[Tian Zhaoyuan] On the protection of cultural heritage in metropolises
[Abstract] Metropolis are not only the center of modernization, but also the core camp of cultural traditions.
Many of the essence of China's traditional culture are created in metropolises, and intangible cultural heritage is rich in metropolises in China.
However, we now have many misunderstandings.
First, we attach importance to the countryside and believe that intangible cultural heritage is mainly located in the countryside; second, today's metropolises are the main battlefields of economic construction, and most of them do not pay enough attention to the protection of intangible cultural heritage in cities.
Today's megacity often becomes the destroyer of cultural traditions.
In a survey of urban folk customs in Shanghai, I discovered a folk trick called laying lanterns, which is a performing art in sacrificial activities.
I have widely introduced it in newspapers and magazines, but there is still no way to protect such endangered heritage.
The loss of intangible cultural heritage in metropolitan areas is even more serious than in rural areas.
To protect the intangible cultural heritage of a metropolis, we must first change the urban evaluation standards.
Cultural construction and intangible cultural heritage protection should be used as indicators to assess the grade of a city.
The protection of intangible cultural heritage in large cities must also mobilize social forces to participate extensively rather than engage in formality.
[Keywords] Metropolis; Intangible cultural heritage; Assessment indicators [China Map Classification No.] K890
[Document identification code] A
[Article Number] 1008-7214 (2006) 04-0015-05
China's metropolis has a profound cultural tradition, and the city itself is a witness to culture.
Metropolises such as Xi'an and Luoyang since ancient times, metropolises such as Kaifeng and Beijing since medieval times, and metropolises such as Guangzhou and Shanghai since modern times have rich material and intangible cultural heritage.
They were formed in different times and the nature of their cultural heritage is different, but they are all bases of cultural traditions.
In the past, China was a traditional agricultural society.
Rural areas retained many traditional elements, but cities were more important in the construction and dissemination of culture.
Just because traditional China society is an agricultural society cannot ignore the important position of traditional cities in the development of China's culture.
Not only now, but also in the distant past, cities are the political, economic and cultural centers of society.
Outstanding cultural representatives are mainly created in cities.
Thinkers during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period mainly grew up in cities.
For example, Lao Tzu stayed in the library and archives of the royal family in the capital, reading while fantasizing.
Lao Tzu's works were born in the city; Confucius and his disciples traveled around various countries, mainly to the capitals of vassal states to communicate with vassal kings and aristocrats.
Cities brought them joys and sorrows and stirred up waves of thought.
Cities are the stage for Confucianism and Taoism, and Xunzi and Han Feizi, without exception, spread their ideas in the cities.
Tang and Song poems all flourished in an urban context.
Some folk customs are often promoted by cities.
For example, the Cold Food Festival was advocated by the imperial palace and then followed by the people; another example is the Lantern Festival, celebrated in urban and rural areas, and the city seems to be larger in scale.
As for folk opera performances, both cities and villages are performance venues, while cities are even more large-scale.
For traditional commercial customs, the city is the center.
Foreign cultures also form a large wave of exchanges in cities, such as Luoyang, Quanzhou, and Shanghai.
Traditional cities actually breed and inherit traditional culture.
Therefore, China's intangible cultural heritage and material cultural heritage are rich in relics accumulated in the city.
However, today's metropolises have become endangered places of cultural traditions.
Whether it is material cultural heritage or intangible cultural heritage, metropolises are facing the grim reality of protection.
Why is such a center of traditional culture now an endangered place for cultural traditions? There are many reasons for this.
The first is misunderstanding.
People often think that the representative of China's traditional civilization is agricultural civilization, and that cities and commercial civilization are closely related.
Therefore, cities are not the focus of intangible cultural protection.
Judging from the attitude towards the declaration of intangible cultural heritage, large cities often do not pay much attention.
Secondly, contemporary cities have shouldered the important task of economic development.
Urban managers are concerned about economic indicators or political performance images, and rarely include intangible cultural protection as a city's development strategy.
