Illustration: Liu Xidan/Global Times

Three of China's senior departments, dedicated to rural and cultural development, came together to jointly issue an announcement on Sunday to start the year of national rural cultural activities.

The program is aimed at enriching cultural life in the countryside, promoting the high-quality development of rural public cultural services and boosting rural rejuvenation. This sets a focus for the year 2023 in China to cultivate and promote rural culture growing from fertile Chinese soil. The timing also has a special meaning, as the nation has just eradicated extreme poverty. Followed by the government decision to reinvigorate rural areas, culture will make today's increasingly affluent rural life even fuller.

The three departments also released the joint work plan "song of the Earth" for the program. The plan laid special emphasis on exploring rural cultural heritage, integrating traditional farming culture and modern civilization, and promoting the rich Chinese cultural resources for tourism.

Specifically, a "village gala" tailor-made for farmers will become a routine program, the best of which will be selected and promoted in more rural areas. Traditional farming culture such as the 24 solar terms will be popularized and typical rural activities will be made accessible online, while professional art troupes will be sent to give performances and provide training in the countryside. 

Excellent rural tourist routes will be selected and promoted, paintings by farmers will be exhibited both online and offline, and rural social media influencers will be found and trained.

Also on Sunday, 51 exemplary cases of grassroots public cultural services were announced. They were selected from 196 cases that have taken place since 2019, when this activity was initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to improve more equitable, efficient and sustainable public cultural service. About a dozen of them are related to rural areas, such as tracking the source of rural culture, creating original folk songs and promoting fine rural social conduct. 

Despite China's rapid urbanization, the country still has 500 million rural residents. As stated in the 20th CPC National Congress report, "The most challenging and arduous tasks we face in building a modern socialist China in all respects remain in our rural areas." 

The yearly program will make a good start in enriching the cultural life of China's rural areas and allowing the treasure of rural cultures known to the nation and beyond. 
In this way, farmers will better enjoy their rural culture, which will also become more attractive to young people. Overall, this rural cultural promotion endeavor is a reflection of the Chinese government's people-centered approach, and a step to lead rural residents onto the path of Chinese modernization.

Actually, numerous rural cultural activities have been held over the past years. During the Lantern Festival in 2023, "Our Village Evening Gala" was put on in Haiyan, East China's Zhejiang Province. 

During the 1.5-hour event, performances such as singing, acrobatic shows and short plays written, directed and acted all by farmers were given to their fellow villagers, while the local intangible cultural heritage known as "boat boxing" was also performed. 

Outside the town's cultural hall, a lantern show, old town tour and intangible cultural heritage handicraft show were seen on the streets of the old town. It is reported that the activity of "Our Village Evening Gala" was a joint activity conducted throughout Zhejiang Province to enrich the cultural life of rural areas. Additionally, in the provinces of Shanxi, Sichuan and Henan as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and more, these "village gala" activities were all conducted over the past years. The work plan will surely add impetus to the grassroots cultural development.