Protection and utilization of ethnic minority intangible cultural heritage over the past 30 years
The intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities is rich and colorful, many of which are world-famous and of high scientific, historical and artistic value.
Ethnic areas are rich places for my country's intangible cultural heritage and a treasure house of human intangible cultural heritage.
Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, great achievements have been made in the protection of intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, laying a foundation for the healthy development of my country's ethnic culture.
The party and government attach great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage
In the 1950s and 1960s, my country launched a nationwide survey of the social history and culture of ethnic minorities.
The scale, the data collected by the survey were rich, and the significance was far-reaching.
It was not only unprecedented in my country, but also rare in the world.
From August 1956 to April 1964, the state organized forces to conduct a general survey of the 50 recognized ethnic minorities at that time, and compiled and printed a total of more than 40 million words of survey data.
Among the data collected, in addition to data on social forms, most of the rest are materials about social customs, festivals, art, traditional production techniques, etc.
The large-scale survey at that time made important contributions to the rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage.
Recording in video form was a more valuable way to rescue intangible cultural heritage.
In 1956, the state proposed to "rescue" the traditional society and culture of ethnic minorities in the form of video.
In 1957, the Ethnic Committee of the National People's Congress entrusted the Institute of Ethnology of the China Academy of Sciences, which was under preparation, to organize and implement filming work.
From 1957 to 1965, the Institute of Ethnology, China Academy of Sciences organized ethnologists, historians and film workers to go deep into ethnic areas and filmed 15 videos, most of which belonged to intangible cultural heritage.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, the protection of intangible cultural heritage that was forced to stop during the Cultural Revolution was gradually restored.
At the beginning of 2003, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance, together with the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, launched the project to protect China ethnic and folk culture.
On August 28, 2004, the 11th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress voted to adopt the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to ratify the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
my country's first batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage list projects and the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage recommended projects were subsequently launched.
Among them, many of the selected projects were intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities.
In addition, my country's Kunqu opera art, Guqin art, Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam art, and Mongolian long-tune folk songs jointly declared with the Republic of Mongolia were included in three batches of UNESCO's "Human Oral and Intangible Heritage" in 2001, 2003 and 2005 respectively."Representative Works of" Representative Works of Human Oral and Intangible Heritage ", and China has become one of the countries in the world with the most selected" Representative Works of Human Oral and Intangible Heritage."
Legislative protection is a key link in protecting intangible cultural heritage.
At the end of the last century, my country only had a Cultural Relics Protection Law, but no Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Law.
The rise of tourism and the implementation of the strategy of developing the western region have accelerated the economic development of the western ethnic areas, and have also had a serious impact on the intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities.
Protective legislation lags behind the legislation of development industries.
Predatory development and destructive construction have seriously damaged the original style of intangible cultural heritage.
Under the strong appeal and promotion of the academic community, some provinces and regions with early tourism development have begun to pay attention to the legislative issues of the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.
Among them, Yunnan Province is at the forefront in this regard.
In May 2000, Yunnan Province formulated the country's first regulations on the protection of ethnic and folk culture,"Regulations on the Protection of Ethnic and Folk Traditional Culture of Yunnan Province," setting a precedent for legislation to protect intangible cultural heritage.
Driven by Yunnan Province, some ethnic provinces and regions have also followed suit.
The Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Guizhou Province promulgated the "Regulations on the Protection of Ethnic and Folk Cultures in Guizhou Province" in July 2002, and the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region promulgated the "Regulations on the Protection of Ethnic and Folk Traditional Cultures in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region" in April 2005.
In September 2006, the Ministry of Culture officially submitted the repeatedly revised "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage" to the State Council.
While the protection of intangible cultural heritage has achieved fruitful results, there are still many problems
Intangible cultural heritage has dual values: First, the value of existence, including the value of history, art, science and education.
It is the core and main value, and this value determines the principle of putting protection first.
The second is economic value, which is derived from the value of existence, including direct and indirect economic value.
Existence value is the source, and economic value is the flow.
The greater the value of existence, the greater the potential economic value, and the greater the transformation into direct economic benefits.
After entering the 21st century, ethnic areas attach great importance to the development and utilization of intangible cultural heritage resources.
At present, the development and utilization of ethnic minority intangible cultural heritage is mainly reflected in several aspects: First, setting up ethnic art performance venues in tourist spots to allow tourists to appreciate the essence of ethnic art.
For example, many famous tourist attractions in ethnic areas have ethnic dances, music, drama and other ethnic art performances are generally welcomed by tourists.
