[Xu Ganli] Productive protection of handicrafts: returning to life or moving towards art
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Important: Productive protection is an important concept in the protection of intangible cultural heritage at present.
Introducing the market, promoting circulation, and updating functions can indeed partially activate the life of traditional handicrafts; however, most handicrafts as folk art can no longer continue to play a role in daily life as carriers of folk culture, but tend to be professional and artistic.
Handicraft skills that are divorced from traditional functions are mainly produced for the new middle class of the city.
Then it is necessary to regain the spirit of craftsmanship, improve the level of craftsmanship, and increase the added value of products culture, so as to win the favor of cultural elites with cultural consciousness.
Then add them to modern art as collectibles or high-end decorations.
Although this is not the original intention of productive protection, it may become its reality or trend.
Keywords: handicrafts; productive protection; art; practicality; industrialization Author profile: Xu Ganli, School of Social Development, East China Normal University
Since the reform and opening up, traditional handicrafts and other folk traditional cultures have a consistent destiny.
They have been hit by modern machine production.
Most of them have been unable to withstand the tide of modernization and face the possibility of being submerged.
The launch of the protection of intangible cultural heritage (hereinafter referred to as intangible cultural heritage) has brought hope to them.
However, there are countless cultural heritage in China, and it is very difficult to rely entirely on government funding to protect it.
Even if it is only selected to have important value but are endangered, it is difficult to make a long-term plan.
Under this situation, the strategy of "productive protection" is proposed to use the power of the market to transform self-group consumption into other group consumption, thereby continuing its cultural vitality.
In the context of cultural industry development, this formulation is relatively prudent and has clear provisions on its connotation, that is,"in the practical process of production nature, to maintain the authenticity, integrity and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage." The core is to effectively inherit intangible cultural heritage skills, and to transform intangible cultural heritage and its resources into a protection method for cultural products through means such as production, circulation, and sales." In the practice of productive protection, it is important to adhere to the principle of sustainable protection and correctly handle the relationship between protection and development, inheritance and innovation.
Achieve "protection drives development and development promotes protection".
That is to say, under the tide of the market economy, traditional handicrafts and other categories cannot survive on the original folk environment.
They must go to the market as commodity exchange, rather than continue to survive in their previous role of serving people's daily lives.
Becoming an intangible cultural heritage object of goods, has it finally returned to the daily life of ordinary people? Or become an art appreciation and collection? A discussion of this can reveal the changes that have occurred in traditional handicrafts under the action of external forces, and propose practical protection measures.
1.
Analysis of productive protection
At present, when people discuss the issue of productive protection, they often confuse it with industrial development.
The so-called industrialization refers to the adoption of modern mechanization and industrial production methods to achieve the goal of large-scale, low-cost, and high-efficiency, and the products are characterized by standardization and simplification.
Some people frankly admit that in the contemporary era when the market economy is generally prevalent, when traditional folk art is produced in large quantities in an industrialized manner, put on the guise of folk art or national culture, and produced and sold according to the quality or quantity of market demand, the winner is not quality but transaction.
"Such cultural products cannot be art because they no longer have the charm of authentic and veritable works of art; nor can they be 'folk' culture because they no longer come from the 'people', so they cannot reflect or satisfy their experiences and interests." Pure industrial development is the enemy of intangible cultural heritage protection.
Even the introduction of general traditional crafts to the market will arouse the vigilance of artists.
Because the market is profit-seeking, commercial production may be blind.
Purely around market production, handicrafts that were originally not mainly used for commercial circulation can easily lose their nature and characteristics.
Liu Xicheng once wrote a special article on this issue, pointing out that the industrialization of intangible cultural heritage "either changes skills through the market, or blindly over-develops, or forcibly adds many modern elements for innovation, or forces inheritors to lose their skills due to changes in production relations.
Autonomy, or blind command...
ultimately, it leads to the simplification, vulgarity, convergence, and quality deterioration of traditional skills.
Traditional skills are likely to be destroyed and forgotten in this social environment of capital and profit." The author once pointed out in the case of Zhuang brocade that such projects, which are difficult and costly, and have extraordinary significance to the creation and inheritors of this culture, should not follow the path of industrialization development, but should be supported or guided by the government.
Protect and inherit its superb skills and cultural connotations, make high-quality and high-price works, and achieve the protection of the essence of content on a small scale.
If such intangible cultural heritage projects are completely handed over to the market and large-scale industrial development is carried out, the products may be inferior and similar, and ultimately lose their value and uniqueness as cultural heritage.
Productive protection of intangible cultural heritage projects such as handicrafts is proposed for better protection rather than profit.
Therefore, relying entirely on the market is a misunderstanding of "productive protection".
At present, cultural and creative industries are highly valued to adapt to the needs of cultural consumption in the new era.
It would be a blessing if we could combine creative development to integrate traditional crafts into people's current lives.
However, productive protection activates its declining vitality by entering the market.
For development around productive protection, marketization or commercialization is only a means, and the ultimate goal is protection.
This is different from the ultimate goal and concept of development.
Therefore, the cultural industry can inherit intangible cultural heritage skills partially or piecemeal, and can be achieved through improvement, integration and grafting.
For example,"Chengdu Lacquer Art" is a national-level intangible cultural heritage.
Due to its numerous processes and high costs, it is facing decline.
Chengdu Lacquer Art Factory develops various small by-products, which not only truly and completely inherits intangible cultural heritage skills, but also uses creative development and production of some fragmented products to gain a market.
Among them, the lacquerware "Zanbox" designed for Sichuan cuisine conforms to modern aesthetics and changes the cumbersome pattern style of traditional lacquerware.
At the same time, it transforms into daily necessities, extracting the patterns, craftsmanship, colors, shapes, and cultural connotations of lacquer art and embedding them into daily necessities such as pens, notebooks, and tableware, and even related to the newly created consumer electronic products, etc.
Through this, Chengdu Lacquer Factory achieved a "two-legged" walk and was able to continue to survive and develop.
However, we need to clearly understand that embedding elements of lacquer art into daily necessities such as pens and notebooks does not inherit its core intangible cultural heritage skills.
If we sacrifice our resources and pursue these so-called creative methods excessively, and forget the starting point of productive protection, we will undoubtedly lose the gain.
Japanese scholar Yoo Zongyue divides craftsmanship into two types: handicrafts and mechanical craftsmanship.
Further subdivided, handicrafts are divided into aristocratic craftsmanship, personal craftsmanship and people's craftsmanship; mechanical craftsmanship is also called capital craftsmanship.
Among them, aristocratic crafts and personal crafts are appreciative crafts, which are more expensive because they have aesthetic value; people's crafts and capital crafts are practical crafts, and their aesthetic components are ignored because they focus on practical application.
Most traditional folk handicrafts are mass produced and belong to the people's crafts.
Driven by the power of contemporary intangible cultural heritage protection, people's handicrafts used in traditional markets, temple fairs and folk occasions have developed more towards the craftsmanship of aristocrats or collectors and the craftsmanship of individual enthusiasts, that is, practical functions have given way to aesthetics or other artistic needs.
Professional art emphasizes originality and individuality, emphasizes uniqueness, and avoids copying and repetition.
As an intangible cultural heritage handicraft, although it is not completely an isolated product, in order to show and prove its artistic value, similar production will also be abandoned.
Craftsmen can also break this boundary by making low-cost mass handicrafts and mass production for the market; at the same time making some exquisite limited works, trying to elevate arts and crafts to the level of high-end art, adding artistic characteristics, and satisfying some buyers.
High-level needs for artistic aesthetics are made into "art works with craftsmanship characteristics." The latter often becomes the pursuit of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, while the former is mostly the choice of ordinary craftsmen to make a living.
2.
Productive protection has the possibility of professional inheritance
After the theory of productive protection was put forward, some researchers conducted relevant discussions and explorations.
For example, based on field surveys, Fan Jialu summarized five basic models for the productive protection of Wuhu iron painting forging skills: companies, farmers, workshops, studios, and research institutes.
On this basis, he deeply analyzed the business structure of Wuhu iron painting industry., put forward countermeasures and suggestions to existing problems.
Chen Yingjie summarized the productive protection experience of Zhejiang Qingtian Stone Carving National Intangible Cultural Heritage Project on how to break through survival problems and inheritors bottlenecks, and pointed out that the primary industrialization of handicrafts and traditional skills based on handicrafts and their inheritance are basically parallel and complementary.
Wu Wenhao and Wang Yonggui's "Productive Protection of Traditional National Handicrafts from the Perspective of Cultural Capital" uses the concept of cultural capital to analyze the cultural capital characteristics and three forms of traditional national handicrafts.