Thirdly, scholars 'research also has many limitations.
Current urban research in China is mainly limited to the study of near-modern cities, and the brilliance of the once brilliant cultural heritage of the metropolis has been obscured.
In addition, modern media also focuses on economic development and fashion communication.
The repeated stimulation of commercial elements further conceals the value of urban cultural heritage, marginalizes it until its demise.
The destruction of cultural heritage by metropolises is manifested in many aspects.
The first is the destruction of one's own cultural heritage.
The so-called urban transformation has caused most cities in our country to lose their own characteristics.
Some classic cities have either been demolished or transformed beyond recognition.
For example, in Shanghai, the Neishi Mansion, which was an important witness to modern history, was demolished, and there were no traces of the core Urban area of the ancient city of Old Shanghai in the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, old Shanghai is the essence of Jiangnan culture.
Its development was not an achievement of the colonies as some people say.
Before the opening of the port, its predecessor, Southeast Zhuang County, was prosperous.
The ancient city of the Ming Dynasty was a masterpiece of the military and civilians in their anti-Japanese struggle, reflecting the tenacious national spirit.
The demolition of the ancient city began during the Republic of China and has been basically completed in recent years.
When it was discovered that it needed protection, it felt that everything was too late.
Shanghai's tenacious and firm national character has continued from protecting the family and resisting humiliation since the Song Dynasty to building a city for self-defense in the Ming Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty's Jiaqing soldiers defended their dignity with their lives three times.
This spirit can be seen.
However, during the Anti-Japanese War, a traitor and traitorous government appeared in Shanghai, which shows the loss of spiritual will while the city wall was demolished.
At that time, the city was built to resist Japanese invaders to protect the homeland, but later it was demolished and opened to thieves.
It can be seen that the city's material and intangible cultural heritage were lost simultaneously.
In Shanghai today, traces of ancient Shanghai are gradually becoming extinct.
Where has the spirit of Shanghai gone? This is by no means a problem for Shanghai alone.
Destruction of the old city is now a widespread problem.
For example, Shanghai's Nanjing Road is being turned over and over.
Not to mention ancient heritage, even modern heritage is beyond recognition.
When urban memory is lost, urban culture has no direction.
The destruction of cultural heritage by cities is also manifested in the destruction of township heritage by urban expansion.
I once wrote a short article called "Shanghai's Ancient Town is Crying"(http://www.blogcn.com/user43/windfromsea/blog/28791419.html) and spread it online, reflecting the destruction of Shanghai's urban development on the ancient town in Jiangnan.
Shanghai's ancient towns are very famous, such as Jiading, Songjiang, Anting, Fengjing, etc., but now they have given some ridiculous names, such as Thames Town, Canadian-style Town, and Nordic-style Town, tearing down the ancient streets beyond recognition.
More importantly, the history and legends of cities have gradually been lost.
Some large cities have even forgotten their own representative legends and songs, and urban dialects have begun to fade out of people's lives.
Second, I would like to take as an example the unique lanterns laying skills in Shanghai that I discovered and vigorously called for protection to discuss some issues in the protection of intangible cultural heritage in metropolises.
Shanghai's urban and rural areas are rich in folk art resources.
Due to the rapid development of Shanghai's economy, the cultural space on which folk art originally existed has been greatly squeezed, and the team engaged in folk art creation has shrunk day by day.
With the gradual death of older artists, many folk art styles have become endangered and urgently needed rescue and protection.
The art of laying lights is a folk stunt worthy of attention.
Laying lights is an artistic style in Shanghai's folk sacrificial activities.
It is directly related to Taoist ceremonial instruments, and it is the result of the development of lantern instruments.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, lanterns began to enter the Taoist ritual, gradually forming a long-standing Taoist lantern ritual.
Due to the light nature of lamps, the inherent worship of light in humans has shifted from the worship of the sun and fire to the worship of lamps.
Taoism believes that lanterns can shine on heaven up and hell down.
Therefore, lanterns can pray to heaven and save the dead.
Lamp instruments are divided into two major categories: golden taluses and yellow taluses.
