"Courtyard 27 is more than a traditional residential community's cultural center, or a new type of public cultural center. Our aim is to form a public space with sustainable development, by continuously hosting activities of high quality and great creativity," says Niu Ruixue. In 2016, Niu and several of her friends — all born in the 1980s — began organizing cultural and arts activities in a courtyard, located at 27 Neiwubu Street, in Beijing's Dongcheng District. During the past few years, Niu's team has planned and organized activities that are close to the residents' lives, in an effort to grow a seed of happiness in Courtyard 27.

Niu returned to China in 2013, after she completed her education — in theater, creative industry and cultural exchanges — in France. That year, she and three of her friends, who had also studied overseas, launched Beijing ONE Arts Week, which attracted many scholars and young people who were fond of culture and the arts. The following year, Niu and her friends held the second Beijing ONE Arts Week, in several hutong alleys, including Fangjia Hutong, Wudaoying and Guozijian.

Participants watched shadow plays, shown through the window of a shop. An elderly man and his little granddaughter read short novels decorated on the walls along an alley. A migrant worker recited poems under a street lamp. The arts week in 2014 attracted more than 80,000 spectators. During that event, Niu realized people in residential communities were enthusiastic about and had a desire for the arts.

Later, during a public cultural exchange activity in Beijing, Li Zhe, then deputy director of the sub-district office of Chaoyangmen Street, listened to Niu sharing how she and her team had organized an arts week in hutong areas. Li was inspired, and he asked Niu: "We have a 700-square-meter courtyard at Neiwubu Street, No. 27. Are you willing to come and organize cultural activities at this place?" After six months of preparations, the large courtyard, with 10 rooms, was cleaned and renovated. It opened, as a cultural center especially for residents of Chaoyangmen Street, on September 10, 2016. Given its location, the courtyard is commonly referred to as Courtyard 27.

Celebrating 'The Party's Day'

An activity, "The Party's Day," was held in Courtyard 27 on June 25, 2021. The event was hosted by the Party branch of Neiwu Community, on Chaoyangmen Street. Niu said it was the fourth time "The Party's Day" was held in Courtyard 27. She remembers how, in 2018, she and Shi Haining, Party secretary of Neiwu Community, discussed how they would organize a Party building activity in the courtyard.

"We organized the first 'The Party's Day' in 2018," Niu recalls. "At that time, we were discussing what to do in the six rooms and the open air of our courtyard." Niu and her teammates visited teachers who worked with either the Beijing Administration Institute or the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. They invited the teachers to give lectures on the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and on the Party's revolutionary pioneers. During "The Party's Day," CPC members, who lived in Neiwu Community, listened to experts reviewing significant historical events, and they reviewed the oath they had read when they joined the Party.

Niu's team also invited a craft maker, who was known for making shayan (a traditional swallow-shaped kite in Beijing), to design a kite in the shape of a pentagram. Children were happy as they flew the kite in the open air during the event. "We also had a 'room for fun.' Children in our community often came to play in this room. A nanny made delicious drinks here. For 'The Party's Day,' we transformed the room into a 'New Youth Teahouse.' Party members sat in this room and discussed what they had learned from the Party's history," Niu says.

In another room, Niu's team arranged an exhibition about the development of Neiwu Community's Party branch. They spent nearly one month visiting former Party secretaries, who used to work for the branch office of Neiwu Community. By viewing the exhibition, local residents were able to review — systematically, and in detail — the building of the Party branch in their community since the 1990s.

During the past few years, participants to "The Party's Day" have enjoyed healthy tea drinks, listened to retired workers sing "red songs," watched fine arts teachers and students draw portraits for senior Party members, and found various creative products sold at the market, with the theme of reviewing the revolutionary history. "The Party's Day" has become one of the most popular events in Courtyard 27.

'Into the Soil'

When Niu's team began making plans for cultural activities to be held in Courtyard 27, Chaoyangmen Street's administration office proposed the following objectives: Enhance residents' sense of happiness; attract young people to the community, inhabited mainly by elderly people; and, add vigor to the community's cultural activities.

To truly understand residents' needs, Niu met with social workers, who had served the community for many years. She told her friends, "We are actually 'outsiders' who are bringing our cultural activities and creative ideas to this community. We must 'grow ourselves into the soil,' by learning from the locals." Since the beginning, in 2016, Niu's team has strived to provide public culture and arts, which everyone has an equal right and opportunity to appreciate.

To encourage residents to participate in activities held in Courtyard 27, Shi invited members of the community's dance team, painting and calligraphy group, and chess and card group (mostly composed of retired workers) to hold their regular gatherings in the courtyard. Niu prepared water for the dance team, and she offered to invite a teacher to give dance classes.

Day after day, more and more residents became familiar with Niu and her team. They started to visit Courtyard 27 frequently, to participate in the colorful activities. Young people came to the courtyard too. Some young artists hosted exhibitions; some gave lectures; and, one young man arranged to propose to his girlfriend in the courtyard.

"Residents in Neiwu Community, or from our neighborhood on Chaoyangmen Street, expect us to organize activities in Courtyard 27 throughout the year. For the upcoming July, we will have 'The Party's Day' again. In September, we will host a Mid-Autumn Festival party, during which we will eat moon cakes, watch shadow plays and the storytelling art form in Peking dialect with drum accompaniment. After that, we will organize a design week, and our Spring Festival party and reading day events for the following year," Niu says.

Throughout the years she has worked in Neiwu Community with her friends, Niu has gained a deeper understanding of the residents' firm belief of "building a better home" in their community. Her team has communicated with social workers, from across China, who have hoped to study the successful practices of organizing cultural activities in Courtyard 27. "We have helped design a public space for the communities in Dongcheng District's Qianmen Street, and two other areas in Chaoyang District. We are planning to visit more communities outside Beijing, and to help social workers there 'cultivate a seed' to develop public cultural and arts services," Niu concludes.

Photos Supplied by Niu Ruixue

(Women of China English Monthly July 2022 issue)