Ancient villages turn into Pingnan symbols

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2016-01-07

Pingnan county, in northeastern Fujian, invited the dean of the Architecture Department of Taiwan's Huafan University to discuss the tourism planning in Jixia village on January 4, according to the Ningde government.

Jixia village, surrounded by streams, is a watery village 15 kilometers away from Pingnan’s downtown area.

The village features ancient gate towers, residential houses and arcade bridges.

As the hometown of Gan Baoguo, a general of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the village has a tradition of practicing martial arts.

The dean Xiao Baixing said Pingnan is the hometown of Chinese folk art. Jixia village, together with neighboring villages, can improve rural tourism with their cultural heritage.

Pingnan, founded in 1735 has 258 villages, with Shuangxi, Jitou and Jixia listed among "China's famous historical and cultural towns and villages" by the national government.

The villages' techniques for building timber arch lounge bridges are on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Five such bridges were added to the China UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2012, and there are four national cultural relic protection sites.

Since 2013, Pingnan has placed great importance on protection and development of historical villages.