The former is used to pray for blessings and extend life, while the latter is used to transcend death and relieve disaster.
Among them, the Jiuyou Lantern Instrument and the Blood Lake Lantern Instrument are very common in Taoist religious activities in Shanghai.
The main purpose of the Yellow Lu Lantern Instrument is to illuminate the dark hell, eliminate the sins of the dead, and bring the dead out of the sea of suffering and into the immortal world.
Originally, the Jiuyou Lantern Instrument was mainly composed of lamps, and it was used to burn lanterns and lay altars to illuminate the Jiuyou Prison, break the Jiuyou Prison, and lead the dead out of the sea of suffering.
However, there were many Jiuyou lanterns, thirty-six and forty-nine.
Due to the small space, rice was used to spread the lantern pattern on the ground instead.
This leads to the art of laying lights.
Why do we need to use rice to lay lights? According to "Daoshu Aid God Covenant":"In ancient times, Cangjie made characters, but it rained millet in the sky, and ghosts cried at night.
The old Tao and law divided the land into prisons, and rice was the boundary.
In later generations, rice was used for laying lanterns." The lantern diagram was originally a symbol of hell, but later the content became richer and richer, becoming a comprehensive artistic style.
Taoism in Shanghai is generally based on Jiangnan Zhengyi Road, but it has developed into a complex faction.
Since the opening of the port, local Taoist priests and Taoist priests from other places such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang have established more than a dozen Taoist sects in Shanghai, forming a pattern of one Ben Gang and twelve guest gangs, and a total of more than a hundred Taoist courtyards have been opened.
After liberation, these monasteries were automatically disbanded.
At the end of the 20th century, Taoism began to revitalize.
Some of the Taoist priests in these monasteries became official Taoist priests, and more became Taoist priests scattered among the people.
Although they are old, they still carry out religious activities with strong energy and demonstrate their family's unique skills.
The lanterns they performed were very unique, especially the art of laying lanterns was very superb.
Ancient Taoist books contain records about lamp drawings, but folk Taoist priests created a lot in the process of laying lamps.
We conducted a follow-up investigation on the death rituals of the Nanxiang Sect Taoist group in Yuxu Taoist College in the last century, and obtained the lantern laying pattern of Minhang Taoist priests, and had intuitive first-hand information on their lantern laying procedures and content.
Let's first take the Blood Lake Lamp as an example (Figure 1) to see the process of laying the lamp.
The first step is to use white rice to pave the outline.
The inside is square and outer hexagonal, and two sides and decorative plaques are actually paved.
The Minhang School still insisted on paving it with an octagonal shape, which was consistent with the Jiuyou Lantern Diagram.
The second step is to spread couplets with black mineral powder on the side panels and plaques.
Most of the plaques contain the words "Taiyi Zhenren" and "Yuan Palace".
The Taoist priests of the Minhang School have the words "Miaoyan Palace".
The couplets include "The soul sinks in the soul, and the dead rises","The golden boy guides him, the jade girl welcomes him back", and the Minhang Taoist Shop,"The breeze blows on the prison households, and the bright moon shines on the lamp altar." There are three different styles of blood lake lights we see.
The third step is to lay out the symbolic pattern of the Dark Eight Immortals outside the frame.
For example, castanets, flutes, flower baskets, swords, etc., each represent the eight immortals.
They are not colored and are purely white rice.
The fourth step is to use white rice to pave the four corners of the pattern to create a "vast blood lake" or "Yuan Emperor forgives sins".
If both characters are spread on, one will use white rice and the other will use black mineral powder.
The fifth step is to lay the pattern of Taiyi Real Man in the middle.
Taoism calls Taiyi Real Man the innocence of saving suffering.
The Taoist priest of the Yu family paved the Taiyi Immortal with a graceful expression and soft lines, which can be called a masterpiece of art.
In comparison, Minhang Taoist priests are much inferior.
Of course, the poor physical condition of the old man in Minhang also affected his performance.
