How can we modernize infrastructure in villages and preserve their unique cultural heritage at the same time?
如何建设现代化的乡村又留住乡愁？

As urbanization proceeds, many multi-storey buildings have replaced the traditional single-storey ones in rural China. Two environmental challenges tend to arise from this transformation. One is that bricks and tiles of those demolished buildings have become waste scattered around the village. The other is the lack of planning regarding places for households to store their unused straw for cooking fire. This case is derived from Xintang Village of Maqiaojiedao of Haining City in Zhejiang Province. In it, a project by the name of “Bank of Bricks and Straw” has been created to address these challenges. The bank has not only preserved the traditional cultural practice of using straw for cooking fire, but also contributed to developing Xintang into a modern beautiful village.
在城镇化进程中，农村平房被改建成质料更优的楼房，原有大量的砖瓦也成为“废旧物”闲置在家家户户房屋周围，许多农户家里以前留下的秸秆柴草也无处存放，极大地影响了乡村环境。浙江省海宁市马桥街道新塘村首创的“柴砖银行”解决了既要建设好现代化的美丽乡村，又保留柴火烧饭文化传统的难题。

The Bank has an area of 2,000 square meters designated by the villagers’ committee. Villagers can either store the bricks, tiles, and straw of their household in the area free of charge for up to five years, or sell their bricks at the price of 0.1 RMB/piece and tiles 0.03 RMB/piece to the Bank. Within six months, 400 households have participated in this initiative, “depositing” around 700,000 bricks, more than 230,000 tiles, and over 120 metric tons of straw. Then, the villagers’ committee saved 90 percent of these deposits and used the remaining 10 percent for developing landscape features of the village. Craftsmen in the village have used straw to create ornamental animals, and bricks and tiles to create various kinds of pavilions and walls. These landscape features, in turn, have increased villagers’ sense of belonging to their community.
柴砖银行即由村委会建立一个柴火以及砖瓦的集中堆放点，村民可将砖头以0.1元/块、瓦片0.03元/块的价格“卖给”村里，或者将柴火以及砖瓦免费暂存最长5年。柴砖银行“开业”不到半年，已有400余户村民参与，2000平方米的集中堆放点整整齐齐垒了70万块砖、23万多张瓦片，12万公斤柴火。“柴砖银行”初具规模后，村委会保存村民砖瓦和柴火的90%，剩下的10%则用作建设特色景观。村里的工匠们负责用柴草搭建动物造型，用砖瓦搭建各式亭台和围墙，又进一步美化了乡村环境，增强了村民对于村庄的归属感。

Three lessons about rural governance can be learned from this case. First, long-term effectiveness of rural governance relies on meeting villagers’ practical needs. The Bank of Bricks and Straw addressed certain issues that had troubled villagers for a long time; therefore, it has won their support and strengthened their connections with village leadership and local government. Second, the Bank has reconstructed collective consciousness and public spirit in the context of acquaintance society. On the one hand, it has kept the memory of the village by preserving certain cultural traditions specific to Xintang. On the other hand, certain elements of these traditions have been used to develop new landscape features and even a new mode of rural governance. The Bank, in this sense, nourishes both the body and the soul of Xintang Village, the nourishment that is often missing in the process of building beautiful villages. Third, cultural elements that are unique to a village should be leveraged in the planning phase of village redevelopment.
新塘村的柴砖银行很有借鉴意义。第一，工作的长期有效依赖于解决民众的实际需求。柴砖银行正是回应了长期困扰村民的诉求，因而得到了村民的广泛支持，还增强了村干部、基层政府与村民之间的联系。第二，很多地方的新农村建设过于强调农村环境设施改善、道路修筑等硬件工程建设，使得新农村建设“有形无神”。柴砖银行则不仅改善了乡村环境，更是由于注重文化的传承与保护、村庄传统的延续以及村落熟人关系的维护，进一步重塑了熟人社会情境下的集体意识和公共精神。第三，社区工作应注重“嵌入本土文化情景”，更多地关注具有地方性特征和独特意涵的文化元素，而不是大而化之、千篇一律的统一设计。