How can intangible cultural heritage quietly enter modern life by innovating inheritance methods and showcasing old crafts with new appearances?
2024-10-21
At the 8th China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo held in Jinan, Shandong, the exquisite traditional craftsmanship of 365 engraved lucky characters on a 12 centimeter square night lamp, 7 characters carved on a small peach pit, and an 80 something old grandmother threading needles and threading to make sachets amazed many viewers. At this feast of intangible cultural heritage, the audience can not only experience the charm of intangible cultural heritage up close, but also witness the wonderful collision of traditional culture and modern life. This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's ratification of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The theme of this expo is "Protecting Inheritance, Upholding Integrity, and Innovating", comprehensively showcasing the practical achievements of China's intangible cultural heritage protection in the past 20 years. As of December 2023, a total of 730 projects worldwide have been included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and Register, of which 43 are from China, ranking first in the world. In recent years, with the active practice of cultural "innovation and entrepreneurship" in various regions and the increase in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage has become a key element in creating a new benchmark for cultural tourism integration and stimulating new vitality for rural revitalization. Traditional intangible cultural heritage is quietly entering modern life. The on-site exhibition was very popular, and the traditional intangible cultural heritage was popular. "It was clear that there was an ingenious person called Wang Shuyuan, who could use the wood with a diameter of inches to serve as the palace, utensils, and people..." In the middle school textbook "The Story of the Nuclear Boat", Wang Shuyuan, a nuclear carving artist, made a nuclear boat "Red Cliff Night Tour" with peach stones during the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty. The characters were lifelike, making countrymen fully aware of the traditional technology of nuclear carving. At this expo, Liu Bin, the inheritor of nuclear carving techniques, once again demonstrated his superb skills by carving seven vivid figures in a narrow space measuring 3.8cm in length, 1.6cm in width, and 2.2cm in height, which amazed the audience present. The Expo site gathered intangible cultural heritage projects from all over the country. In the exhibition area of the Hakka Culture (Minxi) Ecological Protection Experimental Zone, a small night light has attracted the attention of many people. According to Ma Li, the inheritor of the Four Fortress woodblock printing technique, the small night light is a 12cm x 12cm square with 365 woodblock printed blessings on it, symbolizing the beautiful meaning of a blessing every day. It is a derivative cultural and creative product of Four Fortress woodblock printing, and the woodblock of this product alone takes three months to complete. The theme of this expo is "Protecting, Inheriting, Upholding Integrity, and Innovating", highlighting concepts such as "Treasures of the People's Intangible Cultural Heritage" and "Integrating into Modern Life to Create a Better Future". The theme exhibition takes "Intangible Cultural Heritage · Extremely Beautiful" as the idea, and sets up key sections such as "Beauty is more vivid in ecology", "Beauty is more innovative in craftsmanship", "Beauty is better in rural scenery", "Beauty is exchange and mutual learning", "Beauty is creativity and sharing". As the host city, the Shandong exhibition area set up for this expo covers a total area of 1845 square meters. The exhibition includes sections such as "The Contract of Rivers and Harmony", "The Rise of the Four Seas", and the Jinan Special Zone, showcasing the achievements of Shandong Province in promoting the integration of intangible cultural heritage into modern life. At the scene, Jinan clay figurine rabbit king, dough figurines, Weifang kites, Zibo ceramics and other "signboards" of intangible cultural heritage from all over Shandong gathered and appeared. Featured performances, such as Shuihu Boxing, one of the traditional martial arts routines, Beijing Opera "Wusong Beats the Shop", Shandong Express, Mount Taishan shadow play, Jiaozhou Yangge, also attracted many people to take photos. In the intangible cultural heritage stage and other areas set up in the venue, audiences can also enjoy performances of traditional music, dance, opera, folk art and other intangible cultural heritage projects. High Xue, a student who participated in the "Little Craftsman" study activity on site, said that she saw many intangible cultural heritages that she had never heard of before, deeply felt the profoundness of traditional Chinese culture, and added interest and motivation to her future learning of historical and cultural knowledge. Constantly innovating, the old craftsmanship is passed down through development. A bamboo paper is lightly covered on a sheet of sheet music, a brush dipped in ink is evenly brushed, and a novel style of lucky character picture leaps onto the paper... In the "Beauty in Communication and Mutual Learning" exhibition hall of the Expo, inheritors use ancient movable type printing techniques to create exquisite works one after another, giving them to the public. Wu Songgen, the inheritor of Ninghua movable type printing, said that in the process of inheriting this skill, he also strives to combine this old craft with the needs of modern society. By establishing the "Ninghua Wood Typewriting Workshop" online, he launched businesses such as printing tool sales, wood type product sales, personalized customization of wood type and seals, and sales of handmade thread bound books, actively promoting wood type printing technology and bringing this intangible cultural heritage project into millions of households. Continuously innovating and preserving tradition while also inheriting