Actual Value of Rural Cultural Auditorium Construction from the Perspective of Social Transformation: A Case Study of Wenzhou City

Aijun SHEN

College of Marxism, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China

Abstract From the perspective of social transformation, this paper analyzed the actual value of the construction of Wenzhou rural cultural auditorium, and it was found that it has important value in promoting the transformation of rural culture, economy, and grassroots governance. The construction of rural cultural auditorium is helpful for improving the present backward status of rural public cultural service supply, and promoting the integration and development of rural culture and urban culture; cultivating new rural economic entities, injecting action force for rural economic transformation and development; providing space guarantee for citizen participation in rural grassroots social governance, and is favorable for enhancing the awareness of public participation in rural grassroots governance. However, in the context of comprehensive rural revitalization, the value of cultural auditorium construction has not yet been fully realized. It is necessary to further enhance its value in rural social transformation from three aspects: auditorium construction, daily activity undertaking, and residents’ participation in cultivation.

Key words Cultural auditorium, Rural social transformation, Value, Wenzhou City

1 Introduction

Rural cultural auditorium is a multifunctional space that integrates an auditorium, lecture hall, and cultural and sports activity room. It links rural culture and urban culture, government and villagers, and villagers and other villagers. Rural public space is an important analytical perspective for understanding the generation of rural social order[1]. Rural public space is closely related to rural social order. Public space is the field or platform for the construction of social order, and the construction of rural order is inseparable from the construction of public space[2]. In order to implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in an overall manner, further enrich the spiritual and cultural life in rural areas, and create a spiritual home for the farmers, the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government issued theOpinionsoftheGeneralOfficeoftheZhejiangProvincialCommitteeoftheCommunistPartyofChinaonPromotingtheConstructionofRuralCulturalAuditoriumsin 2013, which determines the construction of cultural auditorium as the focus of consolidating the foundation of rural cultural construction, cultivating and practicing socialist core values, improving the overall quality of farmers, and creating a common spiritual home for farmers. In accordance with the requirements of "public welfare, basicity, equality and convenience", and following the basic idea of "shifting the center of gravity, and providing resources and services for rural areas", from 2017, Wenzhou City of Zhejiang took the lead in organizing the "four thousand pairs" activity, with the main content of "one thousand party organizations, one thousand civilized units, and one thousand volunteer teams", closely linking the construction of cultural auditoriums with the transformation of rural society.

At present, the studies about cultural auditoriums are mainly concentrated on the following aspects. (i) The research of the role of cultural auditorium construction in the context of rural revitalization and beautiful countryside construction. For example, by placing the construction of cultural auditorium under the strategy of rural revitalization, Wang Ningetal.[3]made an in-depth analysis on enhancing cultural self-confidence, strengthening the main status of farmers, and enriching the connotation of beautiful countryside. (ii) The research on the role of cultural auditorium in community governance. Researchers represented by Ding Feng[4], Zhang Jinfeng[5], Zhang Zhuping[6],etal. believed that the construction of cultural auditoriums plays an important value in community governance. (iii) Research on the role of cultural auditorium in the inheritance of rural culture. Zhang Lihua[7]analyzed the influence of public space on the inheritance of rural culture, and pointed out that cultural auditorium is the construction carrier of rural public cultural space. Qin Jumin and Yu Guizhong[8]found that cultural auditorium changes the original vacancy of rural cultural transmission, and provides a good place for rural entertainment. Shen Yongming and Tang Zhipan[9]pointed out that the construction of cultural auditorium can retain the soul of rural memories. (iv) The construction of cultural auditorium and the dissemination of socialist core values. Chen Jiansheng[10]discussed the issue of promoting national ideology, community culture, and citizen culture of modern society in the construction of rural cultural auditorium. Jiang Xujun[11]analyzed the functions of cultural auditorium construction in the popularization of the socialist core value system and the overall planning of urban and rural cultural development and believed that the construction of a "rural cultural auditorium" is an effective carrier to promote the popularization of the socialist core value system and coordinate the development of urban and rural culture, and also a concrete measure for the implementation of "socialist values" in rural areas.

