Entering, immersing, then empowering

"Look at the camera, and smile please!"

At Yuanjia Village in Shaanxi Province, villagers are queuing to take photos in the contemporary photo studio built by Tsinghua students.

Villagers taking pictures

Several months ago, a team of graduate students from the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University (TSJC) came to Yuanjia Village. They were here to carry out a plan of constructing a new space for rural culture and rural revitalization.

Before the team of Tsinghua students, there had been many investigation teams coming to Yuanjia Village. But most of them left without any constructive outcomes. As a result, villagers in Yuanjia Village disbelieved these young students could help them solve problems at the beginning.

"They would not stay here too long." "They are just wasting the school funding"...There were many doubts, but the students of Tsinghua didn't get frustrated. They established trust with villagers through solid work and daily communication.

Team at construction site

"Only by rooting deep, staying long, and working well can we earn their heart," Zhao Pingguang, a graduate student of TSJC, said.

With the spirit of “No sports, no Tsinghua,” Zhao Pingguang and his teammates still kept the habit of exercising after coming to Yuanjia Village. With the approval of the village head, they organized a morning-jogging team, in which the villagers and students would jog together every morning at 7:30 am.

Taking pictures of villagers also helped to build the link between students and villagers. “The promising village is commonly built by all villagers. We want to record the happy moments of these ordinary people. Many villagers and I are so close that we call each other brother,” Zhao Pingguang said.

Swipe to see more photos taken for villagers

Refresh Rural Culture with Creativity

Culture, talents, and capital are three key factors of rural revitalization. Even though Yuanjia Village has been one of the symbols of a developed village, it still faces a talent shortage. As a result, the lack of branding and creativity becomes the biggest weakness in the development of Yuanjia Village.

To change the situation, the team of Tsinghua students activated and reproduced the local culture in the form of cultural and creative products. As soon as they came to Yuanjia Village, they started to build a new "rural space". From site selection, searching for investment, interior design, business-format preparation, product design, and publicity, they did most of the work by themselves.

Pure soil's cultural and creative product store

They named the creativity base "Pure Soil," which originated from their understanding of the countryside. In their eyes, the countryside is not conservative and rigid, but innovative and dynamic. Therefore, the team refined the spirit of space into "Sparkle Origins in Life," spelled out with the initial letters of four words as "Soil."

New Chinese style tea pot for making tea

Taking advantage of cultural and natural resource endowments in Yuanjia Village, they made Pure Soil a must-visit and internet-famous site combining new-style Chinese tea and creative cultural products. In Pure Soil, travelers can immerse themselves in the most original and local culture of Shanxi Province.

Guanzhong folk canvas bag

Guanzhong folk sweater

Apart from that, they also helped design packages for local produce. "Our work is to 'empower' and 'increase,' adding value to it instead of changing its original style," Zhao Pingguang said. "Every village has its own features, which need adaptation to local conditions. But we proved with time that the way of cultural and creative work is effective, accessible, and promising."

A corner of the cultural and creative store

Currently, they are preparing for the upcoming International Youth Cultural and Creative Festival of Yuanjia Village, embracing more creativity and wisdom from global youth.

Gallop in the Vast Countryside

Months of life in Yuanjia Village also helped students improve themselves. "On campus, most comments I received were praise. But when I turned to the workplace, the voice of criticism was more amplified," Zhao Pingguang said. He supposed this experience helped make him mature, escaping from bookishness.

In December 2022, the Rural Revitalization Teaching Practice Base of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University was officially established in Yuanjia Village.

The guests visited the Pure Soil village cultural space located in Yuanjiacun Art Gallery

Encouraging more outstanding young people to participate in the rural revitalization and practice their creativity in the real industry is the cultivation goal of the teaching practice of rural revitalization in TSJC.

In recent years, they have encouraged students to conduct in-depth research in rural areas through graduation theses, social practice, and internships. Transforming from bystanders to participants, students learn more about authentic Chinese society and contribute to rural revitalization with their wisdom.

Hu Yu (fourth from left) led a team to investigate Yuanjia Village in February 2022

"In places such as Yuanjia Village in Liquan, Shaanxi, there are many excellent young students from our school carrying out solid rural innovation projects. The successful implementation of these projects has made me more confident in the creativity of Chinese culture and Chinese youth," Professor Hu Yu, the instructor of the Yuanjia Village project, and the common tutor of the team members, said.

"The countryside is not only the origin of our ancestors but also the destination of the soul of our generation," Li Guohong, a graduate at TSJC, said. "We hope to prove through long-term practice in Yuanjia Village that youth can also achieve their life value in the grand countryside!"

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Writer: Li Ruojia

Editor: Liu Shutian

Designer: Wang Zekun

Reviewers: Lin Yuan, Xu Liang