Li Maolin: Agricultural cultural heritage empowers the agricultural civilization of the Central Plains

The farming civilization of the Central Plains is long and brilliant, and it is the main vein of the taproot of Chinese civilization and the core representative of China's excellent traditional culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Let the excellent traditional Chinese culture continue to flourish, and let the mainland's long-standing agricultural civilization show its charm and style in the new era." "Mankind has created a brilliant agricultural civilization in the long history, and it is the common responsibility of mankind to protect agricultural cultural heritage." The No. 1 document of the Central Committee has also repeatedly emphasized "continuing agricultural civilization" and "strengthening the protection and utilization of important agricultural cultural heritage". As a major agricultural province, Henan has always paid attention to the continuous promotion of agricultural civilization, and has made continuous efforts to provide solid support for the rise of the Central Plains and Chinese-style modernization. In the past ten years, our province has carried out the excavation, protection and utilization of agricultural cultural heritage such as "Lingbaochuan Ancient Jujube Forest", which has a wide impact and remarkable results, and has made great contributions to economic, social and cultural development.

　　Endless: The protection and inheritance of agricultural cultural heritage "revitalizes" the thousand-year-old agricultural civilization of the Central Plains

　　Agricultural cultural heritage is a living witness of the thousand-year-old agricultural civilization in the Central Plains. The preservation, inheritance and utilization of agricultural civilization have increasingly become an important topic in today's era of rapid development. Because this is related to the continuation of the cultural genes of Chinese civilization, the issue of "keeping the roots" and "keeping the soul". General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that "Chinese civilization is rooted in agricultural civilization" and that "farming culture is a precious wealth of mainland agriculture and an important part of Chinese culture, which must not be lost, but must be continuously carried forward". With the advancement of industrialization and urbanization, the countryside is developing and changing greatly, and the preservation of farming culture, local civilization and humanistic traditions is facing major challenges. How can this challenge be addressed? The protection of agricultural heritage is a breakthrough point. Since 2002, when the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched the "Globally Important Agricultural Heritage (GIAHS)" initiative, and in 2012, the mainland launched the excavation and protection of "China's Important Agricultural Heritage Sites", a large number of agricultural systems composed of traditional agriculture-related varieties, knowledge, technologies, landscapes, biodiversity, cultural customs, etc., have been protected. At present, there are 5 traditional agricultural and forestry systems in our province included in the list of important agricultural cultural heritage in China, and there are several potential heritage systems. These long-term inheritances have made the ancient and heavy farming culture more out of the "past tense", becoming "in progress", "jumping" out of historical documents, "walking" out of the museum exhibition hall, "living" in the fields, and "using" in the rural farms.

　　Agricultural cultural heritage interprets the endless and enduring charm of the agricultural civilization of the Central Plains. The Central Plains region, centered on our province, is the cradle of Chinese farming civilization. The agricultural civilization of our province has a long history, melons and melons, and has never been interrupted, which is an important reason why the Central Plains civilization and the Chinese civilization have always been full of vitality, maintained strong resilience and continuity, and continued for thousands of years, and also play a decisive role in shaping the cultural genes, national character, moral sentiments, and aesthetic interests of the Chinese. It can be said that the continuation of the agricultural civilization of the Central Plains and its vitality are related to the inheritance of Chinese civilization, the construction of a strong country and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the nation. In this regard, the protection and inheritance of agricultural cultural heritage has played an important role in promoting. For example, the "Xin'an Traditional Cherry Planting System" continues and inherits the Heluo farming tradition for more than 2,000 years; The "Song County Ginkgo Culture System" has continued the tacit understanding of the harmonious coexistence of mountain villages, Zen temples and ancient ginkgo forests for more than 1,000 years; "Ningling Yellow River Ancient Road Ancient Pear Orchard and Pear Culture System" interprets the local people's long-term continuous care for the old pear orchard and the inheritance and adherence to the local culture. There are also "stories" in Queshan, Nanzhao, Gongyi and other places. It is precisely because of the continuous growth of these agricultural cultural heritages that the Central Plains has been able to retain a large area of ancient cherry forests, ancient jujube forests, ancient ginkgo forests, ancient pear orchards, ancient chestnut orchards and so on under the historical test of many people and few lands and frequent wars. They travel through the past and the present, witnessing the continuity of the farming tradition in the Central Plains.

　　Timeless: The innovative use of agricultural cultural heritage to "awaken" the potential of agricultural civilization in the Central Plains