it through development is a new path chosen by many intangible cultural heritage projects. At the Hexingyong Painting Shop in Hanting District, Weifang City, Yang Naidong, the inheritor of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year paintings, a national representative project of intangible cultural heritage, is busy carving various miniature New Year paintings every day. Yang Naidong said that recently many young people have come to buy these miniature versions of traditional New Year paintings. The products have multiple themes such as Hongfu Mantang, Danfeng Chaoyang, and Niannian Youyu. After printing, they can be mounted in picture frames as decorations and are very popular. Compared to conventional New Year paintings, this old and newly carved scaled down version of New Year paintings is more difficult to engrave and overprint. While safeguarding traditional skills, we must adapt to the changes of the times and the needs of reality, constantly giving new vitality to New Year paintings, "said Yang Naidong. In the process of inheritance, some intangible cultural heritage has also shone with new brilliance, and has initially formed a sizable industry. Walking through the streets and alleys of Daji Town in Cao County, Shandong Province, Hanfu factories and shops can be seen everywhere. Huang Xiaoyan, the person in charge of the Tang Dynasty Hanfu Cloud Warehouse in Cao County, said that in recent years, local practitioners have combined tradition with fashion, constantly innovating and creating new communication channels, allowing Cao County's Hanfu industry to continue to "go global". At present, there are over 2200 Hanfu upstream and downstream enterprises and more than 13900 online stores in Cao County, forming a complete industrial chain that integrates design and pattern making, cloud garment research and development, printing and embroidery, auxiliary materials and accessories, and marketing. Zhang Shishan, Dean of the Institute of Intangible Cultural Heritage at Shandong University, said that rooted in people's daily lives, intangible cultural heritage is an important source of lasting vitality. Currently, many intangible cultural heritage sites in various regions have achieved innovative development and new application areas on the basis of good protection, fully stimulating the intrinsic driving force of intangible cultural heritage services for economic and social development. Deeply integrating with technology and better integrating into modern life, the Jinan shadow puppetry exhibited at this expo has gained more popularity among young people by combining with new technologies. Li Juan, the fifth generation inheritor of Jinan shadow puppetry, said that she has collaborated with Shandong Academy of Arts to launch the "AI Digital Shadow Puppetry" series of digital collections. This collection uses AI (artificial intelligence) technology to simulate the unique rendering and coloring techniques of Jinan shadow puppetry, completing the color matching of the seven main character portraits in the shadow puppetry play "Journey to the West". Jinan shadow puppetry, through applications such as "shadow puppetry+theater" and "shadow puppetry+homestay", has not only entered communities, scenic spots, and exhibition halls across China, but also traveled to more than 20 countries around the world to tell the story of China's intangible cultural heritage. What flowers will bloom from the deep integration of intangible cultural heritage and industry? In Shandong, a bold exploration gradually yielded answers. In September of this year, a new clothing launch event featuring Lu Jin and Lu Xiu was held, showcasing the modern charm of intangible cultural heritage for the first time through a runway show. Lu brocade is a unique weaving brocade in Shandong province, and its weaving techniques are a national intangible cultural heritage. Lu embroidery is a representative embroidery in Shandong region and also a national intangible cultural heritage. Since last year, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Shandong Province and other departments have launched the Lu Jin Lu Embroidery Industry Revitalization Action, promoting universities, enterprises and other units to jointly establish the Lu Jin Industry High Quality Development Alliance. With the support of industry associations and universities, the Lu Jin Industry Center and R&D Design Center have been established to enhance the level of creative design. At the same time, actively guide high-quality enterprises in the clothing and textile industry to join the R&D and manufacturing of Lu Jin and Lu Xiu products across borders. In 2021, there were less than 10 Lu Jin production enterprises in the province. Now, the number of enterprises involved in Lu Jin production and research and development has grown to more than 40, "said Wang Xiao, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Shandong Province. Many enterprises have won rich orders for the new Lu Jin developed and produced. The dissemination of intangible cultural heritage is also showing an increasingly "trendy" trend. On short video platforms such as Tiktok, the content of intangible cultural heritage is increasingly rich. Data shows that there are 1428 certified inheritors of intangible cultural heritage on Tiktok at present, 199 of whom are under 30 years old. More and more young inheritors join Tiktok to promote intangible cultural heritage. Along with the continuous inheritance of old intangible cultural heritage crafts, new development paths have also been explored, and some have even gained countless followers. This indicates that intangible cultural heritage resources have gradually integrated into our modern life after flying into the homes of ordinary people and being close to their production and life. In the future, more and more traditional cultures will demonstrate vitality and vigor Professor Wang Yuanxing from the School of History and Culture at Shandong University said. (New Society)
Edit：He Chuanning Responsible editor：Su Suiyue
Source：Xinhua
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