Generally, there are extensive studies on the cultural auditorium in the academic circles. They provide a solid theoretical basis for our research. In this research, we will explore the construction of cultural auditorium from the perspective of rural social transformation, analyze the role of cultural auditorium construction in rural culture, society and governance, and find the development space of cultural auditorium in rural social transformation.

2 Cultural auditorium construction and rural transformation in Wenzhou

2.1CulturalauditoriumconstructionandruralculturaltransformationIn the report of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee at the 19th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that "culture is the soul of country and nation. Our country will thrive only if our culture thrives, and our nation will be strong only if our culture is strong". However, in recent years, the urbanization marked by industrial civilization has inevitably brought about the confrontation and conflict between urban and rural culture, which directly or indirectly led to the hollowing of rural culture and the marginalization of rural spirit[12]. On the one hand, due to the lack of infrastructure for the supply of cultural services in rural China, the supply of cultural services is seriously in short supply compared with urban areas. On the other hand, due to lack of guidance and conversion, some traditional cultures in rural areas are facing the dilemma of disappearing. In reality, the construction of rural cultural auditorium in Wenzhou not only improves rural cultural supply facilities, but also promotes the integration of rural culture and urban culture, provides an important guarantee for the development of rural culture, and promotes the transformation and development of rural culture.

(i) The construction of cultural auditorium promotes the transformation of rural public cultural service supply structure. The supply level of public cultural services in rural areas is an important indicator to measure rural economic and social development. For a long time, due to the backward construction of rural cultural infrastructure, most of the rural areas in China have insufficient and ineffective supply of public cultural products and services. Insufficient cultural supply greatly restricts the inheritance and innovation of rural culture. However, the construction of rural cultural auditorium in Wenzhou has changed such situation. Our survey found that the new cultural auditorium made up for the shortage of rural cultural service facilities and provided an important guarantee for the development of rural culture. Besides, the beautiful environment, complete lighting equipment, and rich instrumental facilities of the cultural auditorium have also greatly improved the old backward rural cultural infrastructure. In addition, the rural cultural auditorium is not only a physical cultural carrier, but also a window through which modern urban culture can be introduced into the rural areas. On the principle of monthly activities, cultural auditorium in Wenzhou sends a large number of urban cultural activities to rural residents through cultural activities, which promotes the integration and development of urban culture and rural culture, and greatly contributes to promoting transformation and development of rural culture.

(ii) The construction of cultural auditorium promotes the transformation of rural culture. According to the positioning of "cultural landmark and spiritual home", Wenzhou takes the rural cultural auditorium as an important carrier and platform for promoting the socialist core values. In recent years, Wenzhou has undertaken many red culture dissemination activities through the "Sending Red Culture to the Countryside" series of activities, and has continuously injected red culture into rural development. Through the dissemination of mainstream social values, some vulgar cultures in rural areas have been eliminated and the cultural tastes of rural residents have been improved. First, through the citizen propaganda group, Wenzhou City organized a large number of volunteers to various cultural auditoriums to preach the socialist core values, the history of revolution,etc., so that the party’s ideological theory can be penetrate into the grass-roots people, promote the construction of star-level civilization of villages, and improve the ideological and moral quality of villagers. Second, through the theme activities such as "learning the most beautiful, setting a positive atmosphere, promoting the righteousness", "exposing the family style, talking about the village motto, and passing on etiquette" in the cultural auditorium, Wenzhou City vigorously promotes excellent traditional culture to stimulate people’s potential and enhance their subjective initiative. Third, some areas of Wenzhou introduced volunteers of "New Youth Going to the Countryside", to improve the people’s scientific literacy through disseminating popular science knowledge. Therefore, the construction of rural cultural auditorium has changed the original closed or semi-closed state of rural culture, reshaped the value of rural culture, improved the adaptability of rural public cultural service supply to the demand side, and promoted the inheritance and innovation of excellent rural traditional culture.

