"We have woven agricultural utensils for more than a thousand years, including baskets for storing hay and harvesting grain," Yang said. "In old rural days, donkeys were the main agricultural transport tool, and woven panniers were fixed on donkeys' backs to carry farm goods. Later, the weaving skills serving agricultural work gradually formed an agricultural heritage, and we kept upgrading products to fit modern life," he said.

　　Those same panniers once slung across donkeys were later adapted for bicycles and motorcycles. Today, local producers make dozens of categories of products, from baskets and furniture to garden decor.

　　Yang's workshop is a prime example of the national effort to position agricultural heritage not as a museum display, but as a wellspring for modern livelihoods.

　　Experts attending the rural civilization conference in Linyi cited the value of integrating agricultural heritage into the nation's modernization drive. Rural areas are increasingly recognizing that ancient agricultural wisdom can effectively support and strengthen modern rural livelihoods.

Visitors walk on the ridges of terraced fields during a tour in Yuanyang, Yunnan province. LI XIAN/FOR CHINA DAILY

　　Living landscapes

　　In Southwest China's Yunnan province, in Yuanyang county, ancient landscape management is yielding massive economic returns.

　　"Agricultural culture is not frozen in time. It is the living source of rural revitalization," said Pu Rong, deputy head of Yuanyang in the Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture.

　　For over 1,300 years, local people have carved terraced rice fields into the mountainsides, creating a unique agricultural ecosystem integrating forests, villages, terraces and waterways.