Expert: Application for cultural heritage must be based on national traditions and have a global perspective
Around this year's Dragon Boat Festival, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and other places held a series of folk cultural activities around the Dragon Boat Festival, but the most eye-catching thing was the news of the Dragon Boat Festival's heritage application.
It is reported that Hubei Province has submitted to UNESCO on behalf of China that the Dragon Boat Festival is a masterpiece of human intangible cultural heritage, and has entered the preliminary evaluation stage.
This reminds people again of the dispute after South Korea successfully declared the Dragon Boat Festival as an intangible heritage of mankind in 2005.
However, judging from the reactions of various parties this year, the reporter felt that compared with a few years ago, the domestic attitude towards South Korea's Dragon Boat Festival application has changed slightly.
Luo Yang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Chairman of the China Association for Democracy and People's Democratic People's Republic of China, explained that with the in-depth understanding of intangible cultural heritage, people began to realize the connection and difference between the Korean Dragon Boat Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival in China.
Tao Siyan, a professor at Southeast University and vice chairman of the China Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, said that as early as more than a thousand years ago, China's Dragon Boat Festival entered South Korea through various communication channels, and combined with local geography, customs, and traditions to reproduce the source culture, and at the same time, it was also transformed and mutated.
Although the Dragon Boat Festival in South Korea is a product of the influence of Chinese culture, it is very different from the Dragon Boat Festival in China in terms of ceremony and content.
"In this sense, it is understandable that South Korea successfully declared the Dragon Boat Festival in 2005 as a representative work of human intangible cultural heritage." Wu Bingan, honorary chairman of the China Folklore Society, also said the same.
However, recently, some domestic views that overemphasize the differences between the two have aroused concerns among experts.
Tao Siyan said: "In its original period, as long as the same cultural phenomenon existed in different places, as long as it did not coexist in parallel, there would be a relationship between source and flow.
Some scholars think that it is very ignorant and extremely inappropriate that the Korean Dragon Boat Festival is completely different from the Dragon Boat Festival in China."
After South Korea's successful application for the Dragon Boat Festival, what changes have occurred in China's concept of intangible cultural heritage protection? In this regard, experts expressed relatively consistent views.
Wu Bin-an said that the successful application for the Dragon Boat Festival in Gangneung in South Korea has prompted China to strengthen the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.
A direct result is that China now attaches more and more importance to the protection of its own traditional festivals.
Tao Siyan said,"In the past, we felt that cultural heritage could not produce immediate economic benefits and ignored it.
Now it is different.
Countries around the world realize that culture is a resource, wealth, and soft power.
South Korea has already applied for the Dragon Boat Festival Festival, and we as the source, it will be unreasonable if the country let go."
"Intangible cultural heritage is the common wealth of mankind and an important symbol of national spiritual culture.
It contains the unique way of thinking, imagination and cultural consciousness of the nation, and is the DNA of the cultural life of a country and a nation." Tian Qing, deputy director of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, believes that intangible cultural heritage not only demonstrates the infinite creativity of people of all countries, but also reflects the diversity of world culture.
At the same time, he also expressed his worries,"In the process of globalization and modernization, the world's cultural ecology is undergoing tremendous changes.
The intangible cultural heritage that constitutes the spiritual home of the nation has been violently impacted, and some are facing extinction.
Intangible cultural heritage protection is extremely important and urgent."
With the deepening of reform and opening up, China society is integrating into the background of globalization.
As a cultural power, how can China effectively protect its national traditional culture? Tao Siyan believes that the most important thing in applying for a cultural heritage is inheritance and protection.
It requires not only museum-style protection, but also the use of intangible cultural heritage elements and symbols to reorganize, develop new products, and serve real life, but that kind of complete change is not desirable.
"But it is not necessary to apply for a cultural heritage." In Wu Bingan's view, if we have done a good job in protecting intangible cultural heritage, there is no need to apply for intangible cultural heritage.
"But we can't be timid because we are endangered.
We must have a world-wide mind and vision." Experts unanimously stated.
Wu Bingan said that the application for a cultural heritage is not the ultimate goal, nor does it depend on who comes first.
The most important thing is that we should study how to protect and inherit China's traditional culture and traditional festivals, so that people around the world can understand China's traditional festivals and make them contribute to the diversity of human culture.
"In fact, the declaration of human intangible cultural heritage itself has transcended the national and national sectors." Tao Siyan said that the so-called intangible cultural heritage of mankind is standing on the world stage, which not only reflects our respect for our own national culture, but also reflects our participation in international cultural activities.
Therefore, it has the significance of cultural exchanges and allows people to understand the China people, China history and culture through intangible cultural heritage.
Tian Qing said that whether it is the intangible cultural heritage declared by China or the intangible cultural heritage declared by other countries, they are all "human" heritage that not only belongs to China or a certain country, but also belongs to the world and all mankind.
Disputes over the protection of mankind's intangible cultural heritage are not only contrary to the original intention of protecting human cultural heritage, but also worthy of our ancestors and the creators and inheritors of these great civilizations.
At the same time, Tian Qing also believes that in the process of applying for UNESCO intangible cultural heritage protection projects, scholars participating in them must treat and respect history objectively, fairly and scientifically, clarify the changes in the origin of ancient and modern times, and adopt the attitude of scholars., lead the public, oppose narrow nationalism, advocate cultural inclusiveness and diversity, and for projects shared by many countries, governments of various countries can strive to jointly declare with the participation of scholars.
For some major academic issues, scholars from the two countries can also be organized to jointly study and seriously discuss them in the spirit of being responsible for history and human civilization.
"Intangible cultural heritage is a product of history.
How to apply for it? The attitude should be scientific and fair, the mind should be broad-minded, and inclusiveness and diversity should be promoted.
We must base ourselves on the nation, go to the world, oppose narrow nationalism and regionalism, and regard intangible cultural heritage as the spiritual heritage of all mankind." Luo Yang said.
Source: China Art News)