In 2012, I accompanied Professor Yang Xinhai to Shushan village in Tong'an town, Suzhou, to carry out rural planning. The scene of my first entering the village is still vivid in my memory: the eastern entrance of Jinzhil Mountain was a winding gentle slope, adorned with various fruit trees. As I briskly walked to the top, a vast expanse of white pear blossoms spanning thousands of acres suddenly came into view. In that moment, the "original scenery" of Shushan village struck a chord in my heart. However, the less-than-desirable living environment also ignited a strong sense of mission within me.
At the beginning, I didn't have much ambition. The planning process was quickly completed, and we even received awards. Just when I thought the work here was coming to a close, my mentor told me that the scarcity of talent and the difficulty of implementing the plans were the biggest difficulty in rural planning. He encouraged me to conduct a "companion-style" rural development experiment in Shushan village.So, with a hint of excitement, I embarked on a decade-long journey of shuttling between the city and the countryside, little did I know that this "companionship" would last for 10 years.
Unlike urban development, rural planning cannot achieve specialized and precise management and implementation. This requires planners to be flexible in transitioning between different roles. As a "collaborator," I have to prioritize the villagers as the main stakeholders and provide direct guidance or review for construction projects such as residential building designs, comprehensive improvement of mountain roads, and landscape designs for Flower Creek. This ensures that the implementation of the plans stays on track. In addition, I also collaborate with research institutions to establish real-time monitoring systems for negative oxygen ion levels and collaborate with art schools to explore and create local landscape artworks. Furthermore, I work with social capital providers and young entrepreneurs returning to their hometowns to participate in the development of high-quality rural accommodations.
As I witnessed the thriving development in Shushan, I gradually realized that rural development requires not only planning but also endogenous growth, transitioning from "blood transfusion" to "blood producing." Since 2016, I have collaborated with various stakeholders from government departments, research institutions, as well as industrial, academic circles to vitalize idle assets in the village by building the Shushan Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. We organized rural maker conferences, hosted cultural and creative competitions, and leveraged the "Collaborative Innovation Center for Rural Planning and Construction" and the "Master Studio for Rural Cultural and Tourism Entrepreneurship Skills" to cultivate university graduates, grassroots officials, and entrepreneurs in rural development. These efforts have ignited the vitality of Shushan village.
How to excel in rural cultural creativity? It really puts me in a bind. So, I called upon friends and students for assistance. We focused on the folk totem of Shushan village, known as the "Shushan Guardian," and developed three major series of cultural and creative products comprising nearly 100 products. These series include cultural and tourism ambassadors representing innovation and tradition, heroes in the fight against the pandemic, and environmental guardians protecting natural environment. Through these endeavors, we aimed to reshape the concept of guardianship, encompassing family, rules, integrity, and territorial integrity.
Furthermore, we established the Shushan Rural Maker Alliance, which includes over 40 members spanning fields such as catering, accommodation, recreation, agriculture, and cultural creativity. We formed a Shushan Community of Shared Destiny, enhancing resource complementarity, connecting industry chains, and achieving comprehensive and collaborative development.
With attractive appearance and rich content in place, the next pursuit is to achieve the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.
To achieve this goal, my team and I delved into historical records and reconstructed the rare village-level academy in Shushan. By reproducing the daily scenes of literati and scholars reciting poetry and reading books during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the academy showcases traditional agricultural and scholarly culture. We have also established a borderless library and set up the Rural Reading Alliance in the village.
Meanwhile, I collaborated with top music institutions through my alumni and used music and cultural tourism as a breakthrough point. We implemented the Artistic Residency in the Village program, aiming to establish the first rural music and cultural tourism hub in the country and a creative base for the revival of Chinese traditional music in the Yangtze River Delta. In 2019, we established the brands Wen Yi and Cun Chao Peng Pai and created a music salon called Chu Shan Wen Yi. Through music and resident artists, we tell the story of rural development in China to the world.
With the implementation of urban waste sorting, my team and I have also begun planning waste sorting in Shushan. We have established a Full Cycle Intelligent Classification Ecological Management Platform to accurately monitor and manage rural waste sorting. Utilizing the Shushan Guardians, we expect to cultivate the concept of "protecting green mountains and rivers, and building a beautiful Shushan village." We integrate waste sorting with rural modern governance and use "technology empowerment + cultural creativity" to create a new benchmark for rural waste sorting.
Rural planning is both a practical planning that integrates multiple aspects and an innovative planning towards the future. Under the new relationship between industry, agriculture, urban, and rural areas, farmers are no longer solely engaged in agricultural production in rural areas. Villages are gradually transitioning from homogeneity to heterogeneity, while simultaneously encompassing diverse values such as food security, urban hinterland, and spiritual homeland. Particularly in advanced regions like Jiangsu, rural development and planning face many new challenges. As a planner, it is essential to embrace and meet these challenges.
Today, Shushan village has become a star village known for its ecological superiority, scenic beauty, distinctive industries, and prosperous farmers. Throughout the 10 years of companionship, I have grown together with Shushan. I have come to realize that while planning work has its boundaries, the service of companionship knows no limits. We should not treat rural planning as a one-time deal. Rural planning is rooted in emotions, shaped by professionalism, and ultimately manifests in governance. It is fundamentally a process of consensus-building that requires us to do our best while also recognizing our limitations. We must strive for innovation in technical methods, uphold the continuous transmission of values, remain true to our original intentions, and maintain patience.
The author is a teacher at Suzhou University of Science and Technology and village planner in Shushan.
