Known as one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, so how many steps are needed to make a piece of paper? After being bitten by mosquitoes in the wild, which herb is more effective to quickly help ease itching and stop swelling? In the contemporary countryside in China, what is the most primitive rural life like?

Last weekend, the Envoys of Friendship to “Picturesque Zhejiang” from more than 10 countries visited Songyang county in Lishui City, which is dubbed the last “secret place” in Jiangnan（referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River）.” In this remote county surrounded by mountains but rich in life, they experienced a harmonious blend of rich traditional Chinese culture and diverse modern life.

The Ancient Chinese Were So Smart.

One Girl from Ukraine Marvels at Ancient Papermaking Technique

Located at No. 43, Bailongzhen, Xiping Street, Songyang County, the Tongjuanju Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop was completed early last year and opened with a heritage project to spread Li Keng Ancient Papermaking Technique. And Zhou Fangdi is the intangible cultural heritage inheritor in the workshop.

Walking into this ancient yet modern century-old house, a serenely misty front hall comes into view, with white water mist continuously billowing out from two shallow pools. If accompanied by the melodious guzheng（Chinese Zither）, you feel walking into a fairyland which warmly welcomes guests coming far away serenely.

“From the raw material collection of the bark of oriental paperbush to the final product, there are more than 24steps in the ancient Chinese papermaking process …Do remember that you need to pour the pulp at least five times, so that the flowers and plants may effectively adhere to the paper surface.” Under the guidance of Zhou Fangdi, the Envoys of Friendship worked in groups on the process of fishing, dewatering and dividing the paper, while embellishing their own work with flower petals and leaves of various colors.

Tsytsiura Kseniia assisted her companion Nuria Liya in carefully dipping the bamboo curtain into the paper pulp and then slowly taking it out steadily.

“It seems that the top left corner of the pulp is not thick enough, isn’t it?”

“I think it's already good enough. But we can give it another try.”

This time, Liya first used a spoon to stir the pulp in the box slot evenly, and then put the bamboo curtain into the pulp to swish the material. And Kseniia hold the bamboo curtain steadily with both hands and shook it back and forth, left and right gently in the slot, and then slowly took it out after the pulp on the curtain surface became an evenly thin layer.

“The pulp is very even. Now you can place flower petals and leaves. Or you can improvise on some more interesting patterns.” Zhou Fangdi encouraged at their side.

Kseniia then laid and pressed fresh flowers and plants on the undried pulp and kept pouring the pulp around them while Liya used water-absorbing equipment to dewater the paper, peeled it off the bamboo curtain and put it into the dryer. In just 60 seconds, a floral paper with natural patterns and flowers and plants was made successfully, warm with a faint fragrance of oriental paperbush.

“The process looks simple, but it's not easy to finish making a piece pf paper, either for the pulp does not precipitate evenly, or for you break the paper surface while adding flowers and plants.” Kseniia has seen the video of Li Ziqi making paper. “Even she did not fully succeed. Now you can presume how smart the ancient Chinese were.”

Kseniia, 28 years old, working as an English teacher at Foreign Languages Institute of Jiaxing University, is from Mykolaiv, Ukraine. She came to Jiaxing three years ago with her Chinese boyfriend, who had studied in Ukraine.

Before coming to China, Kseniia had studied Chinese for only one year. But after staying in Jiaxing for only three months, she was already able to communicate smoothly with Chinese people in spoken language. Thanks to her talent for languages and her cheerful personality, she has now mastered six languages.

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Songyang, because of its geographical remoteness, has well preserved its original idyllic scenery where fields and houses are scattering with multitudinous field paths crisscrossing. It is worth mentioning that more than 100 traditional ancient villages with relatively complete patterns are locating there.

Along the winding mountain road, the Envoys of Friendship entered into the 600-year-old Youtian Village in Sandu Township, where a dozen ancient buildings of the Qing Dynasty, such as ancestral halls, social temples and incense halls, are perfectly preserved.

“Every picture you take here can be deemed awesome.” Ergashev Akm, from Tajikistan, would occasionally pick up his cell phone to take photos at the exquisite stone and wood carvings on the buildings, “It's amazing that these houses can stand for more than 100 years. The people then possessed first-rate techniques already.”

In recent years, Songyang has not only launched an initiative to save ancient houses, but also has been making every effort to revive traditional Chinese medicine. Master Ye, a local herbalist, knows the medicinal effects of all kinds of herbs in the mountains, and in Youtian Village, he brought a variety of herbs to explain the knowledge and efficacy of herbal medicine to the Envoys of Friendship.

“My arm has just been bitten by a mosquito. Do you have any ready-made herbs to help ease itching and stop swelling?” Kristina Shyntsov from Ukraine asked Master Ye for help. He crushed right away Polygoni Perfoliati Herba he was presenting with his hands and applied the juice to the mosquito bite on her arm. After just a few minutes, the lump gradually subsided.

“It’s like a magic!” Despite having seen the magical effects of herbs, three medical students from Wenzhou Medical University couldn't help picking up the herbs and examined them carefully.

Zhang Shiming, who came to Songyang last year and was once an executive of an international enterprise, gave up his privileged city life in the hope of realizing his dream of creating ecological agriculture. He illustrated the Beautiful Village blueprint in his mind, the idea “Better Village, best life; Village is made by nature” and other ideas of returning to the fields and revitalizing the countryside with his fluent English, which won loud shouts of applause from the foreign friends present.

“Mr. Zhang, what is the difference between broadcast sowing and spaced sowing, and which one is more efficient and produces more?” When Zhang Shiming introduced transplanting rice seedlings in spring in the terraces in Lishui, Akemo couldn’t help posing a question as back his home, his family owns a large area of farmland where wheat, corn and other crops are grown by broadcast sowing. Zhang Shiming patiently analyzed the pros and cons of the two farming methods in terms of cultivation efficiency, labor cost, germination rate and maturity rate, which was an eye-opener for Akemo. “I should tell my family what I saw here as soon as possible to get them know more advanced ways of working. Can I come and study with you more often?”

“Sure. Songyang welcomes every guest from all over the world at any time. And I believe we have quite a lot more to learn from each other.” Zhang Shiming extended a new invitation to the Envoys of Friendship.

Afterwards, the Envoys of Friendship visited the ancient village Yangjiatang in Sandu Township, where they experienced the novelty and recorded the beauty with their cameras and felt the preference of Mother Nature for Songyang with touch and sight.

Maria de Loreto CASTILLA FERNANDEZ from Spain found Songyang to be a serene place for Weekend Getaway. “It's a must-see for travelers who like to explore the beauty of the countryside.” As a foreign expert at Zhejiang Tourism Vocational College, she would recommend Songyang to everyone who wants to escape city life for a while, crave fresh air and enjoy the beauty of the countryside. “During this journey, despite the very hot and humid climate, its beauty was presenting everywhere and I captured a multitude of gorgeous scenery and people pictures.”