Qin Ping and Zhang Faqin proposed the branding operation of intangible cultural heritage to stimulate and continue their own vitality and inheritance capabilities, protect their intellectual property rights, and promote their transformation from traditional cultural resources to cultural productivity.
The above seems to all propose ways and strategies for the implementation of productive protection from a positive perspective, but whether productive protection can truly achieve protection still needs to be explored.
Some scholars have proposed to combine the protection of intangible cultural heritage with daily life, so that intangible cultural heritage can still have the function of daily needs in contemporary life.
For example, some scholars have clearly pointed out that the biggest feature of handicrafts intangible cultural heritage is that "it has specific production content, is close to people's lives, and is formed through long-term production and life practice.
Therefore, the best way to protect it is to maintain its core skills and core values in production and closely connect it with people's lives so that it can be passed down for a long time in life." The above views represent the opinions of a large number of folklore scholars and are also recognized by most people.
They reflect the correct understanding of experts and scholars of the fundamental purpose of intangible cultural heritage protection and their lofty sense of academic mission; However, in the reality of contemporary society where the cultural ecology has undergone tremendous changes, how to endure the inheritance of traditional handicrafts and intangible cultural heritage in life and how to continue to play its functions in contemporary and even future people's daily lives has always been a difficult problem.
Mr.
Liu Xicheng, who holds another view, believes that in rural and urban areas, the paths of intangible cultural heritage are different.
Most of the intangible cultural heritage in rural areas is lifestyle and is integrated with people's concepts of life, beliefs and rituals.
Most of the inheritors are farmers who do not deviate from agricultural production and do not use it as their main means of making a living.
However, the intangible cultural heritage in large cities originated as a means of making a living, that is, it is divorced from the people's daily life and wins consumers with its profound and exquisite skills.
In order to occupy the market, it is necessary to achieve excellence in form and style.
Gradually, it tends to be artistic, elegant, aesthetic, and technological.
Most of the inheritors are professional people who are professional or use this as a means of making a living.
This shows the different views from the above-mentioned majority.
In different rural and urban contexts, traditional handicrafts have always had different habitats and have been passed down through different carriers.
From the perspective of the city, we can see that traditional handicrafts and intangible cultural heritage tend to follow the path of professional and artistic development.
Under today's trend of rapid urbanization, a large number of rural people have entered cities, the traditional rural cultural ecology has been broken, and a large number of traditional handicrafts have shifted to professional inheritance in the urban environment.
Under the situation of tremendous changes in urban and rural areas, handicrafts that rely on traditional contexts are facing inheritance difficulties.
To truly achieve inheritance and development, one path is to turn around brilliantly through creative development or technological innovation to adapt to new daily life; the other path is to become artistic, becoming a symbol of the pursuit of life by the middle and upper class people in modern cities, or enter museums, schools and communities as representatives of inheritors for publicity, education and preservation.
Some people pointed out that there are two ways to inherit folk art: "broad customs" and "less refined and sophisticated".
The former refers to popularization, popularization and popularization of folk participation and inheritance.
The latter refers to the fact that some folk art is passed down carefully by a small number of people, and will gradually change its original life functions and become works of art.
This also shows that even if productive protection is implemented, some of the intangible cultural heritage that has been separated from life will not be able to return to life, but will move towards art and profession.
Specific to intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, they are often included in the intangible cultural heritage protection list because they contain higher value and lack of actual conditions for inheritance.
This also indicates from another perspective that they cannot enter the market and move towards "broad customs" through large-scale industrial production, but need to remain "less sophisticated" to maintain their high-end quality.
Such results are actually consistent with the global trend of the times.
Some researchers pointed out that handicrafts in the post-industrial society draw on the nutrition of modern art, concentrate on developing their own aesthetic values, and show increasingly distinctive artistic characteristics.
For example, after World War II, many craftsmen in the United States gave up functional manufacturing and began to create symbiotic products of art, materials and craftsmanship.
From the 1940s to the 1970s and 1970s, modern Western handicrafts drew on artistic techniques and styles, tried to break through traditional handicrafts, and continuously promoted the process of artistic handicrafts.
The "Studio Handicraft Movement" that emerged in the field of ceramics is a typical attempt to transform traditional handicrafts into modern art.
The rise and transformation of post-modernist creative concepts have gradually disintegrated the strict boundaries between art and handicrafts, giving birth to the integration of post-industrial design and handicrafts, replacing functionality with abstraction, and artistry has become an important factor leading the development of handicrafts.
Handicraft has gone further and further on the road to artistic transformation.
In May 2007, Mark Lyman, founder of the 10th "SOFA Exhibition" in New York, published "Craft or Post-Craft?" on the SOFA website on the occasion of the exhibition "Craft or PostCraft "), in this regard, the concept of" post-craft "was officially proposed and announced the arrival of the" post-craft movement "to people.
Although this is still controversial, it shows from the side that traditional crafts cannot continue to move forward along the original trajectory, but are increasingly turning to art.
The artistic development trend of handicrafts currently visible in China is in line with the general trend of global society shifting from traditional to modern.
In China, some scholars have paid attention to this.
Zhang Zhentao found that in the contemporary context, folk music has a tendency to gradually develop towards art.
Research by Chen Zhiqin and others found that after hanging door notes in Tancheng, Shandong Province was rated as intangible cultural heritage, traditional handmade production methods were re-emphasized.
The hand-hung door notes made by some famous inheritors are not for practical use, that is, not for sale to villagers to make a living as in the past, but for artistic creation.
The inheritors 'pursuit of art has become a kind of consciousness: "When they were young, they were for making a living.
When they were old, the door notes in their eyes became works of art.
The more they looked at them, the more intimate they became.
They were carved entirely to preserve art." Judging from the experiences of many representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, most of their skills have gone beyond the simple stage of making a living and reached the realm of artistic creation.
Researchers of rice sculptures pointed out that rice sculptures currently mainly appear as a folk craft exhibit in some large-scale folk activities or related folk exhibitions, but are rarely used in rituals such as sacrifices.Generally speaking, as a folk handicraft originating from life, rice sculpture has gradually withdrawn from people's daily lives and is regarded as a cultural heritage left over from traditional society that needs to be consciously protected with the help of external forces.
The author also pointed out that the selective inheritance and interpretation of folk art by elites may actually transform folk art to a certain extent, resulting in the "refinement" of folk art.
While theorizing and interpreting perceptual traditional folk art, the elite endows it with more connotations.
In addition, their promotion and research of traditional folk art will also turn it into elegance, and folk art will become something more artistic and purer.
This actually also reflects the tendency of folk art to gradually move towards aesthetics and pure art.
In intangible cultural heritage protection activities, this phenomenon often occurs: handicrafts have gradually changed from a skill that everyone knows to the general public in some areas to a skill unique to a few proficient people.
For example, the "Mud Dog", a sacrificial object at the Taihao Mausoleum Temple Fair in Huaiyang, Henan Province, has changed the daily life practices of "Mud Dog" artists and believers during the impact of the market economy and the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
Nowadays, only a few local intangible cultural heritage inheritors and families specialize in making "mud dogs" and then wholesale them to seven or eight shops.
The "mud dogs" on the market are increasingly concentrated by these specialized artists.
Intangible cultural heritage inheritors generally have more ability to interpret folk culture than other artists, and their workmanship is also more refined.
After winning the title of intangible cultural heritage inheritors, this advantage is better exerted and sustained, and the handicrafts they make will also Get better sales.
Therefore, families with intangible cultural heritage inheritors are often more likely to attract future generations to engage in or inherit this folk craft under conditions of government subsidies and social recognition.
Some inheritors have completely divorced themselves from their original agricultural labor, and the whole family has devoted themselves to the production of "mud dogs" all year round.
The products of intangible cultural heritage inheritors 'families account for most of the market, while other ordinary villagers mean gradually reducing or even giving up production.
This shows that the traditional handicraft of "Mud Dog" has transformed from an item with divine characteristics at first to a folk toy, and has further become a tourist commodity purchased by foreign tourists, that is, it has changed from a practical object to a cultural consumer product and an object of aesthetic appreciation.
This situation is no longer an isolated phenomenon that occurs accidentally, but a common occurrence.
This process is actually the gradual separation of handicrafts from life.
After refinement and specialization, it will be possible to form a work of art.
Li Yanzu, who has been engaged in research on arts and crafts for many years, pointed out that during the transition period of contemporary society, arts and crafts are facing industry-based reorganization and rebirth, and the survival of its relevant practitioners often has greater urgency and practical significance than development.