(iii) The construction of cultural auditorium promotes the applied transformation of rural culture. Rural cultural resources are important resources that should not be ignored in the implementation of rural revitalization strategy. The flexible use of rural cultural resources is an effective way to give full play to its value as an important resource for implementing the rural revitalization strategy. Expanding the scope of the original functions of rural cultural resources, changing the way and path to realize the original functions of rural cultural resources, and developing and expanding new functions of rural cultural resources are the basic connotations of the flexible use of rural cultural resources[13]. Some areas of Wenzhou have vigorously explored the economic value of rural cultural resources, took the development of rural characteristic cultural industries as an important part of the construction of cultural auditoriums, exported a large number of cultural products, and realized the applied transformation of rural culture.

2.2Culturalauditoriumconstructionandruraleconomictransformation(i) The construction of rural cultural auditorium has injected new momentum into the development of rural tourism economy. In recent years, Wenzhou has made great efforts to build ancient village cultural halls, red cultural auditoriums, ecological cultural auditoriums and other characteristic cultural auditoriums through combining the construction of cultural auditoriums with the construction of "beautiful countryside", and vigorously develop rural tourism. Therefore, the cultural auditorium has become a beautiful business card in some rural areas, adding new momentum to the development of rural tourism economy.

(ii) The construction of rural cultural auditorium has cultivated new agricultural operating entities for rural areas. The fundamental path for the development of China’s agriculture and rural areas relies on scientific and technological progress, as well as education[14]. The advancement of science and technology requires new innovative concepts and the training of new business entities. New agricultural operating entities have new concepts and methods, master new agricultural production technology, and have the conditions for large-scale operation. Therefore, it is necessary to help them to play a main role in promoting the economic development of rural areas. To this end, it is a top priority to cultivate more new agricultural operating entities that are in line with the economic transformation and upgrading of rural areas[15]. The cultural auditoriums stimulate the vitality of farmers and guide the farmers to develop the rural economy through organizing farmers to carry out a large number of entrepreneurial training activities on a daily basis. For example, the cultural auditorium of Luxi Village has opened daily training courses for tea masters, through explaining tea culture and health, tea tasting, and basic tea knowledge, some tea farmers can understand and master the knowledge of tea culture. After learning tea knowledge, some farmers have opened tea houses. For another example, Lucheng District of Wenzhou set weekly courses in the cultural auditorium in the form of "government purchase + voluntary service". According to the characteristics of the community and the needs of the masses, it provided different types of training courses such as handicrafts, e-commerce,etc., to improve the skills of farmers and stimulate their inspiration. Through these trainings, farmers’ experience has been improved and a number of new agricultural operating entities have been cultivated.

(iii) The cultural auditorium construction also increases the support of public financial funds for rural construction, promotes the construction of related rural infrastructure, and is helpful for promoting the development of other related industries in rural areas.

2.3CulturalauditoriumconstructionandruralgovernancetransformationThe social order is a sacred right that provides the basis for all other rights, and it comes from a common primitive and simple agreement[16]. The formation of social order is inseparable from specific actors and their activities, and the mutual relationship between the actors and their ability to act in concert form the basis of the social order[17]. However, with the collapse of the rural acquaintance society, the endogenous rural organizational structures including clan, religion, cooperatives, and the mutual trust and long-term relationships between people have been destroyed. Villager cooperation has become difficult, and rural self-governance performance is accordingly low. Besides, rural grassroots governance occupies a basic position in national governance, is a basic unit in national governance, and an important part of national governance. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the focus of China’s social governance has been continuously shifting, and its governance model has also evolved from the early centralized ideological control and political mobilization, to the management and control in the medium-term form of decentralization, and then to the concept of cooperation and co-governance of the present decentralization[18]. This change puts forward higher requirements for the participation of different subjects. TheDecisionoftheCommunistPartyofChina(CPC)CentralCommitteeonSomeMajorIssuesConcerninghowtoUpholdandImprovetheSystemofSocialismwithChineseCharacteristicsandAdvancetheModernizationofChina’sSystemandCapacityforGovernanceissued by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China further pointed out the need to build a new grassroots social governance pattern. Improving the institutionalized channels for the masses to participate in grassroots social governance, establishing an effective multiple participation mechanism, and mobilizing the participation of different subjects, are directly related to the effects of grassroots governance.

