How to retain nostalgic memories of home in the new urbanization process
The village opera, melon fields and young Runtu portrayed by Lu Xun, the ferry, military officers and Xiangxi girls portrayed by Shen Congwen, the reed marshes, lotus lakes and Hebei folk portrayed by Sun Li... With the rapid development of the times, these familiar traditional rural cultures are drifting further and further away from us. How to protect and develop traditional culture amid urbanization, so that residents can see the mountains, see the water, and remember their nostalgic memories of home, has become a topic of common concern for society as a whole.
At the end of May, with "Culture and New Urbanization" as its theme, the "2016 Anren Forum" was held in Anren Ancient Town, Dayi County, Chengdu. It was guided by the National Development and Reform Commission, hosted by the Counselors' Office of the State Council and the Chinese Culture Promotion Society, and organized by OCT Group and the National Non-State-Owned Museum Collaborative Body. Attending representatives from all sectors held in-depth discussions.
Jointly discussing "Culture and New Urbanization"
At present, urbanization has become an important breakthrough for driving economic growth and expanding domestic demand. As of last year, China's urbanization rate had reached 56.1%, while issues of natural ecology and traditional culture protection in the urbanization process are attracting increasing attention.
The National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020) points out that China should follow a new urbanization path with Chinese characteristics that adheres to people-oriented development, synchronized advancement of the four modernizations, optimized layout, ecological civilization, and cultural inheritance. The Central Urban Work Conference clearly stated: urban development needs to rely on the three-wheel drive of reform, science and technology, and culture to enhance cities' capacity for sustainable development. Among the many paths of urbanization development, the development model combining culture with new urbanization has attracted widespread attention within and beyond the industry due to its diverse construction methods and sustainable development characteristics.
At this year's Anren Forum, guests expressed their views around the theme of "Culture and New Urbanization," sparking many new intellectual sparks.
Wang Xiaowen, President of OCT Holdings Corporation, said that in the process of participating in new urbanization, the protection and inheritance of traditional culture, the introduction of industries based on land ethics, and the improvement of the quality of comprehensive urban governance are the issues OCT cares about most. In its long-term development practice, OCT has followed the "land ethics view," gradually forming a "culture + tourism + urbanization" model, and has successively advanced the implementation of the strategy. In the future, OCT will continue to actively participate in and promote new urbanization, and carry out all-round cooperation with all sectors of society in an open, cooperative, and benefit-sharing manner.
OCT Group is known as China's leading theme park pioneer. As Asia's number one cultural tourism operator, today it will take the lead in embarking on a path of transformation based on its deep accumulation in theme parks and tourism real estate. Under the guidance of the 13th Five-Year Plan and the national strategy of new urbanization, OCT Group highly integrates its own cultural tourism advantages with the national strategy, creatively proposes the "culture + tourism + urbanization" development model, advances breakthroughs in new urbanization, and opens up new explorations in cultural creativity and cultural technology innovation business areas.
Recently, OCT Group has made frequent major moves. It not only signed the "Gankeng New Town" project in Shenzhen to build a demonstration base for China's content and cultural creative industry, but also signed an overall tourism development contract for Hailuogou Scenic Area with the Ganzi Prefecture government of Sichuan Province, actively devoting itself to scenic area development and new urbanization construction. A series of moves marks that OCT's "culture + tourism + urbanization" strategy has entered the implementation stage.
Exploring "culture + tourism + urbanization"
"Culture and new urbanization" is not a new proposition. Globally, using cultural power to transform traditional towns has become a consensus and has produced many successful cases, such as Mother Farm in Tokyo and MokuMoku Farm in Mie Prefecture in Japan, Taomi Eco-Village in Taiwan, China, and Polyface Farm in Virginia in the United States, which offers "two-hour accompanying farm tours," among others.
The above development models all combine local traditional industries with tourism, creating a beautiful picture in which people "do not leave their land or their hometown" and tradition and modernity proceed in parallel without conflict. These coincide with the urbanization path advocated by OCT.
As China's earliest practitioner of modern urban planning and operation, OCT's history of participating in urbanization can be traced back to the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, the location of OCT's headquarters in Shenzhen was still a desolate area as far as a 1-hour drive from the center of Luohu. Through decades of culture-related industrial development, this place gradually formed a functional sub-central urban area covering elements such as theme parks, art museums, communities, commercial streets, and ecological wetlands. This contiguous development model has also been applied to projects in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Wuhan, and other places, making "city-building" one of OCT's labels.
With the deepening advancement of new urbanization, OCT has proposed the "culture + tourism + urbanization" development model and the "tourism + internet + finance" compensation model, and has successively signed new urbanization projects such as Shenzhen's "Gankeng New Town."
As OCT's first "culture + tourism + urbanization" project, "Gankeng New Town" is not entirely the same as previous projects. It not only focuses on "city-building," but also on "city improvement."
