For those who have been living in the downtown area, what kind of countryside would you like to visit in your spare time? Is it an ancient traditional Chinese village or an European small town riddled with medieval architecture? Today, in this video, you can follow 2 foreign anchors of “Hai’Ou Community” to have a taste of both of them, Yuantou Village in Yongjia, Wenzhou and Besalu in Catalonia, Spain. And the 2 anchors are Seagull from Turkmenistan, an international student from Wenzhou Medical University, and Cheng Jiahui, a second generation expatriate who are living in Spain now.

In late autumn, Yuantou Village in Yongjia is full of the poetic charm. Strolling through white walls and black tiles in this ancient villages, time seems to be in slow motion here as people enjoy their life in a relaxed manner. The local specialties such as vegetarian noodles, dried rice noodles and wheat cakes are sold in the roadside shop. They are simple but full of local characteristics, just like the feeling that the village gives tourists. The villagers have transformed unused houses into neat homestay and opened a special café characterized with crochet art. These changes has brought new vitality to this ancient Yuantou Village. And the villagers seem to have found the best way to achieve common prosperity.

Besalu carries on the past and the future. The buildings in this town have weathered through the storms of the years and historic traces are everywhere within this small town. The residents are also deeply influenced by its serene atmosphere. They live in a peaceful life. Tourists can feel the beauty of this ancient town in the twilight. Relying on the booming tourism industry, the town has prospered. However, it hasn’t lost its simpleness. In a clever and unobtrusive way, it has been a combination of the ancient and the modern.

Though the 2 places are on opposite sides of the globe and thousands of miles apart, both of them are retaining their old traditions while keeping pace with the times. Through this video, I believe you can feel the charm of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries!

"City to City · Beautiful Countryside | Wenzhou & Besalu" is the third episode of the serial bilingual short video program "City to City" planned and produced by the "Daka China·Hai’ou Community" Internet Communication Center. Next, the "Hai’ou Community" will continue to check out major cities in Spain, Italy and other countries with an international perspective, presenting the cultural charm of the two Chinese and foreign cities through cultural collision.