Living and Farming: The Donkey Culture in Dryland Terrace System Li Heyao (Ph.D Candidate) CNCH, IGSNRR, CAS August, 2018, Wakayama, Japan
1. Brief Introduction of Dryland Terrace System (DTS) in Shexian County, China 2. Agricultural Production Model: “Donkey- Pepper-Stone” (DPS) Coupled Structure 3. Rural Life Style: “Human-Donkey” Communication Pattern 4. Significance of Rural Culture towards the Conservation of GIAHS
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1.1 Dynamic Adaptation System ↑ The Dryland Terrace System, 17000 hectares for its total area, is located in Shexian County, Handan City, Hebei Province, China. It is the product of dynamic adaptation and consistent efforts of local people, enabling the growing population, increasing fields and riching food harmony with the fragile ecological environment. It was praised as “the Second Greatwall of China" by  experts of UN WFP. † Grandiose dryland terrace landscape is situated in the Taihang Mountains, the typical feature can be summarized as “high mountains , steep slopes, thin rocks and thick soil". Therefore, local people think highly of donkeys, call them “precious property”.
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↑ As one of the representative remedial measures to response to flood disaster, local people build arch structure inside of the stone weir to strengthen the terrace, and by the mean time, create a storage and rest space.
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Unique Survival Wisdom Farming Technique Storage Technique 6 ↑ Wangjinzhuang Village is situated , in the core area of Dryland Terrace System. It is composed of 5 administrative villages, covering an area of 12 km², with 4,500 resident population. The village was entitled as of “Historic Village of Hebei Province” in 2008 and “Traditional Village of China" in 2012 7
2.1 Rational Choice of Terrace Labor ↑ As surrounded by hilly mountains, people in Wangjinzhuang Village have to solve two major issues: to build terraces and to choose appropriate livestock. ↑ The distribution of fields is separated and highly-dropped while the distance between fields and houses is long. After a lengthy screening process, DONKEYS are chosen to be the    livestock    of    Wangjinzhuang Village to plow the dryland terrace. و
Note: Four kinds of livestocks are those who have once appeared in Wangjinzhuang Village. Five Note. Four killus of investooks are annot interviewees. Index values are conversed 12 and assigned from importance ranking given by 19 interviewees.
In the Dryland Terrace System, donkeys (major labor source), pepper p (representative of crops) and stone weir (agricultural production space) are three indispensable factors, and there exists close relationship between each other. ↑ The coupled structure can be understood as a system that is composed of interrelated and complementary elements in function. The ''Donkey-Pepper- Stone" (DPS) coupled structure is the breakthrough point for us to understand the secret of sustainable running of Dryland Terrace System. 13 Donkey 
 
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 “Donkey-Pepper-Stone” Coupled Structure Pepper Growing space Stone and soil solidation Stone 3. Rural Life Style: “Human-Donkey”
3.1 Language System "Da, go forward "Lili..." turn left "Dada... turn rightツstop
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3.2 Related Identities “Donkey Salesman" Assessment of comprehensive qualities of donkeys (local knowledge）（0 "Veterinarian" Traditional Chinese medicine practice Villagers command words and rural/ custom For health and safety Many years ago, donkey of owners     in     Wangjinzhuang village  choose  December  22th as Donkey’s Birthday to thank for their dedicated devotion to agricultural production after a year’s hard work. People prepare noodles made by coarse food grain instead of cake to celebrate
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3.4 Personification and Socialization Mechanism Transformation of spatial pattern and time series Resocialization Process Socialization Process i Donkeys Villagers i 'Donkey' ı Culture Agricluture Production Livelihood Pattern Traditional Culture Personalization of Donkeys Reconstruction of Villages 18 Promote Dryland Terrace System Dynamic Conservation and Sustainable Development Maintain Social and Moral Order Communication Mode based on Symbolic Interaction
↑ Rural culture is a kind of condensed presentation of landuse, folklore, biodiversity, and landscape management etc. It plays an integrative role of social factors like agriculture production, rural life and  emotional memories. ↑ Recent decades, marketization and Commercialization influences Chinese society profoundly. With the trend of GIAHS conservation and development around the world, excavation and recognition process of rural culture and values will be beneficial to  biodiversity and cultural diversity, to revitalize the harmonious village interpersonal pattern, unite all the member by means of “Sense of Community'', and to make combined efforts on rural development. Thank You for Listening Email: tonymarigold@live.com ints And the Anderson Ab Rob