East China’s Jiangsu province has unveiled a plan on the protection of the traditional ancient villages, making Jiangsu the first province in the country to enhance the protection of the century-old villages through legislative means. The regulation will come into effect on December 1st.
The regulation gives specific requirements on the protection of the traditional ancient villages from application and identification, planning and management, protection and utilization.
According to the regulation, traditional village protection is not only to protect several traditional buildings, several ancient wells, several ancient trees, but to protect and extend the village's traditional pattern and historical style, as well as the mountain, water, farmland, forest, road and other natural landscape environment which are interdependent with villages.
At the same time the protection will integrate the local cultural characteristics of folk activities, traditional skills, especially the living inheritance of the intangible cultural heritages.
While protecting the traditional villages, efforts should be made to pay attention to the "activation and utilization" of all kinds of historical and cultural relics, encourage the development of the traditional villages and the local economic and social activities in the traditional villages, according to the regulation.
The regulation also makes provisions on the punishment for the destruction of traditional villages or the demolition of the traditional buildings in the villages and those who constitute a crime will be held accountable for their criminal acts.
Traditional village is an important type of rural construction with special characteristics, and in the 45 first province’s pilot villages, more than half of them conform to the conditions for the application for the provincial traditional village titles.
