Abstract:

[Purpose/Significance] Since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the Rural Revitalization Strategy, China has placed high priority on the digital development of rural cultural resources, considerin it a key factor in the comprehensive revitalization of rual areas. However, China's current efforts to digitize rural cultural resources still face structural challenges, including insufficient funding, a lack of unified technical standards, a shortage of professional talent, and weak endogenous motivation. Against this backdrop, studying successful international experiences, particularly those from Japan, which has a rural social structure similar to China's, can provide valuable insights into exploring sustainable digital pathways in China. [Method/Process] Grounded in Embeddedness Theory, this research develops a four-dimensional analytical framework tailored to the characteristics of Japan's rural cultural resource digitization: institutional embedding, technological embedding, cognitive embedding, and autonomous practice. The study examines how rural communities overcome digitalization challenges by integrating external resource embedding with endogenous motivation activation through systematic collection and comparative analysis of 20 representative case studies from Japanese villages. [Results /Conclusions] The study reveals that, although Japanese villages commonly encounter practical constraints such as budget shortages, limited technical support, and a lack of professional expertise in digitizing cultural resources, some have successfully transformed through innovative approaches. Key lessons include: 1) institutional embedding: social organizations establish precise and sustainable funding networks through specialized grants to compensate for insufficient government investment; 2) technological embedding: specialized enterprises provide customized solutions and integrated platform services to address "data silo" issues; 3) cognitive embedding: universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) enhance villagers' digital literacy through knowledge transfer and talent cultivation, fostering cultural identity; and 4) autonomous practice: villagers, driven by crisis awareness and cultural consciousness, initiate self-organized digitization efforts. They transition from "external" processes, such as blood transfusion to "endogenous" processes, such as blood generation. Implications for China focus on the following: 1) refining an institutional embedding mechanism guided by government policies and fueled by social participation, including dedicated funds and tax incentives; 2) promoting technology transfer from "niche-leading " enterprises to develop modular tools and open resource platforms; 3) strengthening collaboration between the government, industry, universities, research institutions, and application developers to nurture local digital talent through academic support and NGO mobilization; and 4) empowering villagers as active participants, applying digital outcomes in education, tourism, and other scenarios to create synergy between cultural preservation and industrial development. Although this study has established a representative sample set through rigorous case selection criteria, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, due to the lack of transparency in Japanese government, some cases with incomplete implementation details were excluded from the in-depth analysis. Future research should include on-site investigations to collect primary data and address this gap. Second, the current study relies primarily on literature and publicly available data. The next phase involves field research in Japan. Mixed methods such as in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and questionnaire surveys, will be employed to verify the accuracy of case data and explore the mechanisms of stakeholder interaction in the digitalization process. This approach will increase the breadth and depth of the research.

Key words: rural culture, digitalization, embeddedness, Japan, rural revitalization, public cultural services