[Xiao Fang] Thoughts on the protection of intangible cultural heritage and the reconstruction of local cultural traditions
In recent years, the rescue and protection of intangible heritage in China has been vigorously carried out.
In 2006 and 2008, the government successively announced two batches of national-level intangible cultural heritage lists, totaling more than 1,000 items, covering traditional art, traditional festivals, traditional crafts, folk literature, folk medicine, folk sports acrobatics and entertainment, folk beliefs and other aspects.
The importance of intangible cultural heritage has formed a consensus in contemporary China society.
Although people at different levels and positions have certain differences in their specific understanding and grasp of it, and the motivations for intangible cultural heritage protection work are different, the rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage is a large-scale cultural project initiated by the country to adapt to the requirements of United Nations conventions.
It is not only a reflection of government work performance, but also an effective way to highlight local cultural resources.
In the context of economic and social development, in order to increase local visibility, intangible cultural heritage has become the object of some places, striving to forge intangible cultural heritage projects with important social impact into local cultural business cards, and its status as intangible cultural heritage has been unprecedented.
rise.
Once intangible cultural heritage leaves a specific group and becomes a cultural symbol carrying great local significance, its cultural nature will inevitably change.
It is not only a specific spiritual heritage, but also some intangible cultural heritage projects with a long history and huge impact have become related to local social honor, local cultural resources, and local cultural construction.
Due to the long history of these intangible cultural heritage, the society has paid high attention to it in the past dynasties and has spread widely.
It is an indisputable fact that it has been preserved and spread to varying degrees in many places.
What follows is the issue of cultural sovereignty in the application process for the intangible cultural heritage list.
There have been disputes over the hometown of Fuxi and Nuwa, disputes over the birthplace of the legend of Liangzhu and the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, disputes over the origin of festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival and Double Ninth Festival, and other disputes over cultural ownership.
I personally understand that it is not a bad thing that these intangible cultural heritage are sought after by various places.
It reflects people's understanding of the value of intangible cultural heritage.
At the same time, public awareness of intangible cultural heritage in the competition for cultural resources is also a powerful improvement.
Of course, we must also prevent the abuse of cultural resources and vicious competition between cultural ownership rights.
In the craze to declare intangible cultural heritage in various places, no matter what subjective considerations they have, whether they are conscious or unconscious, objectively speaking, this intangible cultural heritage rescue and protection work is not only about preserving and inheriting cultural wealth for the country, the nation and even the people of the world., and I think it also has far-reaching cultural significance, which is the revival and reconstruction of broken local cultural traditions.
Local cultural traditions are traditions of spiritual survival and material life shared by specific groups in specific regions.
Long-term life in a specific region makes it easy for people and places to form an organic interactive relationship, and gradually develop unique local tastes and local feelings.
This taste and feeling constitute the deep connotation of local cultural traditions; at the same time, local cultural traditions are more obviously reflected in local lifestyles, local historical memories, and local customs and legends.
Local cultural traditions are an important force in maintaining the local cultural ecology and the spiritual guarantee for the healthy operation of local society.
China has a vast territory, many ethnic groups, and rich and colorful local culture.
At the same time, due to the relatively fixed administrative divisions in China since the establishment of the prefecture and county system in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and more importantly, the long-term stability of China's agricultural society, people relocated to their land again, contributing to the formation and long-term maintenance of local cultural traditions.
However, this local cultural tradition has been greatly damaged in the continuous social and political changes over the past 100 years.
Many cultural phenomena that we regard as intangible cultural heritage today have been labeled as old culture and comprehensively wiped out, and the political culture that governs everything has replaced the rich and colorful local culture.
Cultural homogenization has caused the large-scale disappearance of local cultural traditions.
The lack of local cultural traditions is not only a serious harm to the psychology of local residents who rely on these cultural traditions for their lives, but also a block to the roots of Chinese culture in the long run.
Fortunately, at the end of the 20th century, we finally returned to rationality and began to face our cultural traditions correctly.
At the beginning of the 21st century, China, which was reforming and opening up, reevaluated traditional culture from the perspective of world culture and inherited excellent national cultural traditions from the perspective of realizing great national rejuvenation.
As the foundation of national cultural tradition, local traditional culture has obtained the opportunity of revival.
Local cultural traditions are gradually restored and rebuilt under the promotion of local people of insight.
Such as the compilation of family trees, the revival of local singing traditions, village festival rituals and urban temple fairs.
Since China became a party to the United Nations Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003, the protection of intangible cultural heritage has become one of the tasks of the China government, and the reconstruction of local cultural traditions has obtained unprecedented convenience.
