[Xu Liping] Cultural diversity and the protection of Asian intangible cultural heritage
Intangible cultural heritage is an important part of human cultural heritage.
It is the foundation, source and ecological field of the entire human cultural diversity.
Respect and protection are not enough.
The key is how to inherit it.
Only when culture is passed down can human creativity be protected and cultural diversity be reflected.
The wave of globalization, marked by the globalization of the market economy and the globalization of information dissemination, is impacting every corner of the world.
To a certain extent, globalization has weakened cultural boundaries and caused so-called "cultural conflicts", which some call "creative destruction." On a larger scale and at a deeper level, this kind of destruction is manifested in the encroachment of the "strong culture" led by the United States on the "weak culture." However, globalization has not brought about the convergence and simplification of world culture, but has triggered diversity in cultural expressions and diversity in existence.
In this context, Asia, which has a long history and cultural tradition, is multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multicultural.
With the rise of its economy, its cultural diversity has attracted global attention.
However, it is undeniable that the wave of globalization has also posed new challenges to Asian cultural diversity.
In particular, how to strengthen the protection of Asian intangible heritage has become an urgent issue.
The concept of intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity
The concept of intangible cultural heritage comes from "intangible heritage".
"Intangible heritage" comes from Japanese words and was later directly translated into English to express the concept of intangible cultural heritage.
It refers to the knowledge passed down from generation to generation, the literature, art works, music, dance, songs, rituals, signs, patterns, oral narratives and poems that may be created in the future, etc.
It also includes the science, agriculture, technology and ecology used.
knowledge.
According to UNESCO's clear definition and connotation, intangible cultural heritage covers a wide range of contents, including the following aspects: oral traditions and expressions, including language as a medium of intangible cultural heritage; performing arts; social practices, rituals, festivals; knowledge and practice about nature and the universe; and traditional handicrafts.
In our country, the concept of intangible cultural heritage is synonymous with "national folk literature and art" and "national folk traditional culture" that have long been used in administrative and local normative documents and academic discussions.
Since intangible cultural heritage is a cultural expression created by human society in long-term production and life practices, passed down from generation to generation and constantly recreated, it not only reflects the diversity of world culture, but also carries the civilization of human society and becomes an important guarantee for the sustainable development of human society.
In fact, intangible cultural heritage is an intangible living cultural heritage passed down by humans orally, orally, and from generation to generation.
It is vividly rooted and exists in the ethnic and folk society, mainly manifested in the people's lifestyles and production methods.
It is the life memory and living cultural gene of a nation.
It is the crystallization of human creativity, imagination, wisdom and labor, and a vivid display of cultural diversity.
Dispute and Inheritance of Asian Intangible Cultural Heritage
In recent years, with the rapid economic development of Asian countries, their awareness of the protection of intangible culture has increased day by day.
As a result, some neighboring countries in Asia have had some disputes over the "gray" areas of some intangible heritage, and even developed into serious opposition among the people.
Emotions have an adverse impact on Asian cultural diversity.
Since August 2009, the dispute over intangible cultural heritage between Indonesia and Malaysia has aroused opposition among the people of the two countries.
The cause of this incident was that the Malaysian Tourism Board described the Bali Pendet dance as a traditional Malaysian dance when broadcasting a Malaysian tourism promotional video on the Tourism Discovery TV Channel, which aroused strong protests from the Indonesian Parliament and the Bali art community.
In fact, the Bali North German dance has a history of hundreds of years.
It began to be a Hindu religious dance.
It is mainly performed in temples to welcome gods, with two performers.
In the 1950s, artists Leneng and Lin Di jointly innovated, changing the performers from two to four, from religious dances to secular dances, and began to perform in tourist hotels, and gradually became popular as a traditional way to welcome guests.
dance.
In the 1960s, Balinese dancer Parata changed this dance into a five-person performance, and then turned it into a large group dance performed by 800 people.
It was performed at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Jakarta, becoming a symbol of Indonesian traditional culture and one of Indonesia's intangible cultural heritage.
Coincidentally, the dispute over intangible cultural heritage between China and South Korea is also an example.
From November 21 to 24, 2005, a UNESCO International Review Committee composed of 18 experts held a review meeting in Paris, and finally determined that 43 cultural heritage items from around the world were selected as the "Oral and Intangible Heritage", South Korea's Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival was on the list.
After learning that China's traditional festivals were "snatched" by South Korea, some netizens were indignant.
Others said: "We want to treat it as a joke.
Can Koreans understand the significance of our commemoration of Qu Yuan on the fifth day of May?"
Although it is different from the Dragon Boat Festival in China, which "eats rice dumplings, races dragon boats, and commemorates Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu", the same "Dragon Boat Festival" points out the origin between the two.
South Korea also stated without any taboos in its declaration text that the Jiangling Dragon Boat Festival is a festival originating from China.
The Dragon Boat Festival in China has a history of more than 2500 years and has spread to Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.
Whether it is the dispute over dances, songs, and musical instruments between Indonesia and Malaysia, or the Dragon Boat Festival dispute between China and South Korea, they all involve the issue of the originality and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.
The originality of a certain nation's intangible cultural heritage reflects the source of value of this nation and deserves respect and protection.
But respect and protection are not enough.
The key is how to inherit it.
Malaysia and South Korea themselves are aware of the lack of national spiritual wealth, so they are doing everything possible to explore and innovate, the core of which is how to inherit it.
Only when culture is passed down can human creativity be protected and cultural diversity be reflected.
Protection of Asian Intangible Cultural Heritage
During World War II, various material and intangible cultural heritage of mankind were ruthlessly destroyed and brutally destroyed.
After World War II, governments around the world began to pay widespread attention to the protection of cultural heritage.
In 1954, the United Nations adopted an international Hague Convention specifically on how to protect cultural heritage in "states of war." Since the 1950s, the international community has gradually accepted the major international conventions and charters for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, and protected intangible cultural heritage to a certain extent.
The UNESCO General Conference adopted the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in October 2003, which officially came into effect in April 2006.
In order to revitalize the traditional culture of various countries, UNESCO encourages governments around the world to use various means and measures to protect intangible cultural heritage.
These means and measures include official recognition, legal protection, tax exemptions or subsidies, etc., to provide incentives to groups or individuals engaged in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, and the government will also strengthen protection measures through various festivals or television publicity activities.
According to a UNESCO survey of 103 countries, most countries have begun to realize the importance of intangible cultural heritage protection and incorporate it into national development strategies.
However, for a long period of time in the past, with the strengthening of the trend of globalization and the acceleration of the modernization process, the intangible cultural heritage of countries around the world has faced serious threats of damage, destruction and continuous disappearance, especially the intangible cultural heritage of Asian countries.
The extent of the threat is deepening, and the development and utilization of many intangible cultural heritage has fallen into the misunderstanding of commercialization.
How to effectively protect the intangible cultural heritage of Asian countries such as China does face many challenges.
All in all, intangible cultural heritage is an important part of human cultural heritage.
It is the foundation, source and ecological field of the entire human cultural diversity.
Cultural diversity is an inevitable law and fundamental attribute of the development of human society.
It is a prerequisite for the identity and cultural identity of all ethnic groups.
It is also a social outlook, peace outlook and development outlook that all ethnic groups in the world should be respected.
As the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity points out, cultural diversity is the common heritage of mankind.
Cultural diversity is a source of communication, innovation and creation.
Author's unit: Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, China Academy of Social Sciences)