In reality, the rural cultural auditorium construction provides a guarantee for the establishment of this effective participation mechanism. First, the rural cultural auditorium provides a space for villagers to participate in politics, and the space becomes the basis for the transformation of rural social governance. The rural cultural auditorium constructs a public space through various activities and provides a space foundation for the collective action of rural residents. Due to the lack of a platform for mutual exchanges, there has gradually appeared the dilemma that "people do not visit each other all their lives, though the crowing of their cocks and the barking of their dogs are within hearing of each other" in many rural areas. The collective consciousness of villagers is constantly weakening, and collective negotiation and collective action are difficult to achieve. In many rural political activities, village committee acts on its own. However, the emergence of cultural auditoriums provides a spatial basis for collective actions of rural residents and also provides a spatial basis for rural residents to participate in grassroots governance. The emergence of public space has promoted the community-based development of rural areas, which in turn transformed the rural governance model from the traditional village governance model to the community management model. Second, the rural cultural auditorium construction is helpful for the cultivation of modern citizenship spirit. The cultural auditorium is also helpful for forming a fixed form of social communication and structure of interpersonal communication through a large number of activities. Besides, as a public space, the auditorium has its own activity mechanism, and it regulates the behavior of the rural masses through its own operating mechanism. Finally, rural cultural auditorium has great significance for the cultivation of rural self-government ability, the cultivation of the awareness of the rule of law and the improvement of the level of the rule of virtue through undertaking a large number of activities such as " popular law publicity ", "nationwide reading" and "lecture hall of rural sages",etc.

3 Strategies for increasing the value of cultural auditoriums in the rural social transformation

3.1MakingoverallplanningtoincreasebenefitsbyplanningAt present, the cultural auditorium has become a landmark building in some rural areas and a business card in the rural areas, adding luster to the development of the rural areas. Unfortunately, in some rural areas, due to the lack of overall planning, the construction of auditoriums is not coordinated with the appearance of the countryside, the location of auditoriums is unscientific, and the environment of auditoriums is "dirty, chaotic, and poor". The construction of a cultural auditorium is the first step for auditorium giving to its value. In 2014, Wenzhou City issued theOpinionsontheImplementationoftheRural"SpiritualHome"ProjectinWenzhouCityin2014toStrengthentheCulturalAuditoriumConstruction, which clarified the overall objectives, basic principles, main tasks, and safeguard measures of cultural auditorium work. However, according to the actual situation, the cultural auditorium construction in Wenzhou still needs to continue strengthening the overall planning. (i) The survey found that cultural auditoriums in some places are remotely located and built on the hillside at the head or end of the village, which is not conducive to the development of the daily activities of the auditorium and brings inconvenience to the participation of residents in daily activities. The cultural auditoriums in some villages were transformed from old ancestral halls. The basic facilities are backward and the environment is dark and humid, which seriously affects the play of the auditorium’s due value. (ii) It is necessary to innovate the design of activity content. Due to the lack of planning, some rural cultural auditoriums are only used as an image project for external publicity by various villages and governments at all levels, and the actual effect is far from the expected state. Therefore, it is required to bring into play of its multiple values. (iii) Due to the lack of systematic planning, the auditorium construction is not harmonious with the construction of the entire rural areas, which has affected the development of the rural areas. Therefore, it is necessary to further do a good job in the planning of the cultural auditorium, select the location of the cultural auditorium, improve the environment of the auditorium, and make the cultural auditorium a business card in the rural areas, so as to add luster to the development of the rural areas.

