Ideals drive countryside 'renaissance'

The ultimate goal of the Colorful Cloud project, which aims to teach rural children in Southwest China's Yunnan province to dance out of poverty, is to promote a "renaissance" in the countryside, Guan Yu, one of the founders, said.

"The renaissance in rural areas is a step forward in rural vitalization in the fields of literature and art," said Guan, a teacher at the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy.

So far, the nonprofit project and volunteer group organized by Guan and his wife Zhang Ping has focused on teaching dance, art and music and organizing performances by children in Yanshan county, which is home to several ethnic groups.

The couple also set up the Chai Yi Chinese Folk Culture and Arts Institute in Yanshan's Naduo village, providing job opportunities for former students who had returned to teach the next generation.

The institute plans to mobilize domestic and international experts in culture and art to study ethnic artforms while creating works in the fields of dance, music and painting, which they regard as the initial exploration of the rural renaissance.

"Children from ethnic groups can realize their dreams by learning art and joining the struggle for the rural renaissance," Guan said, adding that China's ethnic cultures are on par with Western art and deserve to be seen on the global stage.

Guan explained the concept of "art villages", where a whole settlement showcases a traditional culture. Visitors from across the world change into special costumes at the entrance before taking part in sowing seeds in a paddy field, watching folk dances and learning how people worship nature.

Dancing is just a small part of the stage performance, which combines various art forms, while the performers are villagers presenting their real lives and culture. The entire village is the stage.

"Chinese culture is rooted in the rural areas; for example, yangge, a folk dance originally performed to celebrate harvest in the villages of Northeast China. This art was born on the muddy land of the rural areas, and I want to bring it back to its birthplace and show it to the world," Guan said.

Likening the cultures of China's ethnic groups to pearls, Guan said he wanted to string them together to make a beautiful necklace.

"We will definitely have better cultural confidence when the rural renaissance happens," he said.

Following China, Guan sees a rural renaissance across Asia, when scattered cultural forms, such as classic dances in India and Malaysia, break through the identical art forms that comprised the Western Renaissance.

"This will be a really grand project that will take more than one generation to realize. The first batch of students won't really experience it, but their children may be part of it. I just hope to start the ball rolling before I die," he said.