A photo taken on Sept 12, 2009 shows Dapin village in Mengxian county, Yangquan city of North China's Shanxi province. The villagehad just 17 residents and it had no doctors, pharmacies or shops. The houses in the village were built by stone on mud with more than 40 courtyards and some were about 1,200 years old. The village residents ranged in age from 50 to 86 and lived a peaceful life by farming. It was listed in the first batch of villages collected in the Chinese Traditional Villages Catalog in 2012. [Photo by Cheng Yu/Asianewsphoto]

So far, three groups of 2,555 villages in total have been studied and included in the Chinese Traditional Villages Catalog under protection. The Conservation and Development Center of Chinese Traditional Village, where Li works, is the force behind the project, which works under the support of the seven departments.

According to Li, they have a very detailed and sophisticated system to evaluate whether a village should be recognized as a traditional village.

"To put it simply, we evaluate a village according to, first, its overall condition and location, second, its architecture, and third, its cultural values," said Li. "The village should have an overall good shape, be able to reflect regional history and culture, and it needs to have both tangible and intangible cultural heritage."

According to Li, the central government has allocated more than 10 billion yuan ($1.60 billion) as a special fund to protect the cataloged villages over three years, from 2014 to2016.

"Our center works with the villages to help prevent natural disasters like mud-rock flows, and to improve living, medical and educational conditions so as to keep people from moving away," said Li. "When we make their homes a more convenient, comfortable and affluent place, they will naturally love their life there, too."