The Yu family Taoist priest laid lanterns at the fasting ceremony, while the Minhang Taoist priest gave a demonstration.
It also matters if he lacked passion.
We observed this image of Taiyi many times and found that the expressions were highly consistent.
It can be seen that it was a handed down pattern.
Other Taoist priests also praised the magic.
The pattern is made of black, red, green and white, achieving a shocking effect.
There is a large circle on his head, which seems to symbolize the aura of a real person.
The real person waved a whisk with his hand, wore a broad robe, and had a fluttering immortal beard.
The shape was very beautiful.
Due to the difficulty of laying out the real person of Taiyi on site, many of the real person of Taiyi on the lamp drawings are directly arranged using existing portraits of Taiyi.
Nowadays, it is almost a unique skill to lay out the real person of Taiyi on site.
In the sixth step, the pattern has been laid out, and lanterns, statues of Taiyi Immortal and other immortals, paper flower baskets, ferries, etc.
are placed around the pattern.
The Blood Lake Lamp Altar was then arranged.
The light diagram of the Blood Lake Lamp is relatively small, while the light diagram of the Nine Nether Hell Lamp is larger.
The inner frame is square and the outer frame is eight sides.
In the middle, the two types of lamps have the same pattern, but the couplet is different.
Because there are double-layered frames on the upper and lower sides, the couplet on both sides reads "Qianyuan Mountain achieves enlightenment, Jinguang Cave becomes immortal", which means the deceased; the upper and lower ones are "Saving God from death" and "Superspiritual Immortal World", which means the Immortal Taiyi.
Or write poems about spring, summer, autumn and winter on all sides, such as "Visiting the fragrant grassland in spring, drinking yellow wine in autumn" and so on.
These poems have beautiful artistic conception, gorgeous rhetoric, and the finishing touch.
In the octagonal space formed by the eight sides, patterns such as orchids, lotus flowers, pine branches and plum blossoms are paved with color powder in every other compartment, and the words "Light Shines" are paved in the remaining four corners.
The Nine Nether Lamp Diagram is very complex and has many disguised forms.
Nowadays, it is difficult for ordinary Taoist priests to complete it.
First, it is difficult to lay out decent calligraphy.
Second, it is impossible to lay out a statue of the Immortal Taiyi, so they can only use ready-made portraits to put them on.
Taoist priests danced around the lantern picture, swinging their swords to break through the nine hells in all directions and in the center, guiding the dead to escape the pain of leaving hell and rush to the realm of immortals.
This is the function of the Nine Nether Lamp.
Lamp drawings require the regularity of geometry, painting, calligraphy and other skills.
Without skilled kung fu and long-term training, it is impossible to achieve such a perfect state.
The old Taoist priest of the Yu family is nearly ninety years old.
We hope that his apprentices and grandchildren can grow up as soon as possible.
Nowadays, Taoist temples and folk Taoist priests in Shanghai also lay lanterns during major sacrificial ceremonies.
However, whether they are Taoist temples or folk, most people's lantern drawings are crude.
As far as I know, the only person who can lay out as difficult images as Taiyi is Taoist Priest Yu, who is nearly 90 years old.
Not even young Taoist priests can do it.
As for book-laying, it is also very dilapidated.
It is almost impossible for someone like Yu Daochang to spread exquisite couplets.
Some Taoist priests lack calligraphy skills and can only use typefaces typed on computers to replace them.
As for the pattern, the author has not fully photographed the pattern mastered by Taoist Priest Yu.
Some young Taoist priests also knew some patterns, but judging from the maps they drew, they were too rough to be seen.
During a ceremony, we saw that a folk sacrificial team still kept tokens for drawing statues in the Qing Dynasty, as well as platforms with exquisite patterns, which were very precious.
The project I applied for by the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation was told that it was not covered by funding.
He also applied for a project from the Ministry of Culture, but was not approved.
Recently, I published an article in the "Social Science News" entitled "Shanghai's unique lighting skills need to be protected urgently" and published two pictures, which aroused a certain response.
