Illustration: Liu Xiangya/GT

Whether it is promoting small rural theaters or proposing the construction of folk culture-themed pilot villages, many National People's Congress (NPC) deputies like Chen Cheng and Ouyang Qiansen have put forward proposals at this year's national "two sessions." With the aim to achieve rural revitalization, these deputies' suggestions focus on upgrading rural cultural facilities rather than building industry infrastructure. Their focus on cultural hubs reveals how China's versatile village cultures need to be made more tangible in order to drive rural development. 

In what ways can rural cultural resources be made tangible? The plentiful small village museums across the country provide an answer. 

Taking East China's Zhejiang Province as an example. By 2024, it had facilitated the establishment of 813 rural museums, including one called the Daji Village Film Museum in the Jingning She autonomous county.   

Ranging a mere 370 square meters in size, the Daji Village Film Museum hosts more than "1,000 ­filmstrips, mainly historical ones, relating to the She ethnic group culture and local red culture," the museum's manager Zhu Haihua told the Global Times. 

Without this museum, the village's authentic ethnic cultural resources would be scattered, leading to a lack of systematic preservation or even misinterpretation. 

This shows the importance of small-scale rural hubs when it comes to better preserving a rural area's regional culture. 

Not just limited to collecting and presenting rural cultural resources, small-scaled rural hubs can also help promote village tourism by bringing niche local heritages to more people. 

Take Huai Opera for example. It is a niche folk art rooted in the rural areas of East China's Jiangsu Province. In order to promote this cultural legacy, NPC deputy Chen Cheng has proposed a "village theater" program to provide "better facilities, stage designs and art training lessons" to village theaters across the province. 

While Chen's village theater plan has already been facilitated in places such as the province's Jianhu county, what makes her proposal significant is her focus on the "flexible operation" of rural theaters. In other words, she highlights that rural cultural hubs should be managed with creativity. 

In Chen's proposal, she mentions that with the establishment of ­local village theaters, bands can tour around the country to perform shows. Such outreach activities can not only introduce local culture to a broader audience, but may also bring new ­opportunities back to the places where the culture originates. 

"In a deeper meaning, the ­establishment of small-scale ­rural cultural facilities does not mean to build a building, but refers to establishing a ­mechanism that can help the rural culture of different regions carry out exchanges with each other," ­cultural policy expert Song Weiping told the Global Times. 

No matter if they are museums or village theaters, many small rural hubs have now become not just places for displaying culture, but also multi-purpose venues providing villagers with more job opportunities and a sense of community. 

"Previously, a lot of our villagers chose to work in local infrastructure construction, but now many of them are choosing to work part-time or full-time at the museum," Zhu, the Daji Village Film Museum's manager, told the Global Times. She added that the museum has made many of the villagers "happy about their roots." 

If increasing the number of rural cultural facilities can provide locals with more life choices and boost their cultural confidence, then those facilities should be seen as being as important as infrastructural development. 

In other words, rural revitalization does not rely solely on infrastructure construction or government support but also on establishing cultural facilities. While infrastructure ensures a better quality of life for villagers, small-scale cultural spaces provide them an anchor for rural culture. Even the smallest ­villages can strengthen their ­community identity through these cultural spaces, while offering a platform for the preservation and development of local heritage.

Besides Zhejiang's more than 800 rural cultural facilities, Sichuan Province in Southwest China has also established museums across all of its 183 counties, cities, and districts. 

The spread of small rural cultural facilities reveals China's rich and diverse regional cultures are truly the best foundations for helping local villages thrive.

Without the country's diverse ethnic minority cultures, intangible heritage, archaeological resources, folk traditions and culinary practices that vary from region to region, these rural cultural spaces would lack the foundation to thrive. 

For example, NPC deputy Ouyang Qiansen highlighted in his proposals that Guizhou Province's "red history," "diverse ethnic minority cultures" and even its tree burial folk custom are all unique local rural cultural resources. 

"In essence, China's regional diversity is not just a backdrop but the lifeblood of these rural cultural hubs, ensuring that each village can tell its own unique story," Song emphasized. 

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn