Liu Kuili: Several issues related to the protection of intangible cultural heritage in my country
Dear Chairman, Vice Chairmen, Secretary-General, Members:
In recent years, the protection of intangible cultural heritage has received great attention from the Party Central Committee and the State Council.
General Secretary Hu Jintao emphasized in his report to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that it is necessary to "strengthen the excavation and protection of the cultures of all ethnic groups and attach importance to the protection of cultural relics and intangible cultural heritage." Premier Wen Jiabao also pointed out: "Intangible cultural heritage is the essence of national culture, a symbol of national wisdom, and a crystallization of national spirit." Since UNESCO published the first batch of masterpieces of "Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" in 2001, the new term "Intangible Cultural Heritage" has become the hottest word in all parts of the country, among ethnic groups and in various fields in just a few years.
This shows that intangible cultural heritage is a valuable spiritual wealth that is of great significance, closely related to the lives of the general public, and is particularly cared for by everyone.
As an important measure in the field of culture, the issue of intangible cultural heritage protection has a profound historical and cultural background.
1.
Raising the issue of intangible cultural heritage
(1) The background of the issue of intangible cultural heritage
Broadly speaking, culture is the sum of all material and spiritual products created by mankind.
Those "things" that have been created or transformed by humans to meet certain human needs and express certain intentions are often called material culture.
Intangible culture refers to the achievements created by humans that are not presented in the form of material carriers.
Life does not exist in the world solely by matter.
Substances only provide the basic conditions for human survival as an organism.
More importantly, people must rely on the acquisition and inheritance of intangible culture to continue to grow and become people.
From learning to speak and walk, to understanding truth, enriching knowledge, and mastering skills, we are dealing with intangible culture day by day and year by year.
This is especially true for social groups.
Only with precious and developed intangible culture as the foundation can there be rich material culture and a happy and harmonious social living environment.
For a long time, there has been a certain degree of deviation in the understanding of culture: people often pay special attention to the material aspects of culture and underestimate the thoughts and spirit contained in matter and the importance and value of the entire intangible culture.
At the same time, when paying attention to intangible culture, we also pay special attention to elite culture and mainstream culture, and turn a blind eye to the most common, commonly used, and basic intangible culture contained among the general public.
This kind of prejudice against culture can easily lead to the loss of culture's national character and its profound historical heritage, making culture increasingly convergent and lacking its due vitality and creativity.
For a long time, the outstanding achievements of traditional culture in developing countries and regions have not been incorporated into the mainstream process of human cultural development.
Western culture occupies a strong position in the world cultural landscape, which seriously affects the direction of cultural development in developing countries.
At present, most developing countries are struggling to preserve and develop their own traditional culture, which has affected their national image and national psychology, making their psychological foundation of "standing among the nations of the world" increasingly fragile.
In response to the expansion of powerful culture and its adverse impact on the overall values and long-term interests of mankind, the international community has put forward the idea of protecting the diversity of human culture.
Because inheriting the excellent cultural traditions of all ethnic groups and adhering to the diversity of cultural development are necessary conditions for the sustainable development of human creativity.
On October 20, 2005, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions adopted by the 33rd session of the General Conference of UNESCO pointed out: "Culture has diverse forms in different times and spaces, and this diversity is reflected in the uniqueness and diversity of the cultural characteristics and cultural expressions of various nations and societies." The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by UNESCO in 2001 pointed out: "The diversity of cultural expressions, including traditional cultural expressions, is an important factor in the ability of individuals and nations to express and share their own thoughts and values with others."
The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions also states in particular: "Cultural diversity is a fundamental characteristic of mankind.""Cultural diversity creates a colorful world, which gives mankind more choices., can improve their own capabilities and form values, and thus become a major driving force for the sustainable development of communities, nations and countries."
The issue of protecting intangible cultural heritage is not only of great significance to our country's socialist cultural construction, but also of epoch-making significance for all ethnic groups around the world to actively participate in and promote the development process of human culture and the diversity development of the entire human culture.
(2) Characteristics and significance of intangible culture
People always live in a certain social group, and intangible culture regulates the lifestyle and value orientation of this group.
Therefore, it is the glue to maintain and consolidate group unity and harmony, and is the carrier of the cohesion of a certain group and a certain nation.
No matter what your political attitude is, no matter your age or personality, no matter how different your experiences are from others, no matter how different your living environment is, the intangible culture passed down by your nation's history will always invisibly connect you with your own social group and your own nation.
Therefore, intangible culture is also a symbol of everyone's national identity and the basis for the cultural identity of all members of a nation.
At the same time, whether each nation treats its own traditional culture well and whether it inherits and carries forward its own excellent national cultural traditions is also a major issue related to how human culture develops.
We are increasingly aware that the position of the nation and the position of all mankind are not diametrically opposed.
Protecting one's excellent cultural traditions not only involves important issues in the cultural construction of our motherland, but also is the foundation and guarantee for the development of human cultural diversity.
Strictly speaking, material culture and intangible culture are inseparable from each other, just as a product and the production technology of this product are inseparable.
But at the same time, they are two very different things.
For the convenience of expression, we can only experience the essential characteristics of intangible culture more clearly and deeply by comparing it with material culture.
First of all, every material and cultural object cannot be shared by different subjects.
We sometimes say "Let's drink together".
This is just a symbolic expression.
In fact, it is impossible.
It can only be that you drink your part and I drink mine.
Intangible cultural objects can be shared.