The second is to carry out folk customs performances at tourist spots, such as weddings, hospitality ceremonies, and festival celebrations of various ethnic groups, so that people can understand the significance of local folk customs.
The third is to open typical ethnic village tourism.
Tourists personally participate in the lives of residents in the tourist destination and experience the unique ethnic folk customs, thus creating a sense of satisfaction and pleasure.
The fourth is to develop and sell national handicrafts.
The fifth is to develop the ethnic catering industry.
my country has achieved fruitful results in protecting, developing and utilizing the intangible cultural heritage of various ethnic groups, but there are also many problems.
The first is the impact of modernization.
Ethnic areas are rich areas of my country's intangible cultural heritage.
Under the impact of modernization and global economic integration, they are facing unprecedented challenges.
For example, the constructive damage is serious.
Some ethnic areas have insufficient understanding of intangible cultural heritage and one-sided emphasis on economic development.
Many buildings and villages with scientific and artistic value have been destroyed.
The phenomenon of demolishing old villages to build new cities and demolishing old villages to build new villages is more serious.
Intangible cultural heritage and traditional tangible relics complement each other.
If the specific space carrying intangible cultural heritage disappears, it will be difficult to implement effective protection.
At the same time, with the rapid development of modern transportation and communications, foreign civilizations have also brought new threats to the traditional cultures of various ethnic groups.
Some cultural heritage that is passed down through oral transmission and heart-to-heart teaching is constantly disappearing; many traditional skills are on the verge of extinction; and a large number of precious objects and materials with historical and cultural value have been destroyed or lost.
The second problem is the lack of successors to cultural inheritance.
There are two main ways to inherit intangible cultural heritage: one is collective inheritance, such as social customs, festivals, etc.; the other is personal inheritance, such as certain special skills, which are generally mastered by a very small number of people, and most of them are taught by individuals.
knowledge.
In terms of collective inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, traditional inheritance mainly relies on family education and village education, so that members of society are influenced by intangible cultural heritage.
Contemporary education is mainly school education, and the lack of attention to intangible cultural heritage in the field of education has made the younger generation unfamiliar with or uninterested in the traditional culture of the nation, and become increasingly distant from the culture of the nation, losing their attention and love for the national culture, resulting in a disconnect in inheritance.
In terms of intangible cultural heritage inherited by individuals, the problem of lack of successors is even more serious.
The technologies and methods of some heritage projects are faced with the situation that most young people are unwilling to learn, and the original inheritors are getting older or even passed away one after another, resulting in the cultural and ecological environment in which some intangible cultural heritage exists is deteriorating day by day.
Third, some ethnic areas have a weak awareness of protection, and it is common to place emphasis on application for development at the expense of protection and management.
Some areas divide the overall cultural phenomenon into multiple small parts and declare the intangible cultural heritage list many times.
Such behavior will lead to the decomposition and destruction of culture to a certain extent.
Some regions do not have overall protection plans for the region's intangible cultural heritage, do not have specific operable protection rules, and do not manage various heritage projects poorly.
In addition, exploitative damage is obvious.
This kind of damage is mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, after some ancient villages were identified as protected areas, excessive tourism development was carried out, and many tourism service facilities that were inharmonious with the villages were built, affecting the landscape of the ancient villages; Second, after a certain heritage was selected into the national or provincial list, its economic value was unilaterally developed and transformed according to the aesthetic taste of contemporary fashion.
Traditional folk handicrafts were mechanically copied in large quantities; The third is to deliberately create some "pseudo-folk customs" that are very different from local customs in pursuit of economic benefits; the fourth is to mistakenly believe that the more primitive, backward, and bizarre, the more attractive they will be; the fifth is the serious phenomenon of "Westernization", and some ethnic artistic performance activities are mixed with many Western models, which are half-native and half-foreign, greatly weakening their appeal.
If "pseudo-folk customs" or "Westernized" folk customs are rampant, it will not be conducive to the sustainable development of tourism nor the healthy development of national culture.
Based on reality, take various measures to solve problems existing in the protection of intangible cultural heritage
Establish the concept of "protection first".
Whether it is historical and cultural heritage, natural heritage, or intangible cultural heritage, the concept of "protection first" should be established.
"Protection first" should not only become the most important task in heritage protection and inheritance, but should also become the highest principle and ultimate goal of heritage protection.
The Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage states that world heritage can be displayed, but unauthorized transformation is not allowed.
