Between November 22-23, 2016, the “International Forum on Chinese Traditional Village" was held in Baoding, Hebei. The forum was sponsored by China's Traditional Village Protection and Development Research Center at Tianjin University, co-organized by the School of Journalism and Communication at Hebei University of China and hosted by Tianjin Dayi Environment Landscape Design Co. Ltd.
At the forum, Feng Jicai, Vice Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association and the Director of the China's Traditional Village Protection and Development Research Center, delivered a keynote speech on prominent issues on the current protection of traditional villages. The Vice Chairman of the Monument Council in Germany, Rudolf Lückmann, made a speech on behalf of international experts and scholars.
The theme of this forum was "Where will traditional villages go", and led to multi-department and multi-disciplinary experts having in-depth and groundbreaking discussions. The forum invited representatives from the Expert Committee of Traditional Village Protection and Development of China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Chinese Folk Literature and Artists Association. Experts and senior practitioners from various fields such as folklore, architecture, communication, landscape architecture and film and television anthropology from universities, media and related institutions at home and abroad, as well as county-level leadership and management actively participated and discussed awareness of values, development models of traditional villages, rural tourism and accommodation construction, traditional village spirit and village protection, rural landscape and traditional village relations, the conservation and development of ethnic villages, new country sages and the protection of traditional villages, and the study of indigenous peoples living in traditional Chinese villages. Discussion centered on how to scientifically and rationally promote heritage protection, cultural heritage and community development of Chinese traditional villages.
During the summit, apart from the discussion, the organizers also held photo exhibitions and film and TV salons. The photography exhibition, "Leave a Legacy Behind for Each Traditional Village", displayed some of results of the project "Chinese traditional village file survey". The project was specially commissioned by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. It was jointly organized by the Chinese Folk Literature and Artists Association, the Chinese Photographers Association and the Chinese Literature and Art Foundation, and undertook by the Traditional Village Protection and Development Center. On November 22, the film and television salon in Baoding Xinlianchi Academy showed many anthropology documentaries related to regional traditions and intangible cultural heritage, and scholars were able to have face-to-face communication with the author while enjoying the works, and also have in-depth discussions on different areas of village forms and cultural heritage protection.
