A disappearing old village : documentation and cultural mapping of Xijianliang village in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province

Abstract

This dissertation is about the documentation and cultural mapping of a village in China that will give way to urban redevelopment. The village is my home village, where I grew up in the 1990s. It is located in the northern part of China, which is in the capital city of Hebei province named Shijiazhuang. Like many cities, Shijiazhuang used to be a small city with many villages gathered together. Shijiazhuang was once one of the many villages in Hebei too. In 1902 when foreign people came to Hebei, the French people built rail ways went through Shijiazhuang. These railways helped Shijiazhuang redeveloped into a big city while retaining the old name. There used to be many villages within the city center of Shijiazhuang, but with the development of the city, many of them were demolished and replaced by modern buildings. A similar situation exists in the outer areas of the city, where there used to be many villages, but they have been abandoned by the villagers (they have moved out to new modern residential communities).

Although it may not be possible to conserve these villages, they do have long histories, dating back at least to the Ming Dynasty, and they have much educational value on the past life pattern of Shijiazhuang. However, I found that although much research has been done on almost every aspect of villages in China, there is never a thoroughly research about the villages in Shijiazhuang city. I believe it is important to research on these villages. As the documentation of the villages will provide important information on the historical and cultural origins of future bigger city of Shijiazhuang. If nothing is done now, Shijiazhuang will become a city of no record of the past, a city without memory.

In order to keep a document of these villages in Shijiazhuang, I chose my home village Xijianliang as an example to carry on the research, which is one of these last remaining villages. I want to document the way people used to live in the old village, and this might be my last chance to do so. The rationale of this study is to have an accurate record of the way of living in a typical traditional Chinese village in Hebei, before the way of living disappears with the villages. I want to carry out this research in order to call on people’s attention and show them the way to record a village before these precious heritage is lost. Hopefully, more people who used to live in one of these villages will join in to record their own villages. Then we can gradually record all these villages in Shijiazhuang, and help to keep the memory of the city.