, and there were often shallow murmurs and low songs coming from resting on the field ridges... 3. Art originally belonged here. In the rural paintings constructed by art, sometimes there were some discordant scenes: steel sculptures stood abruptly in the mountain valleys, and glass installations reflected light that was out of place with the earthen walls. These works seemed like extraterrestrial visitors who had mistakenly entered the village. During the visit, some young artists told reporters that it is precisely these "self interested" experimental works that make some villagers in certain areas stay away from so-called art. Meng Chao believes that the biggest difference between artistic creation in rural areas and other forms of artistic creation lies in its clear target audience - villages and villagers. If this function is lost, even the most avant-garde art will be like water without a source, like a rootless duckweed. In Nanshan Village, a student once slipped on a muddy path by the Dule River. He designed and built stone steps here based on the terrain. Villagers and tourists did not slip again, and this place has become an entrance for walking along the river. Meng Chao said, "Whether it's improving the environment, using waste to promote resource recycling, or showcasing the cultural characteristics of the village, artistic creation cannot forget who it is for." This is not a profound design concept, as long as the village and villagers are in the heart, vibrant designs can be made. The row of little rabbit ground lamps under the wall of Nanshan villagers' dormitory is hiding such ingenious ideas. Students from Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts discovered many rabbits while picking strawberries locally, who were the "cleaners" for rotting strawberries in the fields. They designed lively and cute little rabbit ground lamps, with shapes that can be crouched or jumped. At night, these "little creatures" guarding the village emit a warm yellow halo. Passers by will feel warm in their hearts when they see this row of floor lamps, "said the students, who named the work" Warmth ". Similar designs can be seen everywhere in Nanshan Village: the stones on the walls are made into reliefs of corn and peaches, the abandoned peach baskets are stacked into a "water cube", willow branches are filled with lightning struck pear trees, and woven into "bird nests"... Each piece of work seems to tell the imagination of this land. The best rural construction art is to make villagers feel that 'this thing should belong here', "many young artists agree with this viewpoint. If the artistic creation idea of Nanshan Village is to use local materials and integrate nature, then Shaanxi's "Guanzhong Busy Art Season" is to seek inspiration from rural history and culture. Cui Kaimin, a young teacher at Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, introduced that this art event jointly organized by Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts and Huyi District of Xi'an City has developed from the ancient meeting of "busy strike", which means "the end of the busy farming season". It is said that since the Ming and Qing dynasties, every summer after the busy season, rural areas in Guanzhong would set a day to celebrate the harvest by eating wine and arranging banquets. The modern dance on the wheat field, the oil painting beside the haystack, the Qin Opera performance during the banquet... At the "art season", the old people watched the performance with soil bowls, and the young people broadcast live on their mobile phones. Modern art gave new life to the ancient festival. Art itself belongs to the local community. The reliefs that grow from stone walls, the bird nests reborn on pear tree wounds, and the modern dances awakened by busy farming chants all confirm that art is not a curtain covering the countryside, but a mirror reflecting its true beauty. This bidirectional nourishing aesthetics is writing a vivid footnote for rural revitalization. (New Society)