A Culture in Flames
A raging fire destroyed an ancient tribal village which had become a tourist center, leading to public debates on the preservation of ethnic cultural heritage
After a fire gutted what is described as China's last tribal village, discussions have begun over why the destruction was so great, and how to approach reconstruction sensitively. The fire, which broke out in a house in Wengding Wa ethnic village in Cangyuan County in southwest China's Yunnan Province, spread quickly. Dry windy conditions in the late afternoon on February 14 whipped up the flames, which jumped from roof to roof. The traditional homes made of wood and bamboo with steep thatched roofs were engulfed. Other than trying to retrieve some belongings, there was little the locals could do. Video shows people watching helplessly as fire tears through the 400-year-old village.
According to Cangyuan County government, locals responded quickly with 1,038 firefighter and rescue personnel and 23 rescue vehicles. The fire was extinguished before midnight that same day. While there were no reported deaths or injuries, almost all of the 105 houses were destroyed.
Fire Threat
In the Wa language, Wengding means “a place in the clouds and mist.” It is a mountain village near the China-myanmar border covering around 6.3 square kilometers, and dates back around 400 years. As one of the best-preserved ancient Wa villages, Wengding was described as “home to China's last primitive tribe” by Chinese National Geography.
The village's iconic gate had burned, and many of the ancient banyan trees, hundreds of years old, were scorched. “Only four of the 105 houses escaped undamaged,” village chief Yang Jianguo told the Beijing News.
An investigation concluded that the fire spread so extensively due to lack of firefighting facilities and equipment. According to a Xinhua News Agency report, some villagers said they rushed to turn on the fire hydrant, and at first, they were able to spray water onto the burning roofs, but after only 10 minutes the water pressure in the hoses dropped rapidly.
“This lack of fire hydrant pressure is not unique to Wengding. The same thing happened during other fires that broke out in ancient towns and villages,” Zhu Liangwen, a professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Kunming University of Technology, told Xinhua. “When preserving and developing traditional villages, local authorities and investors will invest more in development, but less in facilities such as fire prevention.”
Since 2012, China has listed 6,819 villages as “traditional Chinese villages.” But there have been hundreds of incidents of fires, sometimes causing extensive damage, often caused by safety lapses or carelessness. In January 2014, a fire destroyed over 240 houses in Dukezong Ancient Town in Diqing, Yunnan Province. In January 2015, the 600-year-old Gongchen city gate tower in Dali, Yunnan was destroyed by fire. According to figures released by the Fire and Rescue Department of the Ministry of Emergency Management, in the last decade there were 392 fires involving cultural relics or historic buildings across the country, with over half caused by electrical faults, smoking or improper use of fire.
“Subsidies given to traditional villages are used mainly for road construction, water supply, garbage disposal and improvements to living conditions, but there are no mandatory requirements to invest in fire protection,” Han Xiancheng, an expert in traditional village preservation told Xinhua in late February.
“I've noticed that fire hydrants in some ancient villages are no more than decoration. Many don't even connect to a water source,” Zhu said. He advised regular fire drills, improvements in fire prevention facilities and
setting up emergency response mechanisms.
Another factor is that many original inhabitants no longer live in the old village itself, which delays emergency response. Professor Sun Hua of Peking University College of Archaeology and Literature told Newschina that many recent fires in historic villages in southwest China are linked to commercial activity and tourism, which has hollowed out villages. Unlike other tourist villages or old towns, where properties are rented or sold to outsiders for commercial gift shops or bars, the villagers return each day to work, but this means that few people live permanently in the village.
“Developing rural tourism without adequate planning may see too many people crowded inside the village, making it difficult to stop people smoking, which could cause fires,” Sun said, adding that protecting traditional culture is a challenge that requires targeted measures to prevent more problems.
Empty Village
Originally there were 105 households in Wengding Village, but as tourism boomed over the past few years, most villagers were relocated, persuaded by a tourism company endorsed by the local government to a new place about a kilometer away. Only 17 households remain. According to Yang Jianguo, one person from each household living outside the old village is allowed to go back to the old village to “work” from around 8am till 5pm as a regular job, a kind of “living history” performance put on for tourists.