3.2InnovatingactivitiestoincreasethemomentumwithactivitiesThe main function of the cultural auditorium is to change the outdated ideas in the rural areas, improve the quality of the farmers, and promote the modernization of the rural areas. If the daily activities of the rural cultural auditorium fail to improve the spiritual outlook of the farmers and improve the living skills of the rural residents, the significance of the rural cultural auditorium will be greatly reduced. In reality, due to the pressure of assessment and habitual thinking, the working methods of cultural auditoriums in some places inevitably have a campaign-like tendency. There are following problems: the function of the rural cultural auditorium is similar; in enriching the rural culture, it is not sufficiently connected with the local culture; the "lecture hall" value of the cultural auditorium is insufficient. Some rural cultural auditoriums have become "historical museums", just played the function of display and inheritance, but have not really been penetrated into the inner world of contemporary transforming farmers. Some cultural auditoriums have become the "stakes" of national ideology in rural communities, playing the role of missionary and transmission, and are a kind of rigid cultural implantation, which is not integrated with the daily practice of farmers, leading to the phenomenon of "two skins". As the carrier of modern culture penetrating into the rural areas, the cultural auditorium’s fundamental responsibility should be to implant advanced values into the local characteristic culture, and to enhance the feasibility of taking root in the local culture through the development and transformation of rural culture. Therefore, it is necessary to innovate the content of activities and develop cultural activities to enhance the momentum of rural social development. In the development of activities, on the one hand, it is necessary to pay attention to the balance of various activities. On the other hand, it is necessary to focus on the transformation of rural production and life concepts in the activity design, and further connect the activities with the rural social transformation.

3.3Attachinggreatimportancetoparticipation,tocultivatethesenseofparticipationVillagers’ low trust in village committees, low integration of the village due to resource differentiation, and insufficient internal driving force for autonomy are the main problems facing the current rural grassroots social governance[19]. In addition, the rural acquaintance society is gradually disintegrating in the process of urbanization. The endogenous system in the rural areas includes clan, religion, cooperatives and other organizations, as well as the mutual trust and long-term relationship between people are destroyed. It is difficult for villagers to cooperate, leading to the low performance of the rural self-governance. Therefore, breaking through the closed boundary of the negotiation subject, fostering the participation consciousness of rural residents, and constructing a benign interaction and cooperation mechanism of multiple subjects are the key points to solving the current plight of rural grassroots governance. Villager autonomy is an important cornerstone and reliable guarantee for social order, social stability, and social security in rural areas of China. It is an important way to build socialism with Chinese characteristics, protect the basic rights and interests of farmers, and realize the objectives of people’s democratic politics and people are the masters of their own country[20]. The cultural auditorium construction should attach great importance to the participation of rural residents, through the development of daily activities, cultivate rural residents’ sense of participation and enhance their subjectivity. Besides, through letting rural residents organize, design, and undertake activities by themselves, it can improve their assistance, self-management, and self-service capabilities. In addition, the construction of rural public culture is the spiritual power and intellectual support of grassroots governance. The cultural auditorium construction should also promote the remodeling of endogenous systems and lay the foundation for improving the grassroots governance order and the autonomy level. Therefore, in undertaking daily activities, it is necessary to attach greater importance to improving the grassroots governance order and the autonomy level. For example, we can further guide the clan culture, promote the mainstream ideology, enhance the cohesion of the village, and shape the modern and open citizenship awareness of the villagers through undertaking activities to promote the socialist core values.

4 Conclusions and discussions

From the perspective of rural social transformation, we analyzed the role and value of cultural auditorium construction in rural culture, economy, and governance transformation, and reached the following conclusions. (i) The cultural auditorium construction provides a bridge and link for the integration and interaction of rural culture and modern urban culture, provides a large platform for the innovative development of rural culture, and promotes the transformation and development of rural culture. (ii) The cultural auditorium construction injects new impetus into rural economic development. At present, the cultural auditorium has become a beautiful business card in some rural areas and a beautiful landscape in rural areas, adding luster to the development of rural tourism. Besides, through daily training activities, rural cultural auditorium opens the thinking of rural residents and improves their living skills; through e-commerce training and handmade product production, the rural cultural auditorium cultivates the new forces of future agricultural subjects and expands farmers’ income channel. (iii) The cultural auditorium construction is helpful for the transformation of rural grassroots social governance to a certain extent, provides a carrier for mutual communication and interaction for rural residents, and cultivates the self-management and self-service awareness of rural residents, makes negotiation between them a reality, and promotes the participation of farmers in grassroots social governance of rural areas. However, the actual situation reflects that there is still a large space for the cultural auditorium construction to play a role in the rural social transformation. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the cultural auditorium construction from three aspects: auditorium construction, daily activities undertaking, and residents’ participation awareness cultivation, to make auditorium unleash greater value in the rural social transformation.