Ancient villages, cultures reported being lost

The beauty of ancient Chinese villages, as well as the cultural and natural heritages they left, is fading in the face of modernization, according to a field-trip research that spent the past seven months exploring around the country.

The 13-people team was led by three men — designer Liu Fanggang, traditional Chinese painting artist Sun Jinlong and Chen Yu, president of Modocom Group. They visited 91 villages, stretching from Heilongjiang Province in the northeast to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west and Hainan Island in the south.

"We had expected to focus on the relationship of nature and villagers in the countryside, including the architecture, lifestyle and folklore," says Sun. "But we were heartbroken to find that many of the villages have disappeared or are in the process of disappearing."

Some villages are almost vacant as all the young people have left to work in big cities. Yanwo Shanzhuang in Anhui Province is a typical case. The nearly 600-year-old village on the top of a mountain has only 11 residents left. Except for a primary school student and a junior high school student, all the villagers are middle-aged or seniors.

"There used to be about 100 people in the village," says Chen. "The villagers built the stairways from the bottom of the mountain to the top by themselves, and grew tea trees for a living."

The village has 34 typical ancient Huizhou-style buildings, but most lack maintenance and aren't needed anymore. Chen says many families moved out for the sake of their children's education.

"Originally there was a school in the village," says Chen. "But in 2000, the school was merged with another one down the mountain, so students had to climb the mountain every day."

Chen says the village actually had very high potential as a tourist destination because of the Huizhou-style architecture, but due to its remote location, no developers are willing to invest.

Meanwhile, other villages have disappeared because of urbanization. When the team reached the village of Lulei in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, they found the 730-year-old place had been almost completely demolished to make way for the new Fuzhou Rail Station.