With the theme of “nostalgia,” a project to survey and file Chinese traditional villages was launched in Beijing on June 10.

“There are no scientific, detailed and completed files for villages in China. Nearly a million villages disappeared in the last 10 years. It is hard to say which of them were valuable or what we have lost,” said Feng Jicai, chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society and initiator of the project, at the launching ceremony. He described this survey as a mission that is “historical, impressing and arduous.”

The project will involve over 10,000 folk literature scholars and photographers to participate. Through field research, they will create files for 1,561 villages included in the List of Chinese Traditional Villages. Meanwhile, They will seek to discover other villages not on the list butthat are significant.

The preservation of cultural heritage is a public profit project that requires the governments lead as well as social participation. As preservation for traditional villages continues to strengthen, social participation, however, is still in a stage of exploration. This survey and file of traditional villages is the first time such a large-scale participation has taken place voluntarily, according to Li Xiaojie, deputy minister of the Ministry of Culture.

Entrusted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the project will be carried out by the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, China Photographers Association, and China Art and Literature Foundation.

A Field Handbook has been worked out by China’s Traditional Village Protection and Development Research Center as the survey’s direction and instruction.

The project’s website, www.chuantongcunluo.com, was put into operation at the project’s launching ceremony, through which the volunteers could upload materials they have collected in accordance with the Field Handbook.