"National Art" published a detailed introduction to the art of laying lanterns in issue 2 of 2005 and published a set of photos.
In many meetings, I used pictures to display and loudly appealed, hoping to get the attention of all parties.
The editor of "Chinese and Foreign Cultural Exchanges" magazine saw such a beautiful pattern and invited me to write an introduction article.
I am very happy to see that a unique skill like laying lights has received more attention, but there is still no way to propose and implement fundamental protection plans.
The experience of Sanpu Lantern's stunt is a true reflection of the current situation of intangible cultural heritage in a metropolis like Shanghai.
Some big cities have money, but there is no clear direction on how to invest in the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
The reason is that such projects are difficult to produce political achievements.
Many cities have great achievements in cultural construction, preferring to be vigorous and do not like seeking truth from facts.
Therefore, many cities with relatively developed economies are often called "cultural deserts." It is not that the metropolis itself has no culture, but that managers do not know what the real culture is.
They often like to hold so-called "cultural festivals" without any cultural foundation, and as a result, a real cultural desert has been achieved.In addition, modern metropolises often worship foreigners and despise folk intangible cultural heritage.
Many so-called cultural people are also self-righteous and ignorant of folk intangible cultural heritage.
Nowadays, although the intangible cultural heritage of the metropolis is in an endangered state, the content is still very rich, but it is only in a marginal and difficult situation.
It is important to realize this, and it is the basis for us to do this work.
The first is to raise awareness.
It is necessary to realize that the reason why the metropolis has developed to this day is related to its cultural heritage, and the metropolis itself is the center of cultural heritage protection.
Recently, a certain city's Academy of Social Sciences organized a group of experts and scholars to prepare to edit and publish a set of folk culture series for each district and county.
Some districts and counties have suggested that their district does not have so many folk customs and require it to be co-written with other districts or not to be written.
In fact, these districts and counties all developed from ancient Jiangnan villages and towns, and are very distinctive in literature, art, folk customs and beliefs.
In addition, after the port was opened, commercial culture was very developed, with unique commercial customs and taboos.
In terms of language, local dialect is very unique and has rich connotations.
The population of a district is often millions.
It takes a long time to establish a district and a county, and there is a considerable amount of historical accumulation.
Logically speaking, there is no way to cover it in a book.
How can you say that there is nothing to write? Some district and county leaders require the city to issue documents before receiving folklore investigators.
However, can city leaders issue such documents? What is even more sad is that the leaders of cultural departments in some cities are very bureaucratic and work hard to engage in formalism, and are actually not interested in real cultural protection work.
Therefore, in large cities, leaders who take internationalization as their own responsibility need to raise their awareness of the protection of ethnic and folk intangible cultural heritage.
Cities with relatively good economic conditions often fail to realize that their cultural heritage is also a core competitiveness.
In cities, we must also improve the realm of media.
Some media use feudal superstitions and backwardness to refer to folk cultural heritage, and their thoughts are still at the level of the "Cultural Revolution".
There are also people who talk about believing in folk customs with the expression that they want to be greatly rectified.
Today, leaders at all levels control important financial and human resources, and without their support, protection work will be difficult to implement.
Since the country now attaches great importance to it, it is necessary to use the protection of intangible cultural heritage as an indicator to assess the political performance of local officials.
Nowadays, the assessment of cadres no longer depends on the level of GDP, but also on environmental indicators.
There is the so-called green GDP.
If cultural and environmental indicators are not examined, will a cultural desert be a harmonious society? I proposed to use the protection of intangible culture as an indicator for assessing officials.
Now, we want to build a cultural GDP.
Officials in cities where cultural and cultural heritage are not well protected cannot be promoted.
Because a city without culture is a social disaster, folk culture cannot be protected and supported, and people's psychology is sick, the city will have no future.
Looking at the city's humanistic GDP, although it is a form, I think it is better to have a form than no form.
Last year, when I put forward this suggestion at the Suzhou Forum to use the protection of intangible cultural heritage as a way to assess the performance of local officials, it received a warm response.
The current protection work is government-led.