We have seen the understanding and support of wise local officials for intangible cultural heritage, and at the same time, we have also felt the desire of local intellectuals to revitalize local cultural traditions.
Local cultural people actively participate in the investigation, compilation of materials and writing of application documents of local intangible cultural heritage.
Because of their familiarity with local culture and heartfelt love, they pay special attention to culture in the rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage.
Sovereignty, the demand for the reconstruction of local cultural traditions is particularly strong.
The rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage provides important opportunities for the rejuvenation of local cultural traditions.
Although this is not necessarily the original purpose and direct goal of China's rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage, in fact, people make full use of this rare historical opportunity and directly highlight local cultural relics as local symbols in the name of rescuing and protecting intangible cultural heritage.
Local cultural elites also make every effort to use this opportunity to rebuild local cultural traditions.
Although the reconstruction of local traditions will be a long historical process, the erection of local cultural symbols is an important step in the reconstruction of local traditions.
Therefore, we give a positive evaluation of the current exploration of local cultural resources and the competition for the sovereignty of flowing intangible cultural heritage.
However, as intellectuals, we should also think about some issues in the process of rebuilding local cultural traditions.
To ensure that local cultural traditions reach a benign state during the reconstruction process.
First, in the process of rebuilding local cultural traditions, we should pay attention to the interdependent relationship between the country's overall culture and local culture.
From the perspective of world cultural history, China is the only type of civilization that has not experienced historical interruption.
There are many important factors in the continuous history of China's culture, and the emphasis on unified culture is one of the important factors.
Under the unified centralized system, attention is paid to the control of ideology and the indoctrination of ethical culture; the standard of life of "extensive education and beautiful customs" is emphasized in society.
In a consistent ethical and cultural atmosphere that has lasted for thousands of years, China has created rich and effective historical and cultural traditions shared by all social levels.
This cultural tradition that transcends regions is important for maintaining and promoting the stability and development of the Chinese cultural community.
From the perspective of the overall culture influencing the formation of local cultural traditions, we can use the analogy of "the moon seals the thousands of rivers" called by ancient Neo-Confucianism.
Under the restriction of the mainstream culture of the national cultural community, local culture naturally contains the whole culture.
The brilliance of culture.
Therefore, we should examine the individuality and characteristics of local culture from this perspective.
Only by looking at local culture from this perspective can we avoid subjectively demonstrating the cultural wealth shared by the vast region as an inherent product of local culture.
Debates such as the hometown of Nuwa, the origin of Pangu, and the hometown of the cowherd and the Weaver Girl stem from people's objective lack of understanding or subjective neglect of the shared meaning of traditional culture.
At the same time, China is a country with a vast territory, complex ecological conditions, and a large population.
The implementation of cultural traditions that transcend the region also depends on the acceptance and transformation of local cultural traditions.
Due to differences in local cultures, local cultures can also produce local cultures that serve people in specific regions and form local cultural symbols.
These local cultures not only enrich and supplement the great cultural traditions, but also make local social life fresh and vivid.
China's local cultural traditions are not only a local self-sufficient cultural whole, but also a subsystem of the overall China culture.
The two complement each other and complement each other.
It is worth further explaining that today's rebuilt local cultural traditions are inseparable from the new background of contemporary information society and economic globalization, and the penetration of modernity into local lifestyles is very obvious.
Local cultural traditions not only have a vertical origin relationship with national history and culture, but also have a horizontal connection intertwined with world culture.
It can be seen that the rebuilt local cultural tradition is a new tradition that not only retains the traditional background, but also has modern and fresh elements.
This is the relationship between local community culture and the overall culture of mankind.
The intrinsic connection between location culture and overall culture will increase in the future society.
Second, the reconstruction of local cultural traditions must comply with the local cultural ecological laws and the logic of local cultural history
With the process of local economic autonomy, local culture has gradually revitalized, and the reconstruction of local cultural traditions has attracted increasing attention.
Since local cultural traditions have been severely damaged in modern times and have been interrupted for more than half a century, it is not easy to rebuild cultural traditions.
The reconstruction of local cultural traditions that began in the late 20th century is arduous and difficult.
Most people have no clear understanding and conception on how to rebuild local cultural traditions.
The reconstruction of local cultural traditions is a new topic facing us today.
This kind of reconstruction must not only continue local historical traditions and find the source and development logic of local historical culture, but also pay attention to the contemporary local cultural ecological environment so that the rebuilt local cultural traditions are in line with contemporary society.
Adaptability and extensibility needed.
Each cultural area must have its own cultural character and cultural landscape, and we should be good at exploring and utilizing local cultural resources.
In the exploration of intangible cultural heritage resources in recent years, many local people have reasonably summarized and improved local cultural heritage.
