Authorities of Southwest China's Guizhou province said on May 5 that it will invest 100 million yuan ($16 million) in supporting protection of traditional villages this year, and extend the amount to 150 million yuan annually from next year to 2020 to deal with the risk of villages disappearing because of poor maintenance.

There are 426 Guizhou villages included in the Chinese Traditional Village List, accounting for 16.7 percent of the national total.Traditional villages are the villages that carry both Chinese traditional culture and deep nostalgia.

However, some of the villages face the risk of disappearing because of the lack of financial inputs and poor maintenance.

The local government recently released a guideline for the protection and development of traditional villages, promising to take 3-5 years to complete the protection work and by 2017, the 426 villages on the list will be the first to be restored. By 2020, all the traditional villages with 100 more residents will be rebuilt.

Experts say the protection work is intended to improve villager living condition, increase their income?and maintain the structures to protect the culture, architecture, folk customs and traditional lifestyles.

The protection work emphasizes practicality and the integrity of village space, culture and traditional values, as well as sustainability of its ecology and environment by maintaining a balance between humans and nature. The work will also tackle the problem of fires in wooden structures, and improving the dwellings, water and electricity system and transportation.