Deep Plowing

Abstract

Since the author and his family quitted the apartment in Beijing and settled down in Bishan in early 2013, the Bishan Project began to get involved in the daily life of the village and entered the stage of “deep plowing.” Under the lobbying of the author, Qian Xiaohua, the owner of the Librairie Avant-Garde in Nanjing, finally opened its first rural branch, Bishan Bookstore, in 2014. Almost at the same time, the three-year fieldwork on “Handicraft in Yi County” by Zuo Jing and his students was published. In this chapter, taking Han Yu and Zheng Xiaoguang’s Pig’s Inn, Zuo Jing’s Guanlu Cottage and his own Buffalo Institute as examples, the author makes a deep study on the historical roots and restoration practices of Huizhou-style vernacular architecture, and summarizes the experience of the Bishan Project in architectural restoration and historical preservation. At the same time, he also expounds the significance of Bishan Bookstore to the daily public life and cultural construction in rural areas, and the necessity of the fieldwork on “Handicraft in Yi County” to understand the history of local life and sort out the local historical resources. It was daily work to restore the vacant old houses, run the Bishan Bookstore and make the general survey of local handicraft. The author's attention to these normal constructions in the village reflects his rethinking on the “festivalism” in the previous stage of Bishan Project.