The "Gankeng New Town" project has a certain foundation in cultural tourism. Here there are not only retained agricultural land, ecological protection land such as hills and wetlands, factory buildings, and old villages, but also a Hakka tourism town - Gankeng Town. Since it began operation in 2014, Gankeng Town's traditional Hakka architecture, handicrafts, and cuisine have attracted many tourists who come specifically for its fame. After OCT's involvement, it will introduce overall planning, management, and capital capabilities to this area, bring in and cultivate original cultural content industries with high technological content and high artistic standards, and promote further transformation and upgrading of the region.
"Gankeng New Town" is also OCT's first urbanization project in which it deeply participates through a PPP (public-private partnership) approach. It is jointly developed by OCT Group, the Longgang District Government, and Shenzhen Gankeng Ecological Culture Development Co., Ltd., broadening to a certain extent the path for Chinese enterprises to participate in urbanization. It has been reported that next, OCT and Longgang District will also accelerate the advancement of urbanization projects such as Shenzhen Low-Carbon City.
Looking at numerous practices at home and abroad, urbanization is not simply about bringing farmers into cities and moving them into buildings. Participating in urbanization is even less about putting up buildings and speculating in land. Instead, it is about paying attention to people's needs, cultural inheritance, and sustainable development in the course of development. In the great tide of China's new urbanization, enterprises represented by OCT are the first to break new ground, improving the public culture and public services of traditional towns, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of local industries through the implantation of cultural creativity. Once this model succeeds in its trial, it may become one of the best ways to reconcile the contradictory pairing of economic development and the people's nostalgic attachment to home.
Creating a "model of China's new urbanization"
At this year's Anren Forum, OCT Group respectively signed a "Cultural North City Core Area Project" cooperation agreement with the Jinniu District People's Government of Chengdu, signed an "Anren Project" cooperation agreement with the Dayi County People's Government of Chengdu and Chengdu Cultural Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd., and signed a "Huanglongxi Project" cooperation intention agreement with the Shuangliu District People's Government of Chengdu. OCT Group is expected to invest 100 billion yuan in resource reorganization and upgrading of Tianhui, Anren, and Huanglongxi. Under the new model of "culture + tourism + urbanization," it will revitalize three historically famous towns deeply rooted in Sichuan heritage and move toward the international stage with the posture of a "model of China's new urbanization."
The "Tianhui Project" is planned to be positioned as an internationalized Silk Road cultural new city, with a key layout of "one road, two cores, seven centers." The "one road" is the "Shu Road Gateway Corridor" that embodies the history and classics of the Shu state. The "two cores" are Tianhui Grand View, a chronological-style historically and culturally famous town, and Phoenix Flower Rain, the world's largest garden art wonder. The "seven centers" are newly introduced star projects, in order: "Silk Road Nations," creating a festival carnival and exotic-style experience park; "Tianyue Bay," a gathering place of world cuisine and a dock culture park cluster; the Creative Intelligence Park, a cultural and creative industry base; "Silk Road Cultural Heart," a cultural exchange complex; "Ice and Snow World," the first ice sports center in the south; "Tianhui Living Room," an urban tourism transportation hub complex; and "Aerospace Science and Technology Park," a dream home for aerospace enthusiasts.
The "Anren Project" takes museums and culture as its core and will be divided into 3 phases for project development. In the first phase, the transformation of the block into a cultural museum creative market will be realized; next, it will also focus on building an agriculture and beauty industry park and a film and television industry park, and comprehensively coordinate the old town improvement area, pastoral experience area, health and elderly care area, urban leisure area, and so on. The goal is to build Anren Town into a model of China's new urbanization and a world tourism destination, showcasing to the world the image of "A Century of China, Anren of the Four Seas."
Huanglongxi possesses an ecological pattern and humanistic heritage. Therefore, OCT's development of Huanglongxi is not a simple expansion of an ancient town, but rather an extension and strengthening of the ancient town's characteristics, shaping a new layout of "Ten Li, Eight Bays." With the river channel as the main line, it presents in a concentrated way the complete scroll of Huanglongxi's historical memory, contemporary life, and future development, supplemented by eight distinctive bays, shaping urban development in which the life of Huanglongxi Ancient Town and cultural and technological innovation industries blend. The Huanglongxi of the future will be Chengdu's most beautiful "water"-themed ancient town, integrating the ancient town, water characteristics, and cultural resources, and will become Chengdu's back garden, Chengdu's first residence, and a headquarters base.
One city connects a world of joy; one culture opens up a new life. Having passed through 30 years, OCT will, under the strategy of "culture + tourism + urbanization," better add luster and strength to new urbanization, so that more people can remember their nostalgic attachment to home and experience beauty amid urbanization.