According to villager Xiao Hei, the 17 households allowed to remain included elderly people who refused to leave. Xiao Hei said the villagers were always very cautious when using fire. Xiao Jinfang, deputy director of the village committee, told the Beijing News in mid-february that the probability of fire in the village is very low, and usually a small fire would be extinguished quickly.
“We learned from our elders that the last time we had a big fire in the village was 60 years ago. I really don't know why this one destroyed the entire village,” Yang said.
According to Yang, work on the new village started around 2012, and villagers moved in at the end of 2017. “Almost every family objected to moving, but the government later persuaded us,” Yang said. The local government promised job opportunities back in their old homes. “Villagers working in their old homes do their daily household chores and invite tourists to join in. The wage is 60 yuan (US$9.2) a day.” Yang said that on the day of the fire, most had left after work, leaving only 17 in the old village, including him. “When the house caught fire, there was no one in it. The fire was not noticed in time,” he said.
“In just a few decades, Wengding developed from a village with a ‘slash-and-burn primitive society' to a model village for modern Chinese rural construction and cultural industry development. With favorable policies, support and investments, even though it looks ‘primitive' from its external appearance, in reality, it developed into a place no different from any other village in rural China,” wrote Professor Yin Shaoting from Yunnan University on Wechat. “The so-called ‘primitive' of the Wa should be the combination of their customs, traditions, languages, knowledge, skills, organizations, systems, regulations, beliefs, taboos and dignity, rather than piles of ox skulls or people performing ethnic songs and dances for tourists.”
Yin believes the village would not have fallen victim to such destruction if attention had been paid to local people's traditional knowledge of fire prevention. But similar to the global trend of fading indigenous culture, the traditional wisdom of the Wa has gradually lost its function in modern society.
Tang Min, founder of “Friends of Ancient Villages,” an organization promoting historic village protection and development based in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, told the Beijing News that most ancient village buildings in China were built with bamboo and wood. “Ancient villages in China have wooden buildings that easily catch fire, but fires are easy to get under control as long as people respond quickly.”
Tang believes that protecting ancient villages requires respect for the way of life of local people and maintaining the mutually dependent relationship between indigenous people and the villages.
“Developers need to allow locals to continue their way of life and reconsider measures for the preservation and development of traditional villages,” Tang said. “We need to reflect on the separation of villagers from their village that makes [these places] extremely fragile.”
Hotel or Home?
On March 6, an online forum on the reconstruction of Wengding Village was held by the Research Center for the Protection and Development of Traditional Chinese Villages at Tianjin University. Feng Jicai, director of the center, highlighted the importance of the villagers themselves playing a central role in the reconstruction. “Because if the houses are planned and built by outsiders, it's a hotel rather than a home. When local villagers live in the house, they bring their family history, habits, aesthetics and hobbies into the house. If someone else builds standardized houses, these tangible and intangible cultures will disappear,” Feng said.
Fang Ming, chairman of the Working Group of the Committee of Experts on the Protection and Development of Traditional Chinese Villages, supports reconstructing the village according to its original appearance.
“Is it possible to have villagers themselves rebuild their own village? We should allow local talented, old and educated people in the village to propose plans according to their own culture while we provide infrastructure and support. It should not be done in a rush, and it will be better to take time to plan properly first.”
Since the beginning of this year, the Chinese government has shifted its focus from poverty alleviation to rural revitalization. Xiang Yunju, vice chairman of the Chinese Art Critics Association, said during the forum that people should also think about the inheritance of history and culture, particularly on how to protect, preserve and perpetuate indigenous culture.
“Today we are talking about Wengding, but it's not only about Wengding,” said Yuan Li, vice president of the Chinese Folk Artists Association.
In Yuan's view, protection and development are both achievable, but the priority should fall on protection. He suggested evoking local villagers' cultural consciousness and letting them protect their own village. “As long as they maintain its traditional culture, the village will attract tourists. But if the village is a knockoff, once people realize it's fake, no one will come anymore.