After several generations of relay struggle, the once poor Xiwangmen Village has already changed its appearance. Today’s dolls grow up in an era of material abundance, and they are curious about how the older generation used to farm, produce and live, but there is no channel to understand. So, in 2021, we built the Xiwangmen Village Memory Museum, which brought together the old objects left by every household and opened a window for young people to perceive farming culture.
In the rural memory museum, photos and objects record the beautiful butterfly change of this small village. Around eight aspects, such as educated youth going to the countryside, contract responsibility system, Gongfang, blacksmith shop, photo studio, Shangshutang and Xiwangmen Village, more than 100 antiques, such as spinning carts, cotton bows and blacksmith tools, are displayed, which records our hard exploration step by step since the reform and opening up.
The rural memory museum is open free of charge all year round, and it always attracts many primary and secondary school students to visit every winter and summer vacation. Old people in the village often visit with their dolls. As they watched, they recalled the hardships of life in those days. Before the Spring Festival this year, I met a 70-year-old man holding the hand of his little grandson who returned home for the Spring Festival, and murmured, "No matter where you go, you can’t forget your roots." The old man’s words, simple and hot, made me more aware of the value and significance of the memory hall.
Facing the intuitive and vivid "village history", the villagers’ cohesion and sense of belonging have been greatly enhanced, and they have personally realized the profound meaning of the sentence "Happiness is a struggle". In the past two years, Xiwangmen Village has been awarded the honorary titles of "National Civilized Village", "National Rural Governance Demonstration Village" and "Excellent Grid of Grassroots Social Governance in the Province". In the list of the first batch of Shandong rural (community) museums recently released, the Xiwangmen Rural Memory Museum was honored on the list. Next, we will connect the Rural Memory Museum, Zhucheng Dongwu Museum and Party Construction Theme Park into a line, create a global rural civilization tour route, and promote excellent traditional culture to thousands of households and moisten the hearts of the people.
(Project team: our reporters John Zhang, Lu Jian, Wang Jianhong, Zhang Wenpan, Zhao Qiuli, Li Zhichen, Long Jun, Yan Aihua, Zhao Jiawei, Wang Simin, our correspondent Liao Ying, Yang Yunjie, Li Fang, Su Lei, Lu Changrui and Chen Jianlin)