Video Interpretation of Traditional Ancient Village Protection

After the reform and opening up, China's economy has taken off rapidly, and at the same time, it has spawned a batch of online celebrity villages, such as Huaxi Village, which is known as the first village in the world, Liede Village in Guangzhou, which became rich overnight due to demolition, and Xidi Village in Huangshan, which is picturesque. Today, let's take a look at Gigi Lai Village, an ancient village that enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad.

Gigi Lai Village is located in Tangkou Town, Kaiping City, Guangdong Province, commonly known as Huangniling, which is12km away from Kaiping City. It consists of three natural villages: Anheli, Anheli and Li Yongan. In 200 1 year, Gigi Lai Village was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. In 2007, Gigi Lai Village was selected into the World Cultural Heritage List and became an ancient village protected by all mankind. On 20 17, Gigi Lai village was listed as the most influential village in China.

At the beginning of the establishment of the village, there were only two houses in Gigi Lai village, which was not even a "village". However, the land here is flat and the water source is excellent, which is very suitable for planting. Slowly, more and more people bought land and moved here, and the population increased from generation to generation, gradually forming three natural villages: Anheli, He Anli and Li Yongan.

In the land reform after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the village was composed of several villages with the original surname, which meant self-reliance. At present, there are 63 households 175 people in Gigi Lai village.

Gigi Lai Village is a low-lying country surrounded by rivers, which is rich in water resources, but it also brings a lot of worries. The villagers in Gigi Lai Village are hit by typhoons and floods every year, and their crops fail every year. After the Opium War, the environment of internal troubles and foreign invasion, coupled with the struggle between local natives for more than ten years, made the people in Gigi Lai Village miserable.

This time is just to catch up with the development of capitalist countries, which requires a lot of coolies. Under the comprehensive effect of various factors, the young laborers in Gigi Lai village packed their bags and left their homes to make a living abroad. Although there are not many residents in Gigi Lai village now, there are hundreds of Chinese and overseas Chinese living abroad, much more than the villagers now.

China people have always been hardworking, and Kaiping people are no exception. These young people who work outside the home earn money and come back to buy fields and houses to help their families. However, in the 1920s, bandits in Kaiping were rampant, and Gigi Lai Village, where they often robbed and earned remittances, naturally became a beacon in their eyes.

In the process of fighting the robbers many times, the villagers in Gigi Lai Village learned that Ruiyun Tower (the predecessor of Diaolou) has the function of fighting the robbers. Since then, Gigi Lai villages living abroad have used most of their savings to build towers and houses to prevent floods and bandits, and to protect their families and property.

Because the villagers in Gigi Lai Village live in different countries and accept different western architectural styles, they also show different styles when building their own homes. For example, villagers living in Europe may prefer colonnades in ancient Greece or arcades in ancient Rome, while villagers living in Macao may prefer Portuguese arcades or baroque styles in the Renaissance.

Every family accepts different aesthetic tastes, so when building a watchtower, a hundred flowers blossom and each has its own characteristics. It can be said that the watchtower in Gigi Lai Village is almost a collection of several different architectural styles in the world, combining western-style architecture with Chinese-style architecture, forming a rare special building with the significance of the times, which can be called a small museum with world architectural style.

Of course, no matter how grand the top floor of the watchtower is, the bottom floor of the watchtower is the same, mainly for anti-theft, with thick walls and small iron windows and doors that are not afraid of fire. In order to resist robbers, most towers also set shooting holes or searchlights, alarms and other counter-measures on each floor. It can be said that the diaolou not only solved the housing problem, but also became a weapon for local people to protect themselves. Under the protection of the watchtower, the villagers can spend that difficult time.

At present, these towers in Gigi Lai Village have become cultural relics protection units and are basically uninhabited. Most of these towers were built in the early 1920s and have a history of 890 years. They are all old buildings and have certain dangers. So many watchtowers are closed and closed to the public. We can only guess its story through these weather-beaten appearances.

Compared with other ancient towns, Gigi Lai Village is a world heritage. Although it is a 5A-level scenic spot, its popularity is not high. Now it can only be regarded as a relatively small scenic spot with few tourists. But I believe that in the near future, cultural tourism will be favored by more people, and Gigi Lai Village will also welcome more tourists interested in these buildings. These weather-beaten buildings not only recorded the turbulent history of the Republic of China, but also witnessed the indomitable struggle of Kaiping people in adversity!