(Visiting the countryside·Looking at the revitalization) One museum promotes a village: Rural museums are changing the villages along the river in Jilin

In a rural museum in a small town in Shulan, Jilin, a thousand-year-old wild ginseng stands quietly in the center of the display cabinet. The locals call it "King of Ginseng". Its body is long and thin, and its shape is vivid, like a dancing dancer.

In front of the display cabinet, Liu Wei, the director of the museum, pointed at these ginsengs and said: "There is a story behind every ginseng." Visitors gathered in front of the intelligent interactive screen and tapped the screen to search for ginseng, call the ginseng, carry the ginseng, and package the ginseng - the old ritual of "releasing the ginseng" was revived at their fingertips.

This is a common scene in the Shulan Wild Ginseng Museum. Here, the cultural story behind each ginseng plant is bringing income to the local area. Shulan is simultaneously building a ginseng and Chinese herbal medicine health industrial park with a total investment of 519 million yuan, developing wild ginseng deep processing, medicinal and edible products, and ginseng wine brewing. It is expected to have an annual output value of 1 billion yuan and create employment for more than 1,500 people.

The story of "King of Ginseng" is just a slice of the Songhua River Cultural Nourishing Village Museum. The Songhua River rushes down from Tianchi in Changbai Mountain. Fuyu, Bohai and Manchu ancestors have thrived and lived on the river bank since ancient times. The culture of fishing, hunting and worship continues to this day. Today, in Jilin City alone, there are 23 village-level museums such as the Shulan Wild Ginseng Museum, turning old folk customs and skills into cultural tourism traffic.

Down the river, at the Rural Museum of Fujiang Village in Jiaohe City, Neolithic sarcophagus fragments, coir raincoats, and fishing nets are quietly displayed. Tourists gathered in front of the display cabinet. Some looked closely at the knots of fishing nets, while others raised their mobile phones to take old photos of river lanterns. Liao Changwu, secretary of the village party branch, greeted the guests while explaining.

Tourist Zhang Min and her children stood in front of old photos of river lanterns. The fishing nets and river lanterns in the textbook became real objects. She booked a B&B on the spot and planned to take a night trip to the Songhua River. From visiting exhibitions to staying in hotels, the village's accounts have also changed. In the past five years, 300,000 people have entered the village, and the comprehensive tourism income has been nearly 10 million yuan. The average income of each villager participating in the development has increased by 6,000 yuan.

The Songhua River runs through Jilin City, and the exhibition halls on both sides of the river are different, but each one makes a village popular.

In the Manchu Folk Museum in Yulou Village, Tuchengzi Township, Changyi District, Jilin City, Guan Changjun, secretary of the village party branch, finished telling the story of the domestication of sea greens and the "eagle handle style", and then turned to take care of his hazelnut garden. At the end of 2023, a tourism cooperative was established in the village to integrate picking, B&B, fishing, and folk experience operations. "The falconry culture attracts guests to the riverside, and the hazelnut gardens and dining tables keep them here," Guan Changjun said.

The rise of rural museums is no accident. Jilin City will launch the construction of a "museum city" in 2023 to revitalize local cultural resources, and the passenger flow of venues along the river continues to increase. The popularity of cultural tourism, policy guidance, and rural revitalization are all working in the same direction. Old objects are no longer just memories locked in cabinets, but have become the fulcrum to activate small villages.

"One thing makes a country prosper." Pi Fusheng, a literature and history researcher of the Jilin CPPCC, said that the cultural context of the Songhua River is rooted in the countryside. The ginseng in Shulan, the river lanterns in Fujiang, and the eagles in Yulou have all relied on this land for generations to make a living. In the past, the art of making a living by relying on mountains and rivers has now been transformed into an exhibition hall and attracted tourists. "When the water veins are alive, the economic road will have a source." Pi Fusheng said.