Therefore, under the pressure of survival, it is unlikely to produce first-class works.
In contrast, professional workers, professional craftsmen, etc.
who transcend the foundation of survival should pursue a higher level.
The main problem to be solved is not to find a space for survival, but how to better "develop" and play a pioneering role.
"Development" means the pursuit of precision and refinement of works-this has become the main task of contemporary craftsmanship in China.
At this time, what the inheritors of the craft no longer wanted to obtain basic living needs, but social status or reputation and be respected.
Of course, for some intangible cultural heritage projects that are difficult to maintain their livelihood, their livelihood problems must be solved.
Whether art should have realistic utility is a controversial topic for a long time.
Since the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, machine production replaced manual labor, greatly liberating manpower, and some professional artists stood out.
Since then, true art has been required to be non-utilitarian and a product of art for art's sake.
As Gautier said: "Once something becomes useful, it is no longer beautiful; once it enters real life, poetry becomes prose, and freedom becomes slavery." This is true of all art.
Art is freedom, luxury, prosperity, and the full development of the soul in joy.
Painting, sculpture, and music will never serve any purpose." Although this view is biased, from the perspective of human history, art has truly developed rapidly after leaving the stage of purely making a living.
Aesthetic theorist George Santaena once pointed out: "We can measure the proportion of a nation's energy invested in the pursuit of freedom and tolerance, as well as how much energy it invested in the beautification of life and the cultivation of imagination.
The degree of happiness and civilization, because it is through the heartfelt display of talents that people can discover themselves and achieve happiness." He believed that when a person devoted all his energy to coping with the pressure of survival brought by the external world and had no spare energy to free entertainment, he became a slave.
This also shows that production that is not carried out for practical utilitarian purposes is true artistic creation.
This view has also been widely recognized in the art world in China in recent years.
For example, Fang Lili believes that handicrafts produced in leisure time, because they are based on interest and self-expression, pay more attention to aesthetics, artistry, creativity and culture than handicrafts in the agricultural era.
It is a work of art full of individuality and artistic conception.
"Not bound by certain norms in tradition and society, nor by commercial nature or consumer artistic requirements, we can make it freely and freely based on our own feelings and experiences in life..." Qiu Chunlin also believes that contemporary arts and crafts are increasingly divided into ordinary goods and collectibles.
Producers with ordinary skills may continue the path they have taken in the past, while those skilled craftsmen must follow the path of professional arts and crafts artists.
Correspondingly, handicrafts with appreciation and collection value must imply classic designs and extraordinary craftsmanship, etc., imitating the past "aristocratic craftsmanship".
The originally practical, economical and beautiful craftsmanship has become art, but it is actually a new way to continue survival.
Elite art can usually be passed down and developed in a completely self-disciplined art kingdom away from specific historical situations, but most folk art cannot do this.
Once society and culture undergo transformation, certain forms of folk art may be completely lost.
When rising to the realm of art, the inheritors may stick to it because of interest.
Pan Bailin, a famous pottery master, said when describing his history of practicing art: "In fact, he didn't have such lofty ideals at the time.
He just felt that making pottery could bring good income and improve life.
At the same time, it was my own interest.
I enjoyed the creation and thinking very much.
process.
I gradually embarked on the path of pottery creation." This reveals a common secret, that is, most of those who have achieved great success in traditional crafts have a strong interest, which has stimulated creativity and separated themselves from the pure realm of making a living.
To put it another way, although there is not necessarily a clear distinction between making a living and not making a living, most of those with superb skills have left the stage or realm of making a living, and can maintain a deep feeling and persistence for the craftsmanship they have inherited.
heart.
There are many cases like this.
Tan Daiming is the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors of "Porcelain Body Bamboo Weaving".
Only she can perfectly inherit the master's unique skills, and other apprentices in the same school have failed to persist.
What is the reason that enabled her to survive the difficult period of inheriting handicrafts and come to this day? Because she doesn't use it as her only way of making a living.
She said: "In order to maintain a living, reducing the requirements to travel is a big taboo.
I'd rather do something else to support my craft.
I have opened a teahouse, opened a noodle shop, and sold glutinous rice balls.
It seems that there is less time, but I have been able to jump a distance and quietly think about what kind of bamboo weaving and what beauty I might make." This shows that she has broken away from the shackles of life and entered the realm of artistic creation.