People extract local symbol culture from rich local culture.
According to the perspective of cultural typology, local culture, as a sub-cultural type of unified culture, has an overall characteristic.
The cultural phenomenon that best reflects this overall characteristic belongs to the symbol culture of local culture.
For example, Beijing culture, from the perspective of cultural level of historical accumulation, includes imperial culture, official culture, civilian culture, etc.; from the perspective of Beijing's cultural sources, it includes local farming culture and nomadic culture, and international modern industrial culture and post-industrial culture.
culture.
As the imperial capital of traditional society and a modern international metropolis, Beijing combines traditional culture and modern culture, and its cultural form is extremely complex.
If we want to refine Beijing's symbol culture, we must consider these cultural aspects and cultural components and find the culture they share.
Of course, from the perspective of intangible cultural heritage, we first look at its traditional nature.
For example, the temple fair in Beijing is Beijing's unique cultural landscape.
The Miaofengshan Temple Fair in West Beijing was famous in North China in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.
At the same time, Beijing also has various districts and counties, and each district and county also has its own unique cultural traditions.
It can be seen that local symbol culture is not easily obtained.
It requires the inspection, analysis and summary of local cultural spaces and group life, and then identifying symbol cultures that can reflect the cultural characteristics of the area.
In reflecting on the current local cultural construction, to a certain extent, there are the drawbacks of blind comparison or arbitrary exaggeration of eager for quick success and instant benefit.
We only focus on those cultural phenomena with national influence and strive to find those cultural basis locally.
Although these cultures do exist to varying degrees in the local area and are known to local people, they are generally a local presentation of unified culture.
They are not a unique product of local cultural ecology, nor are they an important crystallization of local historical and cultural logic.
Such cultural phenomena are unsatisfactory as local cultural symbols.
What's more, in order to forcibly seize cultural resources, some places are racing around the land, and using economic strength and social relationship resources to turn cultural phenomena that originally did not belong to them or were not closely connected to them into local cultural brands.
This practice is neither in line with local cultural ecological principles nor the logic of historical and cultural development.
Without traditional cultural heritage and local mass foundation, such artificial cultural landscapes and cultural products are unlikely to achieve the reconstruction of local culture traditions, and the result is likely to be a flash in the pan.
We should maintain a clear and critical attitude towards taking advantage of the protection of intangible cultural heritage to forge traditions in order to gain local fame and fortune.
Third, the reconstruction of local cultural traditions should follow the principle of cultural tolerance and avoid excessive cultural narcissism and cultural self-sufficiency.
The reconstruction of local cultural traditions is a complex historical process that requires a prudent attitude and careful consideration of the acquisition and abandonment of local culture during the reconstruction process.
We should understand that when we rebuild local cultural traditions, we provide a spiritual home for local people and provide a solid cultural foundation for a unified and harmonious overall culture.
Therefore, we should uphold the principles of cultural openness and tolerance, and emotionally identify with our hometown culture on the premise of fully affirming and praising local culture.
At the same time, we should also view local culture rationally and avoid excessive cultural narcissism and cultural self-sufficiency.
We not only attach importance to the construction of local culture, but also advocate the spirit of cultural flow and cultural sharing.
The reconstruction of local cultural traditions is to a large extent the restoration and development of cultural space.
But this cultural space is closely related to the larger cultural environment and the living background of the entire era.
Local cultural traditions are not closed and self-sufficient traditions, not self-speaking traditions, nor are they self-indulgent traditions.
It is a tradition that constantly communicates with cultural traditions and constantly contacts and compares with surrounding local traditions to show its existence.
Without big traditions, local traditions will have no support; without the mutual assistance and mutual foil of other local cultural traditions that have grown up with them, specific local traditions will lose their significance for growth.
The rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage provides a major historical opportunity for the reconstruction of local cultural traditions.
In the work of intangible cultural heritage protection, we not only fully perceive excellent local culture, but also provide a platform for local cultural exchanges across the country and even around the world.
In recent years, we have seen many intangible cultural heritage protection sites and academic institutions jointly hosting domestic or international academic conferences to discuss the connotation of a specific culture and jointly discuss protection plans.
For example, in April 2008, the high-level forum of the six legendary protected areas in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, and the "First High-level Forum on China Nuwa Culture" held in She County, Hebei Province, their vision has gone beyond the local area.
This is a very gratifying trend in cultural construction.
Only in this vision and pattern can local culture be deeply rooted and luxuriant.
(Explanation: This article is an excerpt and revised based on my book "Interpretation of Core Concepts of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Reconstruction of Local Cultural Tradition".
The original text was published in "National Art", Issue 1, 2009)