　　Agricultural cultural heritage is a valuable agricultural cultural resource and plays an important role in comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "the rich historical and cultural heritage is a golden business card", "it is necessary to deeply excavate, inherit and innovate the excellent traditional local culture, organically combine the protection and inheritance with the development and utilization, and combine the excellent heritage of the mainland's agricultural civilization with the elements of modern civilization to give it a new connotation of the times". The agricultural cultural heritage of our province covers the local excellent characteristic agricultural products and industries, unique land use patterns, farmers with traditional knowledge and skills, new farmers who respect tradition, traditional farming culture and customs, rich biodiversity and social organization structure, etc., which play a direct role in promoting the revitalization of rural industries, talents, culture, ecology and organization. Such a systematic, lively, and comprehensive nature is not comparable to other types of heritage, cultural tourism projects, and agriculture-related forms. They are the natural and valuable carriers of agricultural civilization, and they provide a broad stage for the combination of traditional agricultural civilization elements and modern civilization elements, creating new economic growth points, and promoting farmers' income, agricultural efficiency, and rural beauty. For example, in Xin'an, the 17-kilometer-long "Cherry Valley" preserves more than 30 ancient cherry trees that are more than 1,000 years old and more than 2,200 years old, constituting the world's largest population of ancient cherries. The more than 1,400-year-old "Huangfeng Tree" witnesses Wu Zetian's admiration for Xin'an cherries, and the cherry stories and legends, Heluo customs, and historical heritage give the place a profound cultural connotation. The cherry blossoms have always been tributes, and the landscape is enviable. The old farmers are still engaged in the operation of ancient orchards, and the later generations give full play to their local advantages and innovative variety resources, and the planting of large-grain cherries has risen rapidly, making Xin'an County the title of "China's first county of early-maturing cherries in the open field". The thriving cherry economy has enriched the people and villages, and has also brought prosperity to the county and township cultural tourism, catering, sports, health care and other industries, making Xin'an famous in China. Agricultural civilization unleashes potential and leverages the common prosperity of urban and rural areas.

　　Agricultural heritage contains abundant economic, social, cultural, ecological, scientific and technological values, giving development opportunities and surging development momentum to various places. In terms of promoting the county economy into a plateau, agricultural cultural heritage has become an important booster and growth pole with its strong advantages, profound potential and unique connotation. For example, in Linzhou, the "Taihang Chrysanthemum Cultivation System" has changed Taihang Chrysanthemum from wild to "domestic species" by giving full play to the creativity and initiative of the traditional farming system, which not only preserves this rare species native to the steep rock cliffs and is difficult to pick in small quantities, but also allows the taste of medicinal materials and medicinal tea to go out of Taihang and benefit thousands of households. The core area of Chadian Town has many mountains and wide slopes, thin soil and thick stones, which is difficult to cultivate, but Taihang Ju is very suitable for this environment. Planting chrysanthemums has turned the barren hillside into "gold and silver mountains", and the town has also been promoted to a national demonstration town of one village and one product. At present, the total annual output value of Linzhou chrysanthemum industry is 216 million yuan, and the annual income of more than 2,500 growers is more than 3,600 yuan. Chrysanthemums have become the "soft gold" of rural revitalization, and have held up industries such as the integration of agriculture, culture and tourism at the county level. Others, such as the annual output value of Ningling pear industry exceeds 2 billion yuan, the annual output value of Xin'an cherry industry is 1.5 billion yuan, the annual output value of Xinyang tea industry is 16.1 billion yuan, and the annual output value of Xinzheng jujube industry exceeds 1.5 billion yuan, etcThe agricultural heritage has been renewed, and the county's economy has risen to the plateau.

　　Continuous: The survey and excavation of agricultural cultural heritage empowers the improvement of agricultural civilization in the Central Plains

　　The role of agricultural heritage is obvious, the potential is unlimited, the achievements are impressive, and the prospects are considerable. It is the work we need to do at present to let more outstanding agricultural cultural heritage be discovered, protected, and valued, to surface the historical "water", to meet the "eyes" of the public, and to realize the "realization" of value. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "inheritance, development and promotion of agricultural civilization, take the road of rural cultural prosperity", "protection in excavation, inheritance in utilization, and constantly promote the protection of agricultural cultural heritage". It has become more and more important to conduct a survey and excavation of the province's agricultural cultural heritage and agricultural cultural resources. Because this is the premise and basis for the selection and recommendation of the application of China's important agricultural cultural heritage and the world's important agricultural cultural heritage. At present, the proportion of agricultural cultural heritage that has been recognized in our province is still small in the country, but our province has great potential to be explored and recognized as a large number of globally and nationally important agricultural cultural heritage. We need to do early work to give full play to this potential, actively unveil the "veil" of more agricultural cultural heritage, put on a "laurel crown" for them, and better promote the continuity and inheritance of agricultural civilization in the Central Plains.

　　To this end, we need to do the following work: first, strengthen scientific research, deepen the research on the historical context, development achievements and spatial distribution of agricultural civilization in the Central Plains, deepen the rural survey and mapping, and reveal the base number of agricultural cultural heritage and the current situation, experience and existing problems of its protection, inheritance and development; The second is to strengthen publicity, make full use of various media and channels, strengthen the publicity and reporting of the achievements of agricultural civilization, agricultural cultural resources and agricultural cultural heritage in various places, improve their popularity, focus on their advantages, and sublimate their value; The third is to strengthen the declaration, actively do a good job in the comprehensive census and digital archiving of agricultural cultural heritage, carry out personnel training and experience exchange, select the best of the best, and promote the promotion and declaration of batches of heritage, so as to strive for more heritage to be included in the list of important agricultural cultural heritage in China and the world as soon as possible. This is a major, good, and important event that will benefit the present generation, benefit the future generations, and benefit hundreds of millions of people.

　　[Author: Li Maolin, Associate Researcher, Research Center for Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development, Henan University, Yellow River Cultural Heritage Laboratory, Henan University This paper is a phased achievement of the National Social Science Foundation of China (23AMZ011) and the Henan Xing Cultural Project Cultural Research Project (2022XWH120)]