Dananpo Village:Revitalization Through Culture

by Gui Juan and Shi Linjing

Every morning， crowing roosters and barking dogs wake up residents in Dananpo Village， Xiuwu County， central Chinas Henan Province. At 8：30 a.m.， 30-year-old villager Zhao Shiying， dressed in a suit， unlocks a bookstore near the entrance of the village. About 100 meters from the bookstore is the abode of 79-year-old Niu Bingfu. As dawn breaks， Niu pulls up on a tricycle loaded with firewood to begin preparing tourist orders for fried chicken.

Located in the Taihang Mountains area， Dananpo Village once prospered from its coal mines but its development was later bottlenecked due to resource depletion and environmental damage. Since 2019， the local government has been looking to its untapped， renewable resources to revitalize the area.

Retaining Original Flavor

In December 2019， Xiuwu County decided to launch a project to renew Dananpo while retaining its “rural aesthetics.”Experts on architecture， graphic design， aesthetics， and education were invited to convert local landscapes， customs， history， and culture into pillars of rural revitalization， exemplified by the homestay industry， delicacies， and cultural and creative products.

Among those experts， Zuo Jing， an associate professor at Anhui University and a scholar of rural planning and design， conducted a year of field research. His initial impression of the village can be summarized as “ordinary.”

“It was a quite common village in northern China， lacking a unique natural landscape or historical and cultural resources，” he recalled. But after strolling around the village， Zuo discovered its potential. Due to the strong momentum of its collective economy in the 1970s， Dananpo Village had built more than 3，000 square meters of public buildings： Its theater， production brigade office， auditorium， and other structures were all well preserved.

“Dananpo Village preserved a complete cluster of traditional buildings， epitomizing its cultural heritage and love among family members and villagers，” Zuo said， emphasizing that the renovation project should prioritize retaining the original flavor of the buildings. Therefore， the project did not follow traditional patterns of painting walls， repairing roads， laying water pipes， and developing rural homestays and commercial streets. Instead， it explored natural landscapes， studied local culture and history， met the needs of villagers， and optimized the original living spaces， ecological environment， and historical buildings in the village.

Developing the Cultural Industry

Today， Dananpo is considered a model project for rural revitalization in Henan Province and even around the country. The abandoned production brigade office and the old theater and dressing rooms for the local Huaibang Opera troupe were transformed into an art center and a bookstore， respectively.“We set up a childrens reading section in our bookstore， and displayed handicrafts and paintings by children in a small indoor exhibition，” said Zhao.“Welcome to the Happy Land in Dananpo Village，” reads a colored sign on the wall of the exhibition area.

After more than 40 years， Huaibang Opera was performed again alongside various musical activities. One midsummer night， a rock band partnered with the local Huaibang Opera troupe to present a symphony integrating modernity and tradition. “Such cultural activities are quite common in our village nowadays，” claimed Zhao Seqing， a 60-year-old villager.

The long-abandoned old supply and marketing cooperative has been transformed into a branch of the Bishan Crafts Cooperatives， a chain store selling cultural and creative products. It also functions as a rural grocery store with consignment counters for homemade products like wheat-straw fans， walnuts， and peppercorns. A total of 34 villagers have partnered with Bishan to sell their products so far. Among them， 72-year-old Zhao Xiaoxiang earns profits from walnuts sold there.

Zhang Haofeng， 10， reads a poem he just wrote under the walnut tree next to the playground for children in the village. Since Dananpo Primary School started offering a poetry class， Zhang has fallen in love with writing poetry. To further develop childrens aesthetic education there， Zuo Jing collaborated with Liu Qingyuans studio under the Department of Experimental Art of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation to offer courses such as picture books， art， and plant dyeing. With only 50 students， Dananpo Primary School has already published two poetry collections and seven picture books.

The cultural industry is now a “calling card” of Dananpo Village， attracting more than 100，000 tourists annually and directly helping more than 80 local villagers stay employed.

In 2021， Niu Bingfu started a homestay business. “My son and daughter-in-law came back to help run the business，” Niu smiled. “They dont need to travel far away for job opportunities as migrant workers any more.”

Dananpo Village is now a blend of aesthetic elegance and agricultural flavor. It boasts an art center glimmering with rural aesthetics and a culturally creative bookstore alongside bountiful vegetable fields. Emerging vitality is on display in the village engulfed by mountains.