Author: Bai Ye (Researcher, Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).
There is a Taipan village in Guizhou, and there is a "village ba" in Taipan, which is widely spread in all kinds of rural news, which is both heart-pounding and amazing. What followed was curiosity and confusion: how could a village hold a regular basketball tournament and make it so popular? With this curiosity and question, I read Yao Yao's "Village BA: A Window for Observing Chinese Modernization: The Story of Rural Revitalization in Taipan Village" (published by Guizhou Nationalities Publishing House in December 2023 and selected as the recommended book list of "China's Good Books" released by the China Book Critics Society in December 2023). This documentary work is based on the author's many visits and feelings, with vivid stories and in-depth interviews, to tell people the ins and outs of Taipan Village's "Village BA", revealing the hidden inner mystery and rich meaning of the "Village BA", which is fascinating to read and has a lot of emotion after reading.
Taipan Village Basketball Culture Wall Photo by Lin Jian.
The book "Village BA: A Window for Observing Chinese Modernization: The Story of Rural Revitalization in Taipan Village" consists of five chapters: "Taipan Style", "Prequel to 'Village BA'", "Hot 'Out of the Circle'", "Those People in Village BA", and "The Future of 'Village BA'". At the beginning of "Taipan Style", the author describes the basic situation of Taipan Village. This village is located in the eastern suburbs of Taijiang County, southeast of Guizhou, where the Miao compatriots have migrated five times and lived and reproduced, as well as their folk entertainment traditions from bullfighting to basketball games, and the spiritual connection between bullfighting and basketball games, which reveals the origin and origin of "Village BA" from the foundation of cultural traditions and national characteristics.
In the chapter "'Village BA' Prequel", the author traces the history of Taipan Village from the 40s of the 20th century with the help of the "Eat New Festival" to play basketball, starting from "simple rebounding" and "cotton basketball", after several generations of transition, to the "peak period of playing basketball" in the 80s of the 20th century. In order to hold a basketball game, "every household in Taipan Village contributed to contribute", and the whole people participated. Taipan Village, which "often holds basketball games and has never stopped so far", followed the launch of the "Beautiful Village" Basketball League as a Guizhou provincial IP event in May 2021, and the "Foqian Cooperative Beautiful Village Basketball Exchange Match" in August 2022. Behind the widespread attention, there is a greater reason and motivation, that is, in this year, all 15 impoverished counties in southeast Guizhou were lifted out of poverty, and a new page in history was opened. People were very excited and rushed to tell each other, and the "village BA" of Taipan Village was infused with the special meaning of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. Events like this are used to unleash passion and celebrate, and a basketball tournament that was originally intended for the villagers to entertain themselves has taken on a new symbolic meaning.
The author Yao Yao described the various changes and benefits brought about by the continued popularity of "Village BA" in chapters such as "Hot Out of the Circle" and "Those People in 'Village BA'", which is really rewarding and unexpected. First of all, the industry derived from the "village BA" is thriving, the number of young people returning to their hometowns to start their own businesses is increasing, the basketball game has driven the tourism, catering, transportation and other service industries, and the income from tourists and tourism has continued to set new records. More importantly, through the holding of the "Village BA", the people here have been united, the appearance of the village and the customs of the village have been renewed, and the people have "shown a rare spirit". Taipan Village, which is dominated by Miao compatriots, uses the platform of "Village BA" to perform Miao songs and dances, display Miao costumes, and promote and spread ethnic customs and intangible cultural heritage. Seeing all this, you can't help but agree with the author's point of view - this confirms the new characteristics of rural development in the new era, that is, "data has become a new agricultural material, mobile phones have become a new agricultural tool, live broadcast has become a new farm work, and new ** empowers rural revitalization". This sports event allowed Taipan Village to "embark on a road of characteristic development of sports + tourism". According to the data, since the "Village BA" came out of the circle in 2023, Taipan Township, where the "Village BA" was held, has received more than 800,000 tourists, directly driving the consumption of catering and other industries to exceed 80 million yuan, and achieving a comprehensive tourism income of more than 95 million yuan.
What impressed me deeply was the author's interview with the person in charge of Taipan Village and the parties involved in the "village BA", and some simple, plain but meaningful words and conversations they casually expressed. Zhang Shoushuang, secretary of the party branch, said that the old people in the village especially love to watch the football game, "it is to regard their village as the host, the real home team, they cheer, cheer, cheer, and get spiritual satisfaction." Cen Jianglong, director of the village committee, said that the ball game was held, "There is no capital, there is no commercial interference, and it is completely organized by the villagers." Everyone is immersed in it, simply happy". He added: "As the organisers, we need more events like this that are popular with the people, so that they can get fun and benefit from them." Create a good 'village BA', so that this pure love for basketball will spread farther and bring more people happiness. Their words all talked about the villagers' "hobbies", the villagers' "happiness", and their "spiritual satisfaction", which not only said the original intention of the "village BA", but also revealed the unique essence of this event, that is, people's yearning for a better life reflected by "simple happiness", and their conscious pursuit of all-round human development. This "may be the survival code for basketball culture to take root among the people", and it should be a vivid interpretation of Chinese modernization as "the modernization of material civilization and spiritual civilization in harmony". It is in this sense that this work does a good job of revealing the value orientation of "village BA" in the title of the book, that is, "a window to observe Chinese modernization".
Bright**, 2024-02-21, 14th edition).
*: Guangming Network - "Bright **".