When asked how Tujia people cook their meals, a waitress simply replies: "Electric cooker."There are places in the neighbouring Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture that have preserved their folk culture much better, says Deng Xiaoxia, who was born in Xiangxi but now works in Beijing. Her grandmother's village has stayed the same for decades, she says.
"For me, I like those wooden houses," Deng said. "They are cool in summer and very convenient. Just seeing them makes me feel nostalgic."
Modern life and tourism
Although Deng wants to preserve her hometown's past, she says she is also concerned about tackling poverty there.
She says that unfortunately it seems the poorer a place is, the better its folk culture is preserved."It's a contradiction," she adds.
Deng remembers it used to
take her four hours to walk
to her grandmother's home
because there was no transport.
Her grandmother lived without
electricity.
"Zhangjiajie was a common
county, just like my hometown,
but I must accept that things
have moved on over the last
30 years," Deng said.
"Cultural
preservation has a high cost.
It's practical to change Zhangjiajie
into a modern city, and it's
natural for local Tujias to
adjust to modern life. It
is unavoidable that they should
be influenced by the outside
world. If some protectionist
activists call for preserving
the city exactly as it was
in the past, please ask them
to pay the renovation bill."
According to Deng Xiaoxia,
a traditional diaojiaolou
house in one of Xiangxi's
villages would cost much more
than a modern house built
of cement and bricks because
timber is now very expensive.Artist
Li Junsheng insists that cultural
preservation and social development
are compatible."If we preserve
the old city and build a new
one nearby, people can still
enjoy a new life, but the
old city itself will be a
tourist site complete with
traditional housing, clothing
and customs," he says.
"In this way culture can be
conserved along with a rising
income from tourism."But professor
Gao rejects the idea. According
to Gao, it is meaningless
to deliberately preserve architecture
and social culture, and priority
should be given to economic
growth and social development.
"While places that are influenced
by the outside world are developing,
it is isolation and poverty
that make towns stay the same,"
he says.However, the fortune
brought by tourism leads to
another problem: Some residents
say the gap between the poor
and the rich in the city appears
to be deepening.Rich people
boast that the seventh Lincoln
limousine in the whole of
China can be found on their
small city's crowded streets.And
even though the middle-aged
farmer is satisfied with his
rise in income, he says he
does not expect to ever earn
more than he does now.
His land has been devoured by the city's expansion, forcing him to find agricultural land elsewhere."We grow vegetables on suburban mountains now," he says.(Source: China Daily).
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Experience
World Natural Heritage
Zhangjiajie
Tour