The authenticity and integrity of the heritage must be protected.
Protection is the purpose and the prerequisite for utilization.
Protective heritage and social public welfare heritage should not be turned into economic development resources for a few enterprises.
In other words,"protection first" is the first principle, first purpose, first standard and first essence of cultural and natural heritage protection.
Especially for those representative intangible cultural heritage and endangered heritage, the principle of "protection first" should be adhered to.
Legislative protection.
At present, the protective legislation of intangible cultural heritage lags behind the legislation of development industries, and the country has not yet promulgated a national law to protect intangible cultural heritage.
In order to protect the intangible cultural heritage of all ethnic groups in our country, pass it on from generation to generation, and use it sustainably, national and local legislation and management work should be accelerated.
In addition to national legislation, provinces and autonomous regions with concentrated ethnic minorities must also formulate various types of protection regulations that are more detailed and more operable for the region based on local actual conditions, as the main basis for protection.
Scientific protection.
To protect the intangible cultural heritage of all ethnic groups, scientific researchers must be organized to conduct scientific research.
The first is to study how to protect and study scientific and effective protection techniques and methods, otherwise losses will be suffered due to improper protection; the second is to study how to restore lost or incompletely preserved intangible cultural heritage to restore traditional culture.
The original style; the third is to implement the overall protection principle and implement all-round protection of the intangible cultural heritage itself and its living space, and cannot be separated; The fourth is to implement the principle of high-quality protection.
There are many intangible cultural heritages of all ethnic groups, and it is impossible to protect them all.
Special protection should be implemented for those high-quality products that represent national culture and have high scientific, artistic and historical value; Fifth, the principle of diversity protection must be implemented.
There are diverse types of intangible cultural heritage, and different protection methods should be adopted according to different types.
True protection.
The development of intangible cultural heritage must pay attention to authenticity.
The development of folk culture cannot only be regarded as a pure economic act and utilitarian act, but should be conducive to the development of national culture.
Therefore, when developing intangible cultural heritage resources, we should follow the principle of authenticity, respect objective laws, advocate true folk customs and abandon false folk customs, properly handle the relationship between folk transplantation and reconstruction, and try to preserve their full picture during development.
The history and reality of folk events should be truly reproduced to give people a cordial and true psychological feeling.
Any act of vulgarizing or "Westernizing" intangible cultural heritage resources will cause cultural misleading and original ecological damage, and will lead to the loss of traditional culture and its characteristics.
Improve management.
At present, the top priority for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in my country is to strengthen and improve the effective management of intangible cultural heritage.
First of all, we must strengthen the protection and management of intangible cultural heritage.
In the process of protection, experts should be the main line, vigorously study the inherent deep meaning of cultural heritage, and avoid utilitarian use.
Secondly, we must strengthen the effective management of the development and utilization of intangible cultural heritage and strictly prevent exploitative damage.
Third, we must explain the connotation and symbolic meaning of intangible culture in depth and detail.
Every cultural tourism activity must be deeply interpreted and explained in detail to explain the national psychology, concepts, thinking patterns, national character, humanistic spirit and ethics behind the national cultural activities, so that tourists can not only see the external nature of a nation.
Material form, but also have a deep and systematic understanding of the invisible cultural form inherent in the nation, which helps all ethnic groups understand each other and respect each other, and helps ethnic unity.
Tour guide explanations or written explanations should not only pay attention to authenticity and scientificity, but also pay attention to artistry, so as to be profound and simple, vivid and interesting.
The protection and utilization of intangible cultural heritage are complementary.
Protection is the prerequisite.
Only by good protection can we reasonably utilize it, thereby achieving inheritance and development.
Reasonable utilization is conducive to protection, but utilization cannot damage cultural heritage.
Only by completely protecting the characteristics of intangible culture can it have high economic value and utilization value; only unique intangible culture can attract a large number of tourists, and the cultural industry can develop.
The development of tourism will drive the development of the regional economy, increase fiscal revenue, and enable governments at all levels to increase the protection of cultural heritage.
The better it is protected, the greater its value and visibility will be, and tourism and other related industries will be further developed.
This virtuous cycle is one of the main models of sustainable development.
In addition, some domestic and foreign investors will learn about the resources and environment of tourist areas through tourism, thereby attracting them to invest and set up businesses in these areas and promote local economic development.
Making good use of the intangible cultural heritage of all ethnic groups is conducive to giving full play to its social and economic benefits and the protection of ethnic culture.
(Author's unit: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, China Academy of Social Sciences