Introduction
Youyang-lab is a project of international cooperation between the Chongqing Jiaotong University (CQJTU) and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) to organize research on the conservation and restoration of Tujia traditional villages. It is focused on ethnic traditions, the natural and cultural landscapes of traditional villages and their specific modes of construction.
On April 6,Since 2016, the official website of the Chongqing Jiaotong University (China) relayed the following information emanating from its College of Architecture and Urban Planning :
受重庆市外国专家局委托,我校国际合作交流处与建筑城规学院联合策划并实施的重庆交通⼤学与⽐利时鲁汶⼤学国际合作交流项⽬“⾣阳⼟家族传统村落保护与修复⽅法研究”于2016年4⽉正式启动。
« A project of international cooperation and exchanges has officially been launched to organize research on the conservation and restoration of Tujia traditional villages. » The article further announced that the Chongqing Jiaotong University and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) were starting a cooperation focused on ethnic traditions, the natural and cultural landscapes of traditional villages and their specific modes of construction.
This announcement signaled the effective beginning of a collaborative project that had been underway since the start of 2016, and whose first step consisted in an exploratory mission involving several representatives of the UCL-LOCI-Brussels campus.
It marked the first stages of a partnership aimed at protecting and promoting the wooden constructions of the autonomous Tujia and Miao minority villages established primarily in the territory of Youyang County, located 350 km from Chongqing City, in the southern part of the Chongqing province.