作为市新闻办组织的“中外艺术家共同振兴乡村”活动的后续，外籍友人、火博sports·（中国）官方网站教师玛格达夫妇在红牡丹国际书画社的邀请下，近几个月一直在宁波葛家村、城杨村等地实地调研，零距离感受宁波的乡村振兴，还赴贵州定汪村参观考察。

今天，中国日报整版刊登了玛格达夫妇署名文章《葛家村的艺术风貌给人留下深刻印象》《能帮助当地人解决他们的问题就具备了成功的最大潜力》，外籍专家用他们的文字描述我们的美丽乡村和村民的幸福生活，以及文化扶贫的成果。中国日报客户端、中国日报网同步推出。

甬派全文转载，以飨派粉——

《中国日报》版面截图

Gejia village impresses with its artistic outlookCreative endeavor breaks through to the heart of community（《葛家村的艺术风貌给人留下深刻印象》）

MAGDALENA GIMBUT and ARTUR PIOTR REGA

Magdalena Gimbut and Artur Piotr Rega talk with local residents in Gejia village. The residents' lives have been improved as the village makes progress in development by taking advantage of art.

Gejia village in Ninghai county of Ningbo is decorated with artistic elements. Visitors take photos at Gejia village, which has improved its image by taking advantage of art.

Ye Xianrong, a local villager, established an art museum in her own house.

The museum has attracted visitors worldwide.

Several months ago, the Red Peony Academy of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy invited us for a trip to Gejia village in Ninghai county of Ningbo, Zhejiang province. We were told that we were going to visit a village, which is engaged in some kind of art project. Each opportunity to visit places not found in travel guides is, from our point of view, worth taking.

We decided to go. During, and soon after the trip we learned that this engagement was much deeper and better organized than we thought.

The story began when we visited Gejia village for the first time. At the beginning we had mixed impressions. On the one hand Gejia village appeared to be just one more Chinese village located not far away from our home in Ningbo. On the other hand, however, we saw some pictures which awoke our curiosity. To be honest, with time this curiosity has been getting bigger and bigger.

We can remember how astonished we were by the vivid colors decorating the wall of the building located at the beginning of the so-called "Professor's Path". The deeper we went into the village, the more the efforts to beautify it attracted our attention. Bamboo flower pots, facade decorations, nicely arranged flower beds, art installations made of bamboo, empty bottles, old tires, etc.

Pretty quickly we realized that the beauty of those bigger and smaller objects can be experienced so deeply because the streets, yards and public places in the village are very clean.

After a while we understood that it was possible because at least some of the objects and materials, in many other villages would be considered to be rubbish, but in Gejia village they have been used to make artistic objects.

This kind of "green thinking" in the rural area moved us in a very pleasant way. In the village surrounded by bamboo forest and filled with the fragrance of osmanthus trees, quite a few artifacts, including tools, art objects, and even culinary specialties like osmanthus flower tea, are made of these "domesticated" and local materials. And, what's more, everything has been made by the members of local community.

Our curiosity achieved the level at which some questions had to be asked. While talking to the villagers we learned that the whole idea of using art to alleviate living conditions in the village appeared around 18 months earlier.

It was when professor Cong Zhiqiang from Renmin University of China in Beijing was invited to a discussion about the possibilities of using art to change the image of the village and improve the quality of people's lives.

At the beginning it was not so easy to introduce the idea of using art to make local people's life better because, as they thought and said, they had no idea what art was. They felt not so into this project because they said they didn't understand art. Art in their concept was something remote, difficult, too abstract, useless, without any practical usage.

Despite this initial doubt and objections, thanks to the very empathetic and understanding approach of professor Cong, even the most unconvinced locals eventually decided to join and support the project.

After they realized that even the trivial things, the most casual objects like parts of clothes, everyday utilities could be turned into art objects, art itself ceased to be abstract, alien and impossible to understand. And, what is probably even more important, art, like water or air, became an integral part of their lives.

As outsiders, we noticed the artistic movement in Gejia village may be compared to similar phenomena appearing all over the world. In particular, using local resources and know-how, social engagement and adopting recycled materials belongs to a modern artistic trend called "socially engaged art" or "participatory art".

The most important factor of this kind of art is its conversational character. The act of doing art is quite often much more meaningful than physical objects. Thanks to it nobody should feel excluded.

We had the opportunity to talk to some representatives of Gejia village, and we found out that beauty and art, in some mysterious way, inspired people to be even more creative, innovative, and sensitive to the environment and nature.

At the same time, what seems to be even more important, the art and sensitivity to beauty opened people's eyes and hearts to their neighbors. Art became the engine thanks to which Gejia village dwellers started to cooperate and spend more time together. The village, just like home, became a center of people's efforts, the place everybody wanted to take care of.

Gaston Bachelard, a French philosopher, said: "Our home is our corner of the world…it is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word."

The relation between people and the place of their birth is usually very intimate. In a village like Gejia village, this old truth is very visible. We can see the personal character of this relationship in every corner of the village, when we look at beautiful sculptures made of sea shells, flower pots made of bamboo, cactus plants decorating a local pub, colorful wall and stone paintings.

We have to remember that behind every piece of art stands a real person. The person transforming abstract ideas of love, friendship, loyalty into tangible objects we can see, and touch, and admire. Each family has its unique input to the project either through craft or decorating. Each house becomes exceptional.

