Why is rural tourism getting hotter and hotter?

With the development of agricultural technology and changes in living habits, many tools used in China's rural areas 30 or 40 years ago have been abandoned, such as ploughs for cultivated land, rice measuring buckets, unicycles, spinning wheels, and so on. Even children in rural areas are unfamiliar with these objects.

In recent years, urban people's yearning for rural scenery is growing day by day. Green fields, old farm tools and fresh farm dishes have revived people's nostalgia for local customs.

"'going up the mountain like a tiger, drifting across the river' is a wheelbarrow; 'wooden dragon, wooden dragon, more and more red, for food and clothing, to ensure safety.' This refers to the spinning wheel. " Li Shusen, 72, from Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, read out the children's songs taught to him by his parents while playing with a model of wooden farm tools he had made.

Since 2010, Li Shusen, who has been a carpenter all his life, and his wife Wang Yueqin, relying on their experience in rural life, began to make a "miniature version" of old farm tools out of mahogany. These handicrafts are not only copied in proportion. The wheels of the cart and the handles of bellows can all move and stretch. "it takes too much time to make farm tools and doesn't make money, but I just want to leave something for future generations to let them know what life is like in the countryside for generations." Wang Yueqin said.

Today, Li Shusen's craft has been named "Quoyang woodcut" and has been listed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in Xi'an. A room in his home is full of models of various agricultural tools. The greatest wish of the old couple is to let young people understand the traditional farming culture.

Li Shusen is not the only one with such a dream. Tang Qian, a 70-year-old retired doctor who lives in Walker Street in Lintong District, calls himself a "collector of agricultural tools". His collection is full of old farm tools covered with dust and dirt.

His family has a courtyard specially used to store "treasures" collected from various parts of Shaanxi Province. "this is a plain plough, this is a mountain plough." Lao Tang can tell the difference between farm tools only by subtle bends. From sacks to carts with hard wheels pulled by horses, as well as various grinding plates and grinders in the yard, these old objects, which are casually discarded by many rural people, are transported back to the yard one by hand and pulled by cart.

"A person used to harvest only a few mu of wheat a day with a sickle, but now the combine has swept away dozens of mu of wheat in the past. It is true that today's tools are advanced, but people will have to recall their rural life in the future. How can they remember without what I have collected? " Tang Qian said that after his retirement, he completed his wish to ride Xinjiang and Xizang, and building a museum of Shaanxi agricultural culture is another dream of his now.

"the more I walk on the concrete road all day, the more I miss the dirt road and even the dirt road I used to tread on when I went to school every day." Bai Xiangji, 59, is an outdoor enthusiast in Xi'an. When he comes out of the countryside, he has special feelings for the smell of the countryside. "as long as I see farm tools, wells and old scalpers when I go climbing, I will recall my previous simple satisfaction and happiness. The popularity of rural tourism is a good thing. For young people, it is to feel the lives of their grandparents and their parents. "

"Urban illness has spawned the prosperity of rural tourism, and it is also the reason why people are more and more yearning for the countryside." Professor Zhang Lingyun, deputy dean of the School of Tourism at Beijing Union University, said that urban noise and air pollution are rare in rural areas, where facilities, environment, and dishes make many people feel fresh.

The display of folk culture, the interactive experience of farming culture and the tasting of characteristic folk cuisine are the unique features of rural tourism that are favored and attract tourists. The deeper reason is the lingering local feelings in people's hearts.