Similarly, some famous craftsmen in Beijing have favorable living conditions to focus on their hobbies.
An intangible cultural heritage inheritor made it clear that the art they engage in does not make a living or use it as a source of life.
Only in this way can we develop a skill after persisting for several years or more.
Although the production and circulation of traditional folk art has long existed, the result of various contemporary productive protection models is to separate traditional folk art from its original cultural space, remove some of its folk cultural functions, and elevate it to a pure aesthetic object.
Under the situation that consumption determines production, the productive protection of traditional handicrafts means re-adjusting its own development direction.
That is, in addition to following the previous path and maintaining the manufacturing of some daily necessities, it is also necessary to move towards art and face new consumer groups.
Of course, when we say that the boundary between traditional handicrafts and professional art is becoming increasingly blurred, we mean that some handicrafts with cutting-edge craftsmanship have begun to be artistic, rather than all craftsmanship have been transformed into art.
On the other hand, some handicrafts have long been no longer widely used in daily life, such as embroidery and micro-carving.
They have basically completed their transformation in contemporary times, shifting from daily use to decoration and collection.
They are elite arts that are niche and of course will not go to practical use.
3.
The transformation of traditional handicrafts in the contemporary era
Traditional handicrafts, whether in terms of function or form, as well as production methods, are closely related to the livelihood and social environment of traditional agricultural societies.
China's traditional handicrafts were mainly born and flourished in the natural economic soil of self-sufficiency.
In the natural economic environment of "men farming and women weaving" in ancient China, the use of handicrafts spread to almost every level of society, ranging from imperial dresses and ritual vessels to folk wedding dresses and paper horses.
Handicrafts provided most of the needs of society and life, so that they became indispensable in people's lives.
Craftsmen and artists from all walks of life made a living and passed down from generation to generation.
The ancients said that "it is better to accumulate tens of millions of wealth than to have poor skills", which shows that the skills of craftsmen are indispensable to society and reflects the prosperity of ancient traditional handicrafts.
At the same time, in the long-term development process of traditional handicrafts, due to the slow development of agricultural civilization and the successive inheritance of traditional handicrafts by fathers and apprentices from generation to generation, the skills and styles have become stylized.
That is to say, most of its patterns, styles, textures, materials or styles have formed a certain fixed pattern, and some have reached the peak of perfection, thus forming a fixed or rigid tradition and norm.
To a certain extent, it does reflect the cultural characteristics of a nation or region, but it also bears special marks of the times and traces of the countryside, hindering it from innovating and transforming beyond itself.
China is currently in or entering a transition period from an agricultural society to an industrial society, from rural to urban, and from material consumption-centered to cultural consumption-centered.
The economic structure, cultural forms, values, etc.
of the entire society have undergone profound changes.
Against this background, everything traditional is facing the problem of renewal and development.
That is to say,"With the changes of modern human lifestyles, the decline of traditional handicrafts is an inevitable product of the transformation of modern society." Before the consumer market demand of traditional handicrafts and the public's aesthetic tastes and consumption behaviors were different, the environment on which they relied, such as context and channels, functions and roles, artistic style, and consumption objects, have changed.
The crafts with a single variety and repeated styles no longer meet the requirements of the development of the times.
On the other hand, handicraft production has suffered the impact of modern large-scale machine production.
Large-scale, high-efficiency, and low-price industrial products have gradually replaced the practical functions of traditional handicrafts in daily life.
Handcrafts that are time-consuming, cumbersome, and have a strong local flavor have gradually been eliminated.
Even a few handicrafts that have survived by luck have been separated from traditional folk time and space, and have been transplanted from their original parent to new soil to grow.
Due to the successive changes in people's lifestyles, values, aesthetics, and space-time concepts, new industrial products produced by large high-tech machines have gradually become people's daily necessities due to their rationality in design and use, and more importantly, their high quality and low prices., they have occupied most of the market.
Correspondingly, the consumer market of traditional handicrafts has been shrinking day by day.
After gradually withdrawing from the mainstream status needed for people's lives, they can only exist as decorations.
Its demand naturally drops sharply.
At this time, as a realistic survival proposition, traditional handicrafts must be combined with modern life to adapt to the needs of modern lifestyles, that is, transformation must be carried out.
