A bird's-eye view of Zhuge village in Lanxi, a county-level city in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: jhfabu]
Zhuge village in Lanxi, a county-level city in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang province, has over the past 20 years been making efforts to protect its ancient buildings and traditional culture.
For example, the village has implemented a series of measures, including motivating all residents to participate in conservation efforts and establishing an ancient building renovation company, to renovate and protect the buildings.
Built in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the village has a history of more than 700 years and boasts more than 200 ancient buildings, and has invested more than 300 million yuan ($41.14 million) to renovate 60,000 square meters of ancient buildings since 2003.
The village has taken on a brand-new look after renovations and become a travel hot-spot, receiving more than 600,000 tourists per year, generating annual tourism revenue of 20 million yuan, and providing jobs to more than 500 residents.
Authorities have used the collective income to improve residents' well-being by such steps as upgrading paths and distributing living allowances of 300 yuan to residents aged 60 or above every month.
Zhuge Kunheng, Party secretary of the village, said that authorities have also rolled out measures to protect its traditional culture such as worship customs, traditional Chinese medicine culture, and ancient building construction techniques, which will be helpful in advancing the in-depth integration of culture and tourism.
The village, which is home to one of the largest groups of descendants of Zhuge Liang (181-234), a prominent statesman, military strategist, and literati in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), abounds with rich cultural resources.
