CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG | Studio Leader : Peter Ferreto Design Studio looking at the role of rural cultural heritage in an ever-expanding urban territory. We propose this in the context of the “Collective City” theme because we believe it raises important and pressing issues about the notion of collective. In a paradoxical way, many of the problems, issues that face the contemporary city can be solved or exasperated by how we address the rural. To challenge conventional preservation paradigms, instigated by a national rural heritage policy focused on introducing tourism as a rural solution. In short, we aim to make these abandoned villages operational again. An abundant number of villages of this kind exist, all of which are confronted with a dark reality: i.e. face certain extinction or lose their soul by giving way to the practice of “Disneyfication”, a form of architectural conservation that mutates villages into an architectural taxidermy museum It brings to the table, the condition of the Chinese village, which for more than 30 years has been neglected, abused and depleted of life. Today, Chinese villages are disappearing at alarming rates, 300/day by some statistics. Without entering into quantitative research, our proposal wishes to demonstrate that rural villages offer unique opportunities for collective readings.