As someone said: "Traditional culture can only be integrated into modern society through recombining with modern elements." Many traditional handicrafts have been upgraded or improved based on consumer needs and the latest technological development.
New technologies, new tools, new materials, and new processes are rationally applied in the production process, and the new are introduced in terms of form, content, methods and shapes., colors, and materials.
In modern society, traditional handicrafts either show the depth of history in established styles, or separate skills and styles and recombine them with modern elements before they can be integrated into the environment of industrialized society and thus achieve "rebirth".
That is to use modern aesthetic awareness to recreate traditional handicrafts, and combine traditional skills and modern styles to adapt them to the modern living environment.
The value of handicrafts has dual qualities: practicality and aesthetics.
In the past, the practical or non-aesthetic values of traditional folk art often dominated.
Liu Zongyue, the father of Japanese folk arts, believes that the essence of craft is "use", that is, practicality is its original purpose and most basic characteristic.
He said: "The world of craft is a world of plural numbers, while art advocates singular numbers.
Craft is a 'multi-' craft, otherwise it cannot be prepared for the 'use' of the people.
The fact that the same objects can be produced in large quantities is a distinctive feature of the craftsmanship." In fact, we all know that folk art in life is often not produced for aesthetic or artistic purposes, but for practical purposes such as production and life.
Ji Zhongyang and others pointed out that the outstanding feature of folk art is that it has not yet been differentiated and independent from daily life.
Its aesthetic value is only the residual value in addition to its practical value.
Even if it contains a certain degree of aesthetic awareness, this aesthetic awareness is not very conscious and is often subordinate to other purposes.
It can be seen that they all agree that folk crafts are more practical than aesthetic.
Folk art is to build a sacred space that transcends daily life, not for aesthetic purposes.
Among them, folk crafts, as objects that condense symbols, are mainly for daily use and are the carrier of folk culture.
We question whether crafts can return to daily life, mainly in terms of practicality rather than artistry.
In other words, handicrafts can no longer return to life and be used as practical items by the original consumer groups, even if they are used occasionally).
For example, the traditional houses of ethnic minorities in southern China are all wooden structures.
Originally, every household had to be built.
Carpenters are all over the village.
Now that wood is expensive and cement and masonry are cheap, most people have given up building wooden buildings, and the number of people who master carpentry skills has also been greatly reduced.
Even if Dong wooden building skills are rated as national-level intangible cultural heritage, only a few people are able to continue their business with the support of the government's protection policies.
Another example is that various plastic products in modern home life can replace the original heavy and inconvenient wooden and bamboo products, and modern household appliances and furniture have further reduced the opportunities for traditional use of various handmade products.
For example, in the past, housewives were required to meet the daily wearing needs of daily and major festivals.
Today, even the fine skills of embroidery can be partially replaced by computer embroidery, and almost all kinds of needlework have faded out of women's daily life.
However, the use or consumption of handicrafts is not compatible with modern fast-paced and simple life; therefore, they will inevitably withdraw from the lives of most people and be used or collected by a few people.
On the other hand, the artistic value of handicrafts is increasing day by day.The newly built Baigangfang in Chongwen District, Beijing brings together 30 different types of craft workshops.
It is called the "'Living 'China Arts and Crafts Museum."It adopts the model of both a shop and a workshop to inherit and display the intangible cultural heritage of handicrafts.
Such places are appearing one after another across the country, which seems to show a revival of handicrafts.
However, such prosperity does not necessarily mean that handicrafts can be returned to people's daily lives.
As some people have investigated, the high price of handicrafts makes many ordinary people reluctant, and Baigangfang is just a place where a few wealthy people consume them.
If the production efficiency of handicrafts in China is currently low and cannot enter ordinary households as high-end art works at high prices; then, when the national economy develops rapidly in the future, will handicrafts "fly into the homes of ordinary people"? Japan is one of the countries with the most developed modern manufacturing industry, and its handmade and mechanized production coexist, but "handmade products are high-end products that retain traditional craftsmanship, are original, and have outstanding personality.
Handcrafted products are made as high-end works of art, for use by upper-class wealthy people or for export to earn profits." Using mechanized assembly line production methods to improve efficiency, reduce costs and selling prices, produce medium and low-end products for mass consumer groups, and expand the market.
This shows that in Japan, the current status of handicrafts in daily life is still no match for large-scale machine production, and has a market as high-end art.
