Ancient Villages and Ancient Customs

The book's core value lies not merely in recording and depicting the layout of ancient village architecture and folk rituals, but in the urgent "cultural self-awareness" and "rescue consciousness" that permeate every line. Feng Jicai is not only a writer but also the initiator and central force behind China's folk cultural heritage rescue project for more than two decades. Each piece therefore transcends purely literary appreciation, carrying a cultural scholar's anguished reflection on and outcry against the erosion of "roots" amid the tide of the times. He writes of how the "original ecology" of Hougou Village in Shanxi became a specimen, of the difficulties of transmitting Yangliuqing New Year prints, and of the utilitarianism and distortion behind intangible heritage applications across the country; his observations are sharp and his thinking profound, and they move the reader.

For readers, this book is a profound journey of cultural rooting and spiritual homecoming. It helps us understand that those seemingly rustic, outdated customs are in fact living carriers of the Chinese nation's ways of life, values, and aesthetic sensibilities over thousands of years. Amid rapid urbanization and the swift homogenization of rural landscapes, this book is a sobering reminder to weigh the costs of development and to consider what true "nostalgia for home" means. Its prose is plain yet weighty, its feeling sincere yet restrained; it has both literary beauty and intellectual edge, making it a rare introductory and deepening read for understanding the state of contemporary Chinese folk culture.