As many countries in Global South have been transferring toward modernization, rural decline including shortage of labor force induced the challenge of achieving more resilient development with limited resources. The value of local knowledge has been reassessed and regenerated, becoming an effective means to promote endogenous development in rural areas. However, the recognition of local knowledge in the modernization process and its role in facilitating rural transformation still have knowledge gap. Among various efforts in the Global South, rural cultural revitalization projects in China have improved community public facilities and living environments, promoted the development of competitive innovative industries, and encouraged the return of labor, thereby enhancing rural resilience. This chapter creates the analytical framework of “Synergizing Knowledge Systems & the Foundation for Rural Resilience” and carries case study on three villages with specific cultural heritages in China. It explores the transformation process of rural socio-ecological systems from fragile to more resilient systems, focusing on the collision, synergy, and interdependence of village local knowledge and external modern knowledge in the process and their impact on village resilience. The study finds that villagers and external supporters (including governments, social organizations, and universities) through mutual communication and collective efforts co-produce cultural development knowledge. The synergized knowledge system supports diverse industrial activities, including traditional agriculture, expanded agricultural value chain, cultural activities, and rural tourism, while creating community-based and market-oriented organizations such as collective economic organizations or cooperatives. The diversity of livelihood activities enhanced rural economic resilience, while the nexus of organizations and benefits sharing system involving villagers secured the societal resilience of the village. The study also reveals the importance of a multilateral communication and coordination mechanism in rural transformation to synergy the local and modern knowledge systems. It’s also crucial to channel synergized knowledge to both industrial innovation and institutional innovation to enhance rural resilience, which lead to a more sustainable and inclusive development.