书城外语CountrysideofChina
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第29章 Farmer Art Village in Jinshan District,Shanghai

The Jinshan Farmer Art Village Ecological and RecreationPark is located in Zhonghong Village inFengjing Town in the Jinshan District of Shanghai.

The north side of the village borders on Liantang,Qingpu,the east side adjoins Xinbang,Songjiang and the westside abuts Jiashan,Zhejiang.It is an incorporated villagein the“Chinese town famous for its history and culture,”

Fengjing.

Zhonghong is the original home of Jinshan farmer art.

In the farmers in the Jinshan area began to placemore importance on their own aesthetic values,rejectingthe traditional creation methods ofart academies,and began to concentrateon the creation

of art.They began to devote themselves to their art leading to the blossoming of thisexotic flower of folk art—Jinshan farmer art.A group offarmers from this village combined ancient techniques,such as printing and dyeing,needlework,wood carvingand kitchen murals,to create pictures with subjectschosen from a wide range of customs and work activitiesof rural southern China.They use simple techniques tocreate many farmer paintings with strong rural flavor.

The“Shanghai Jinshan Farmer Art Exhibition”openedin Beijing in 1980 at the Beijing China Art Museum andtook Beijing by storm.That same year Jinshan farmerart went global and was exhibited in dozens of countriesand regions.As its fame spread around the world,it became known as“China’s finest folk art form.”In2000 the National United Folk Art Exhibition was held inFengjing and was an unprecedented success.In February2006 Jinshan farmer art was called“an essential featureof China.”That same year Zhonghong was named as a“special Chinese village”by the Association for the Promotionof Chinese Village Society thanks to the strengthof the local economy and the brilliance of its folk art.

The total planned area of the Jinshan Farmer Art Villageand Ecological Recreation Park is 4,500 mu and is dividedinto five scenic areas,called the“Danqing Area,”the“Fengjing Area,”the“Water House,”the“Vegetable PatchArea”and the“Rice Area.”The completed“Danqing Area”covers an area of 100 mu and is at the heart of the FengjingEcological Recreation Park.This is fertile ground for artand a playground for creation,as well as a“Shangri-La”where visitors can rest and play to their hearts’content.

In the Jinshan Farmer Art Village visitors can see firsthand the entire process of creation and execution of farmerart made by the famous farmer artists of Zhonghong,enjoy the finest works of Jinshan farmer art and purchasecertified farmer art originals.

The people of Jinshan Farmer Art Village are simpleand the scenery is picturesque.Typical pastoral elementssuch as small bridges,running water,irrigation waterwheels,grass shacks,vegetable patches,fish ponds andthreshing floors add to the pastoral atmosphere of the village.

Visitors to the village can observe farmer artists atwork and try creating art for themselves as well as viewsome outstanding examples of farmer art in the exhibitioncenter.Here visitors can also sample authentic originalcountry cuisine and purchase fresh seasonal agriculturalproducts as well as experience first hand the creaking water wheel,the thatched cottages with bamboo fences,the vegetable patches and fish ponds,and the orchardsof fruit trees and bamboo.

The Jinshan Farmer Art Village is a new center for thecreation of farmer art and a newstage for the exhibition of farmerart.It is also a new bright spotin countryside tourism in Chinaand a place that demonstrates thenew style of the Chinese farmerin the new century.