The project spans a time period of 20 years with a total investment of more than 500 million yuan. It will follow the mode of a "ruins park" and combine the protection, historical environment recovery and biological environment construction of the remains together. The planned Hongshan Ruins Park will be composed of the ruins, its backdrop environment and a museum, with 10 functional territories to be built. After its completion, it will become the largest ruins park in Yangtze River Delta area. This is also the first time for an economically developed area in China to take the use of land, biology and culture into consideration when talking about the ruins protection.
Zhou Jieqing, a senior official of Wuxi City says this design means something beyond the cultural relics for the city.

"Previously, Hongshan Ruins was just one of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in China. This design, however, raised it to a higher level of strategic development for a city. Under the guidance of the State Cultural Relics Bureau, the project will be applied with the new mode and could help establish a harmonious relationship between the cultural relics protection and local economic development."

The Hongshan Ruins Park project has left a good prospect for people. However, like many other famous ruins in the world, many secrets remain as so many precious relics are discovered. In order to let these irretrievable resources be handed down, a common point of view has been achieved. For some territories remaining doubts and secrets, they would rather be left intact and saved for future generations to explore and research.

Yang Weize, the top leader of Wuxi City, says one of the most important reasons for cultural relics protection is to hand down these human heritages to their offspring.
 
"The historical culture is the memory of a city. It sustains the cultural extension of the city. There could be various manners to protect the cultural relics, but one thing is for sure – that is to hand down these cultural heritages to our future generations." 

Thanks, Shen Ting, for this cultural exploration. China Horizons will continue after a short break.

Thanks for staying with China Horizons on China Radio international. If you've seen the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," you may have been impressed by the stunningly executed action sequences. One featured two martial arts masters battling on the top limbs of a bamboo forest. The verdant splendor of the bamboo forest contributes to the fascinating scene. In today's program, we'll take you to another vast expanse of bamboo forest in southwestern China's Guizhou province. Its dreamy beauty can be compared to that found in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which the local people call the "sea of bamboo."

In the mountains of Guizhou's Pan County, there is a vast expanse of bamboo forest covering an area of about 2,000 hectares. The bamboo sea has shades of different greens, such as jade for mature bamboos, azure for young bamboos and light green for bamboo shoots. Although it hasn't appeared in any movies yet, the luxuriantly green bamboo sea is as beautiful as the one in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

The bamboo forest is pleasantly cool and the air is tinged with the fragrance of bamboos. Sometimes, especially after it rains, it is especially serene and peaceful in the area. If one listens attentively, he or she can hear the cracking of bamboo joints or falls rushing down cliffs. The water runs slowly along hillsides and splits into brooks and rivulets.

Filtrated by the roots of bamboos and Pan County's unique stratum, the water becomes sweet "bamboo roots water," as the local people call it.

It is drinkable water with low mineralization. The locals proudly claim that thanks to the water, the tea they drink is sweet and savory, the wine they brew is full-bodied and the dishes they cook are especially delicious. The tofu they produce is amazingly white with a peculiar combination of tenderness and toughness. Every visitor to the bamboo sea has a drink of the water and washes his or her face with it.

Sometimes visitors can find edible mushrooms in the bamboo forest. If he or she is lucky enough, one may even find bamboo fungus. Bamboo fungus is usually a parasite on the roots of dead bamboos. Fresh bamboo fungus has dark green pileus and pure white stipes. It can add a particular scent to soups as well as provide nourishment. Xue Yueqiong, vice mayor of Pan County, says bamboo fungus is of high quality due to its unique geological and natural conditions.

"Our bamboo fungus is of better quality than those produced elsewhere because Pan County is at a comparatively higher altitude, abounding in water necessary for its growth. In addition, the soil and water qualities are better here than in other places because they are not polluted."

Visitors may run into the lovely little residents of the bamboo sea, otherwise known as bamboo rats, gray-haired mice with big eyes who feed on bamboo roots and buds. From time to time, the little creatures pop their heads up from their homes and timidly greet visitors.

The local people call this stretching area the bamboo sea above the old mills. If a visitor ventures further into the bamboo sea, he or she will find some traditional paper mills, explaining the origins of the bamboo forest's name. These mills make paper from bamboo employing traditional manual skills. The deckle-edged paper they made was once sold to southeast Asia for use in memorial ceremonies. Today, the production of paper has been reduced, but the paper-making craft and the mills are conserved intact.

Dong Huaming, a native who's spent his life working in the local papermaking industry, says the history of papermaking is one of the tourist attractions.

"The forefathers of the county started making paper about 300 years ago. I've been engaged in the papermaking business since I was 17, and now I'm already 70."

That is the sound of pounding bamboos. Fang, who works at a paper mill, says the first step in papermaking is to pound fresh bamboos with a wood hammer.

"Papermaking demands high craftsmanship, including 72 procedures. It takes more than two months to make a piece of paper from bamboo."

The papermaking craft with 72 procedures is called "Cailun's papermaking art." It is widely known Cailun was the person who invented the art of papermaking during Eastern Han Dynasty nearly 2,000 years ago. One of the locals, Tan Bo, explains how a piece of paper is made from bamboo through the primitive way of papermaking.

"First select some fresh bamboos. Pound them and place them in a big round pool layer by layer to soak in limewater for one or two months to soften the bamboo hemp. The bamboo should then be boiled to soak out the hemp, which in turn should be rinsed in clean water. After the rinse, the hemp is grounded into pieces so that it is soft and thin enough to be grounded into paper pulp. Swish a cloth mesh in the pool of pulp to screen the liquid."
"Take out the mesh. The pulp attached to it is almost ready for a sheet of paper. The last step is to peel the pulp off the mesh and dry it with baking kiln. When it gets parched, it becomes a piece of paper."
Paper made in this way is famous for its whiteness, tenacity and the special bamboo fragrance it smells. Visitors to the paper mills in the bamboo sea can participate in the process of papermaking in person with a craftsman's guidance. They can then fully appreciate the special charm of this centuries-old art of papermaking.

Thank you, Manli, for this amazing trip. With that, we come to the end of today's China Horizons. We hope you have enjoyed it. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. You can send us a letter to English Service, China Radio International, Beijing, China, postal code 100040, or an e-mail to horizons@crifm.com. You can also visit our website at www.crienglish.com and listen to our show online. I'm Wang Lu. Thanks for being with us and goodbye for now.  
 

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