In this case, administrative power should be exerted.
In fact, we feel that there is a tendency to go through the motions in some large cities.
Nowadays, when applying for intangible cultural heritage, some places are very active and some places are lazy, which is particularly obvious in large cities.
It is said that there is a famous metropolis that ranks almost at the bottom of the country in terms of application.
Why? It seems that the state does not allocate funds, and local governments have to pay for protection and inspections after applying for them.
Therefore, some "smart" metropolitan areas do not want to cause such "trouble".
This shows that in large cities, cultural protection has not risen to a conscious state.
Now that the cultural department has become the front-line protectors of urban cultural heritage, it is necessary to strengthen supervision and encouragement of their work.
A single cultural department seems powerless, and they are also very helpless.
I once visited a mass cultural center in a big city, and the dilapidated venue was shocking.
At this time, we saw that the so-called government leadership must rely on the core leadership to lead.
To assess political achievements, we must assess the political achievements of major local officials in protecting intangible culture.
It is wrong to simply blame the cultural sector.
In the cultural protection of a metropolis, we must also pay attention to the protection of a common cultural circle.
Historically, metropolises have often been the cultural core of a region.
Intangible cultural heritage is gathered in the surrounding cities, and cities reflect their customs of urban development to surrounding cities.
Therefore, exchanges between cities should be strengthened.
For example, the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions in the Jiangnan region need more exchanges.
This area used to have relatively extensive exchanges, which used to be centered on Shanghai.
The reasons for the formation of this center were the appeal of old experts, such as Mr.
Jiang Bin, and publishing.
In the past, Shanghai's publishing industry was relatively developed and able to take the lead.
Now, these advantages are gone, and they are divided into different places.
The cultural districts that were originally the same are fragmented.
Although there is some linkage, it is difficult to cooperate because of systems or interests.
Now, it seems that with the Ministry of Culture or relevant departments taking the lead, an administrative coordination center may be a better choice, and the metropolis should assume the responsibility of cultural protection.
In other areas, although far away, some cultural heritage is highly relevant.
For example, a teacher at Wuhan Huazhong Normal University asked me about the belief and legend of Chun Shenjun in Shanghai.
Chun Shenjun was the legendary city lord of Shanghai, but he was a Prince of Chu.
(Figure 2) Such long-distance common heritage requires collaborative research.
Another example is that Lucheng in Hubei was built by Lu Xun during the Three Kingdoms period, and Songjiang in Shanghai honored Lu Xun's grandson Lu Ji and Lu Yun as the city lord.
This is a must-link for studying Lu's cultural heritage.
Another example: Yuan Shansong, a person from Songze, Shanghai, wrote a book "Ji of Yidu", which preserved the precious historical memory of Yidu.
I also heard old people sing songs about Suzhou in Tujia areas, and even sing "Five Girls".
The joint protection, investigation and research on the intangible form of Chu cultural resources in the Yangtze River region is particularly important.
Otherwise, the protection of cultural heritage will be like blind people touching elephants, which will lose the point and even become a piece of destruction.
Shanghai and Wuhan are two big cities.
Can they link up in cultural heritage protection? It is not difficult to do, but under the current system, it is very difficult to implement.
In large cities, the protection of intangible cultural heritage may also go through the motions and engage in formalism, which may protect something that everyone knows, but the truly endangered styles have really disappeared.
Shanghai's unique lighting skills are an example.
All parties may be caught in the fight for resources and projects, and are keen on reporting and publicity rather than doing practical things.
As teaching researchers in cultural work, other colleagues and I can only share the enthusiasm and shoulder the responsibility of passing down culture from generation to generation.
In a metropolis, make a brick to pave the way for cultural construction.
Of course, we also call for universities to make greater achievements in the intangible cultural protection movement! In short, I think the intangible cultural heritage in the metropolis should be well protected.
If we can't do the work well under our noses, what will happen in other places apart from formality? This article was originally published in "Folk Culture Forum", No.
4, 2006.
Please refer to the original print publication for annotations.