Ancient farming wisdom nurtures rural vitalization

As China pushes to modernize its countryside, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has turned to thousand-year-old farming traditions to spearhead rural vitalization.

According to research unveiled by the ministry during a national conference on rural civilization in Linyi, Shandong province, in July, four ancient concepts — agriculture (nong), people (min), timeliness (shi) and harmony (he) — account for over 80 percent of China's core agricultural heritage values.

These four concepts have been summarized as the core spirit of China's agricultural cultural heritage: valuing agriculture, putting people at the center, following seasonal farming cycles, and upholding harmony and unity.

Far from treating these ideas as historical relics, experts and local leadership across the country are proving that ancient ecological wisdom and traditional craft can serve as active economic engines for contemporary rural development.

Old crafts, modern markets

In a willow-weaving workshop in Linshu county, Shandong province, 70-year-old Yang Jinbang twists pliable willow twigs into a small gourd, his hands never pausing as he speaks.

"This variety of willow is planted at the Spring Equinox and harvested at the Minor Heat. This seasonal rule is the most basic experience summed up by our ancestors from agriculture, and we are still benefiting from it," he told a group of tourists.

Yang practices twist weaving, an ancient local technique historically tied to rural production.

"We have woven agricultural utensils for more than a thousand years, including baskets for storing hay and harvesting grain," Yang said. "In old rural days, donkeys were the main agricultural transport tool, and woven panniers were fixed on donkeys' backs to carry farm goods. Later, the weaving skills serving agricultural work gradually formed an agricultural heritage, and we kept upgrading products to fit modern life," he said.

Those same panniers once slung across donkeys were later adapted for bicycles and motorcycles. Today, local producers make dozens of categories of products, from baskets and furniture to garden decor.

Yang's workshop is a prime example of the national effort to position agricultural heritage not as a museum display, but as a wellspring for modern livelihoods.

Experts attending the rural civilization conference in Linyi cited the value of integrating agricultural heritage into the nation's modernization drive. Rural areas are increasingly recognizing that ancient agricultural wisdom can effectively support and strengthen modern rural livelihoods.

Living landscapes

In Southwest China's Yunnan province, in Yuanyang county, ancient landscape management is yielding massive economic returns.

"Agricultural culture is not frozen in time. It is the living source of rural revitalization," said Pu Rong, deputy head of Yuanyang in the Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture.

For over 1,300 years, local people have carved terraced rice fields into the mountainsides, creating a unique agricultural ecosystem integrating forests, villages, terraces and waterways.

Yuanyang's Hani terraces hold three international titles — a UNESCO World Heritage listing, a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems designation, and World Heritage Irrigation Structures recognition.

Pu said villagers have kept alive traditional agricultural practices such as water diversion and distribution with slotted timber, regular ditch patrols and sustainable forest management.

"We have more than 2,400 local rangers who walk the mountains, clearing ditches and guarding the woods. As long as the mountain forests remain healthy, the terraces will never lack water," he said.

This eco-friendly agricultural model has brought concrete economic benefits to local people. Li Wenliang, a local farmer, has experienced this transformation personally.

"In the past, I only grew rice, and life was difficult," he said.

Today, his fields support a rice-fish-duck integrated farming system. This model now spans about 6,700 hectares across the county.

The local government has also transformed traditional agricultural celebrations such as harvest festivals into cultural tourism attractions, boosting rural incomes.

Pu said: "We are not only protecting the natural environment and scenery. We are keeping this living landscape alive, which in turn sustains our people."

Cao Xingsui, deputy director of the national expert committee on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, said Yuanyang is a global model of agricultural civilization and proof that ecological integrity and human prosperity can reinforce each other.

Daily harmony

Beyond economics, ancient agrarian values are proving effective in streamlining rural administration and community safety.

In Lingshui, a mountain village of under 600 residents in Beijing's Mentougou district, daily life remains guided by the "Eight Virtues of Lingshui" — time-honored norms that have sustained social harmony and ecological balance for generations.

"The elders always teach us to respect nature and follow the unity of heaven and humanity," said Liu Xiaoxin, a rural vitalization coordinator who grew up in the village.

Such values, deeply embedded in agricultural life, are reflected in virtues like "late walnut harvesting" and "penning pigs", which embody the village's long-standing philosophy of living in balance with nature.

"Walnuts are harvested 10 days later than usual to align with the local seasonal climate, ensuring better quality and yields. Livestock are enclosed to maintain a clean living environment," said Liu.

"These practices remind us to follow farming seasons, abide by communal rules, and cherish the natural world, wisdom that continues to benefit us today," she said.

Two other virtues, "shared autumn porridge" and "charitable giving", commemorate the spirit of mutual aid in agricultural communities. During past famines, villagers shared grain to save thousands of lives.

"Every autumn, the whole village still comes together to cook porridge, a 300-year-old tradition honoring the kindness and solidarity of our ancestors," Liu said.

In recent years, Lingshui has maintained peaceful and harmonious relations among villagers, with no serious public security incidents recorded.

Drawing on this agricultural heritage, the village has preserved its green mountains, clear waters and a harmonious environment, laying a solid foundation for its cultural tourism and educational tour programs.

Lingshui illustrates that agricultural heritage-rooted norms support sound governance and fuel all-around rural progress.

This balance between preserving agricultural heritage and pursuing rural development is exactly what Yang, the willow weaving inheritor in Shandong's Linshu county, has been practicing for over six decades.

"Our ancestors wove willow to survive alongside the land," Yang said.

"Today we weave the same willow to carry our agricultural culture to the world and build better lives for our rural families. The agrarian wisdom from our past still lights our road forward," he said.