We believe that it was possible thanks to the very empathetic approach that professor Cong applied while introducing art to Gejia village dwellers. He decided not to lecture them, but to work with them, showing the way of participatory and dialogic art. The efficiency of this approach has been proved by the fact that 13 villagers became project ambassadors visiting distant places to share their experience, and if necessary give some advice to people who would like to repeat their success.

All of us would like to have a happy, safe and meaningful life. In Gejia village, we can see people who－with a little help from their friends－try to make this dream come true. Edward Relph, a Canadian geographer said: "… to be human is to have and know your place."

We believe that the identity of the place is only partly located in material objects, streets, buildings and trees. To know your place you also need to know the spirit of the place, genius loci, the atmosphere. You need to know and understand the local customs, people's habits, taboos. All these elements together create a very meaningful net of relationship. To know it, you need to become a part of it. When you become part of it you will understand it. The very moment you understand it you may start building the future of the place.

Helping locals solve their problems has biggest potential for success（《能帮助当地人解决他们的问题就具备了成功的最大潜力》）

MAGDALENA GIMBUT and ARTUR PIOTR REGA

From top: Magdalena Gimbut and Artur Piotr Rega tell fairy tales to children in Dingwang village in Qinglong county of Guizhou. Gimbut and Rega chat with locals in Dingwang village.

When talking to one of our Chinese friends several years ago, we learned that Guizhou is the most beautiful Chinese province, at least according to him. He told us that he visited Guizhou during his summer holidays every year. So in mid-November, we visited Dingwang village in Qinglong county of Guizhou, which is the "sister village" of Gejia village in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

We participated in a local arts festival to observe the results of a development-through-art project in this village. Even though Dingwang joined the project only three months ago, positive changes are clearly visible.

The village, which is beautifully located on the slope of a mountain, is inhabited by around 200 families. Most of them belong to the Bouyei ethnic group.

Like some other places in Guizhou, Dingwang is poor and underdeveloped. At the same time, people living there are extremely hospitable, friendly and open.

In April 2020, leaders of Dingwang village came to Gejia and saw the changes achieved by the development-through-art project. It impressed them a lot. As a result, Dingwang decided to invite professor Cong Zhiqiang. Since then, the village has gone through an enormous improvement.

One of the local village dwellers said: "Before, our Dingwang village was dirty and difficult to walk through because we had no road. We used to live with animals under one roof. The animals were present everywhere. Now the village is clean. We have a new road, which makes it much easier to get in and out."

One of the first innovations in Dingwang was the creation of public spaces where people could gather, talk and play. Just like in Gejia village, it appeared to be a good idea. Thanks to this, people started to discuss the changes and realized that the village as a whole belongs to them and should be cared for by them.

This made them aware that they may exert an influence on the place they inhabit; whether it is clean or dirty, beautiful or ugly depends on them.

This responsibility is an inspiration to their lives. Art seems to be a natural ally in the effort to make a place one lives in more pleasant, supportive and integrative.

In the case of Dingwang, art was able to release the potential of entrepreneurship. Communities like this often suffer from a lack of opportunities to earn money.

The ability of a community to adapt to new circumstances, we believe, is one of the most useful criteria to find out how vibrant a given culture is.

During a conversation with one of the female villagers who was inspired by Gejia teachers and professor Cong, we learned that she and her family started decorating clothes made by them. The traditional clothing with modern decoration was interesting enough to be sold in many big cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. They are also selling clothes online and are going to open an online shop soon.

Other families with unique workshops, however, still are looking for the best way to grab the attention of potential clients. As an example, we may mention a family in which the women specialize in embroidery and the manufacturing of traditional clothing.

We have been told that the production of one outfit set, which takes around half a year to make, generates income of 2,000 yuan ($300). In another family, a woman who makes traditional shoes explained that one pair of shoes, which are made over two days, sells for 30-40 yuan.

At the same time, we need to remember that monetizing skills and the work of local people is not the first goal of the development-through-art project. The most important aim is to improve people's lives by enhancing their cultural awareness, and focusing their thoughts on the possibilities to make their surroundings better. When one is surrounded by beautiful and organized spaces, his or her life becomes fuller.

So far, we had the opportunity to observe two villages which started their adventure with development-through-art projects -Gejia and Dingwang.

Let us refresh our memory about the main goals of this project. The first one is to make rural surroundings beautiful and more pleasant to live in, the second is creating conditions that enable local villagers to monetize their potential, or earn money.

In the rural area of Qinglong county, Guizhou, the average annual income per person is－according to Feng Zhuohua, the deputy director of Qinglong county -around 4,000 yuan.

No matter who you are, if you feel that your situation needs improvement, you should be clear about the direction and methods that make those changes possible. No matter how rich or poor you are, you need a proper education to make grounded choices.

In both villages, the initial effort has been taken. We cannot be sure about the results because, in both cases, people do not get ready-made solutions with a prescription for success. Ready-made solutions often don't engage people.

During our conversations with professor Cong, we heard that there are many architects and designers in China trying to change the image of rural areas through art. But they often do it without an understanding of the local background, conditions, or people.

As a result, people are not properly educated and because of that they cannot understand and fully support the changes taking place around them. In this project, people are educated and encouraged to recognize their needs, aspirations and potential. They are encouraged to find a solution by themselves.

Projects like this, based on education and mutual trust, are by definition much more time-consuming. People cannot be educated in a day and you cannot build trust in just a week. But the results have a much better chance to last and leave deeper, positive impressions on their participants.

原文链接：https://ypstatic.cnnb.com.cn/yppage-share/news/share/news_detail?newsId=5fbb6820e4b030ef3d9da0b3&type=wxfs