Pei family maxim fosters ancestral pride

Strong sense of belonging is drawing visitors to a village in Shanxi province and keeping it alive

Peibai village looks no different from many other hamlets in North China. Rows of redbrick courtyards lie neatly in square formations, surrounded by plots of farmland resembling plaid.

For most of the year, the 200-home village in Wenxi, Shanxi province, is quiet, with left-behind children and their grandparents its main residents. Only during Spring Festival in late January or early February does it come to life when hundreds of young migrant workers return home from cities.