[Liu Xicheng] What is our starting point and goal?

What is our starting point and goal?

--My opinion on the current situation of intangible cultural heritage protection

Liu Xicheng

Needless to say, my country has achieved gratifying results in the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

There have been 29 "intangible cultural heritage" projects selected as the representative list of the world's human intangible cultural heritage and the list of intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of protection; 1028 national, provincial, municipal and county protection lists have been established) and projects.

Representative inheritors (1488 people); 6 cultural and ecological protection experimental zones have been established; the draft Law on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage) was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the first round of review; Even if the new term "intangible cultural heritage" is not a household name, it can be said to have become a popular word in various media.

This means that the intangible cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation, which has always been despised by elite culture, has openly entered the "hall of elegance" of China culture.

The concept of "cultural diversity" has been widely recognized and accepted in my country's mainstream society.

Anxiety and hidden worries in 2010

In the world, achievements and problems always go hand in hand.

In 2010, concerns and criticisms from public opinion about the tendentious issues arising in the protection of "intangible cultural heritage" were more frequent and acute than in any previous year.

These deep worries and sharp criticisms appear in the media and academic journals.

On the one hand, they show the ardent concern of patriots, intellectuals, and academia for the protection of "intangible cultural heritage" and express the strong local cultural feelings of the Chinese people for "intangible cultural heritage"; on the other hand, they do see some tendentious issues that deserve attention and must be corrected as soon as possible.

For example, the destructive protection tendency characterized by over-development cannot be curbed, and some productive projects are abandoning handicrafts and turning to mechanized, serialized and standardized production.

For example, the protection of productive categories is emphasized and the oral categories is lightly emphasized.

Protection has made the protection of intangible cultural heritage generally unbalanced; for example, in the name of adapting and promoting excellent heritage, there is a tendency to destroy the individuality of national culture; For example, turning "government-led" into "over-taking" by the government, and turning "reasonable utilization" into "over-utilization" has changed the inherent evolution laws of "intangible cultural heritage" projects and dampened people's conscious participation and careful protection.

Enthusiasm for protection; such as being keen to use external forces to "impose" methods such as certain "ecological museums" criticized by academic circles) instead of raising the tendency of local people to consciously protect awareness; and so on.

These tendentious issues pointed out and criticized by the media, academia, and public opinion should indeed arouse the thinking and attention of the government cultural authorities, the leader in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, and take timely intervention measures to bring our "Intangible cultural heritage" protection work into a normal and healthy track.

There are misunderstandings in the concept of protection

These tendentious problems exposed in the protection of "intangible cultural heritage" can be summed up to one point: there are or are trapped in misunderstandings about the nature and characteristics of "intangible cultural heritage" and its protection concept.

The protection of "intangible cultural heritage" has become a mainstream trend of thought in the world at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.

It stems from the pain of intellectuals and elites in developing countries that their national culture is threatened by the strong culture of developed countries and is in a state of decline and weakening, and may even be assimilated and annihilated, thus endangering the diversity of world culture.

Protecting cultural diversity, like protecting biological diversity, is important to the world and to China.

We often say: We in China are "harmonious but different" and "diverse and integrated." It is mainly manifested in culture.

In terms of national origin, before the 1980s, due to the limitations of archaeological excavations, we were monists and believed that only the Yellow River Basin was the cradle of our Chinese nation.

Later, Hemudu culture was discovered in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, Hongshan culture was discovered in the Daling River Basin, etc., our understanding changed, and we became pluralistic origin theorists.

The origins of diversity gradually formed regional cultures with their own systems and characteristics such as Qilu, Wuyue, Yanzhao, Qinjin...

The same is true for ethnic composition.

The ancient Dongyi, Huaxia, Miao Man, Di Rong and other groups have developed into modern times through many aspects such as war, integration, and economic and cultural development.

The Chinese nation has become a big family with 56 ethnic groups.

Although the history and level of cultural development and evolution of regions and ethnic groups are different and show differences, these differences must be recognized; although there has been absorption and integration, rejection and independence between different cultures in the long river of history, development and transformation have not been smooth sailing; However, it should be acknowledged that each regional culture and each ethnic culture has its own advantages and characteristics, and each has the demands and rights to protect its own culture.

From the overall perspective of the Chinese nation's culture, it is the unshirkable responsibility of our generation to protect the uniqueness and individuality of each region and ethnic culture, while protecting the cultural diversity of the entire nation.

On the contrary, if the culture of one nation is completely replaced, assimilated, and eliminated by the culture of another powerful nation, then the sustainable development of culture will become an empty talk.

Therefore, I believe that the starting point and goal of the protection of intangible cultural heritage are nothing else but protecting the diversity of the Chinese nation's culture and the sustainable development of culture.

The principle of cultural diversity requires respecting and protecting the individuality of each ethnic culture and each regional culture.

Only by protecting the individuality of each ethnic culture and each regional culture can there be the cultural diversity of the Chinese nation and the commonly known as "harmony and diversity" cultural pattern; in other words, the unique individuality of culture is the basis for cultural diversity.

Without the unique individuality of culture, there is no way to talk about cultural diversity.

For those "intangible cultural heritage" projects that have entered the national, provincial, municipal and county lists, the responsibility of the relevant government cultural departments and the main units or individuals for project protection is to take measures to ensure that they remain unique forever.

Cultural personality, that is, the "uniqueness" of the projects they promised to the state when applying for the intangible cultural heritage list.

According to newspapers, the "intangible cultural heritage" authority in a certain place is "promoting" the Dong Song, which has been selected into the "Representative List of World Intangible Cultural Heritage" and the "National Intangible Cultural Heritage List", to other ethnic groups and regions.

If these officials who presided over the matter were not ignorant, they would also do wrong with good intentions.

Their thoughts would destroy this excellent national cultural heritage by eliminating the unique national cultural personality of the Dong Song.

Now, we see on the TV screen that many local or ethnic local cultural and artistic programs, many of which are under the banner of "intangible cultural heritage", but the convergence tendency of these programs is extremely serious, because in the eyes of the hosts and program producers, when looking at those "intangible cultural heritage" projects that are too vulgar to be "elegant" from a noble perspective, they always feel that they are humble and unworthy of "elegance", so they need to be changed to suit their "elegant" vision.

How sad.

The fallacy of ideas and misunderstandings of understanding are important reasons for the above problems and tendencies.

However, problems are discovered that cannot be corrected in a timely manner in the bud, and are often allowed to develop and spread, which is related to the imperfection of the system.

We already have some feasible systems and experience in applying the list, such as the "market access system" in the fields of commodities and medicines, but we have not introduced some very necessary "exit system" for "intangible cultural heritage".

We must let those projects that do not follow the rules, pursue fame and profit, or pursue business interests), are poorly protected, and cause losses to "intangible cultural heritage", and are withdrawn from the list of countries at all levels.

Under the excellent situation where the protection of "intangible cultural heritage" is progressing smoothly, it is time to use a few doses of severe drugs to treat these chronic diseases.

Otherwise, how to curb these unhealthy tendencies and ensure the healthy development of "intangible cultural heritage" protection work related to the great cause of national cultural development?

November 1, 2010

Published in Cultural Heritage, No.

12, 2010.

The text was slightly changed when it was published.

Here is the author's original manuscript.)