It should be noted that the artistic value of handicrafts is not only due to the exquisite craftsmanship, but also its attached connotation and the aesthetic influence of daily life.
Due to the limitations of space, I will write it in another article.
In addition, some handicrafts exist along with folk customs.
For example, Zhuang brocade was once used as a quilt for newlyweds, the Maonan ethnic group's "Dingka Flower" flower bamboo hat was used as a gift for the beloved person, and the flower buns in the northern noodle area are also known as flour flowers or flour sculptures) are mainly used as sacrificial offerings.
Now they are rich in materials, customs have changed, and rituals have been diluted.
No matter how superb the skills and creativity these folk articles are, it is probably difficult for them to return to their original lives and play the same role.
It can only be used as decorations, collectibles, and souvenirs rather than daily necessities.
conclusion
Based on many cases of handicraft inheritance practice, this paper believes that due to changes in the environment on which they rely, their original practical functions in life have almost disappeared.
In the new era, these exquisite handicrafts happen to meet the global trend of aesthetic capitalism and cultural consumerism.
They are regarded as symbols with ceremonial or sacred significance in the daily life of ethnic or local people.
Most of the practical functions and non-artistic multi-layered values have been transformed into a single aesthetic value.
This conclusion can also be demonstrated by borrowing Marx's famous theory of commodity attributes.
Generally, objects contain two attributes: value and use value.
In contemporary times, the value and use value of handicrafts have undergone inconsistent changes.
As traditional handicrafts continue to play a role in contemporary people's daily lives, of course, it is its use value.
However, this use value is also lacking in competitiveness in the industrial era of large-scale production on large machine assemblies.) The special significance and value given to manual labor in contemporary times have not been demonstrated.
As a work of art, handicrafts have gained appreciation because of the traditional cultural and artistic elements it contains, as well as the professionalism and significance hidden in handicrafts.
However, in the market of daily necessities, such value cannot be reflected.
Only when placed in the market of art can its artistry be faced up to.
This theoretically determines the refinement and specialization of handicrafts.
In this regard, researchers in the arts and crafts world have long paid attention to it.
For example, the famous Li Yanzu once specifically discussed "economics of arts and crafts", pointing out that handicraft production has undergone a transformation in contemporary times and no longer takes practical functions as its main existence value."It is gradually moving from handmade production in the general sense towards an art method and a higher-level art production."
At the same time, ordinary handicrafts that are not included in the category of productive protection can be used to produce consumer goods on a large scale through creativity and transformation, and even combined with modern technology and machinery to enter daily life, especially as tourism handicrafts and creative cultural industries, reattaching traditional skills to various modern fashion products.
At this level, even if the intangible cultural heritage of handicrafts is sold in the market, it will not return to the people who originally used it again, but will go to the appreciators or collectors who regard it as art and become a symbolic object in their lives; and it must be properly processed and modified, not in its original form.
From this perspective, this is not the result that most cultural protectors are willing to see and accept; however, on the contrary, since the productive protection of intangible cultural heritage is likely to ultimately lead to the artistry of handicrafts, then it is also a good thing for the purpose of protection to strive to improve the artistic level in order to join the ranks of professional art.
In other words, if the living standards of China citizens are highly improved and their lifestyles increasingly pursue exquisite craftsmanship and artistic taste, then folk crafts that have improved their artistic standards seem to be able to re-integrate into people's lives, promote the current urgently needed product upgrades, and provide more "Made in China" products with the meaning of China's story, and re-stimulate the vitality of products.
This is also worth vigorously advocating.
Of course, whether the productive protection of intangible cultural heritage of handicrafts ultimately leads to life or art.
The conclusion itself is not the most important.
What we need to pay attention to is the contemporary destiny of traditional handicrafts, and propose that the purpose of productive protection is to pass on it through the effective mechanisms of the market society.
The law of market competition is that quality comes first.
In an era when "Made in China" has become synonymous with shoddy workmanship, what we need to do most is to cultivate craftsmanship spirit, polish skills, understand and master the core of traditional skills, so that the handicrafts of all ethnic groups across China can show world-class levels.
Only then can traditional handicrafts ultimately conquer consumers who need them at all levels, so as to win in the market and be passed on and developed.
(This article was published in "National Art", No.
3, 2017.
The annotations are omitted.
See the original text for details)