The "shareability" I mean here means that different people, different communities, and ethnic groups can jointly hold, enjoy, and inherit the same cultural achievement.
Material culture cannot be held, enjoyed and passed down together.
The shareability of this intangible culture is not limited by time and space.
The history of cultural sharing shares the same length as the history of human cultural development.
The history of human cultural development is a history of cultural creation, and it is also a history of cultural sharing among different groups of people, communities, nations, and countries.
An important basic concept associated with the sharing of intangible cultural heritage is the "cultural diversity" mentioned earlier.
The sharing of intangible cultural heritage will undoubtedly provide a strong boost to the full realization of cultural diversity and the promotion of the cultural development of the entire mankind.
In my personal understanding, one of UNESCO's design concepts on the protection of intangible cultural heritage lies in correctly handling the relationship between national culture and human culture, and in recognizing the human cultural status of specific national culture.
The significance of UNESCO's promotion of the protection of intangible cultural heritage is precisely to use this cultural law to seek a way for human society to transcend material monopoly, eliminate the disputes between people and society caused by it, and promote human culture.
An effective way to prosper and develop.
Therefore, for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, we must not only have a national perspective, but also a perspective of all mankind.
Understanding and protecting the intangible cultural heritage of our respective nations from a human perspective will make our protection work more extensive, longer-term and profound.
Another characteristic of intangible culture lies in its vitality.
It is a culture in the process, and the vitality of its life lies in its development and evolution.
If it is not shelved and abandoned by history because it no longer adapts to the needs of society; If it does not perish in the sky like a shining meteor for a moment and become the dust of history, then it will gain a long life in motion.
The vitality of intangible cultural heritage is reflected in its inheritance process.
Every time it presents reality, it is just a link in its infinite life chain.
If material and cultural achievements are created by people, they exist independently from people; then intangible culture uses people as carriers, and uses human concepts, human knowledge, human skills, and human behaviors as its expression form.
These characteristics are also of great significance for us to understand the nature of "intangible cultural heritage" as part of intangible culture.
(3) The definition and scope of "intangible cultural heritage" as part of intangible culture
The "intangible cultural heritage" we are talking about now does not include all intangible culture.
The concept of "intangible cultural heritage" originates from the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage ratified by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of my country on August 28, 2004.
The Convention defines "intangible cultural heritage" as:
"'Intangible cultural heritage 'refers to the various practices, performances, forms of expression, knowledge and skills, as well as the associated tools, objects, crafts and cultural venues that are regarded as their cultural heritage by groups, groups, and sometimes individuals.
Various groups and groups continue to innovate this intangible cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation as their environment, interaction with nature, and historical conditions change, while giving themselves a sense of identity and history, thereby promoting the development of cultural diversity and human creativity."
In this definition, it not only clearly points out important factors such as the subject, object, and function of intangible cultural heritage, but also includes the subject's value judgment on the object.
In my personal understanding, phenomena that are not passed down from generation to generation, are accidental, and do not give the group a sense of identity and history are in principle not included in the scope of this concept, let alone the dross part of culture.
Not within this concept.
Needless to say, in the long historical process, there have indeed been cultural phenomena (such as inter-family marriage) that once appeared for a while but were later shelved, abandoned, or even denied by the ever-advancing real life.
These cultural phenomena not only lost their vitality, but also have no benefit to our national identity and cultural creativity today; In addition, there are also cultural phenomena that we call "dross"(e.g., foot binding, opium smoking) that today, even under the historical conditions of the time, are contrary to human nature, perverse to common sense, and detrimental to social progress.
Speaking of the topic of essence and dross, I would like to add from my personal understanding: It is often not easy to determine whether an intangible cultural phenomenon is the essence or dross.
Because this is not only a judgment of the truth of objective things, but also often contains the value assessment of different groups of people.
At the same time, there are also factors of the times and ethnic groups mixed in these two judgments (such as various funeral methods).
Things that were regarded as the "essence" or "model" yesterday may be regarded as "dross" today due to the changes of the times.
Whether they are cultural phenomena that have been eliminated by history or backward and decadent dross, these do not meet the definition of intangible cultural heritage and are not included in its scope.
In other words, these historical and cultural phenomena are not the objects we want to protect.
What's more, it is neither possible nor necessary for us to protect all intangible cultural phenomena that have existed in history.
Because the fundamental purpose of protecting intangible cultural heritage is not to stick to yesterday, but to build today and move towards the future; protecting and carrying forward tradition is not for the ancients, although we have piety and gratitude for them, but in the final analysis, it is for today's people and our future generations.
In my country's many years of practice in promoting the protection of intangible cultural heritage, special emphasis has been placed on the vitality, historical inheritance and practical functions of intangible cultural heritage in people's lives.
Tradition can only reflect its own value when it plays a positive role in today's social life, otherwise it has no practical significance.
The Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage also determines the specific scope of intangible cultural heritage: "Intangible cultural heritage includes the following aspects: (1) oral traditions and manifestations, including language as a medium of intangible cultural heritage;(2) performing arts;(3) social customs, rituals, festivals;(4) knowledge and practices about nature and the universe;(5) traditional handicrafts."
These specific contents are strictly limited by and based on the above-mentioned definitions proposed from a positive and positive perspective.
In our country's work practice, in order to give full play to the positive factors of intangible cultural heritage as a manifestation of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation and avoid negative factors, different methods and measures are adopted for different intangible cultural heritage projects.
Not all measures are implemented from beginning to end for all projects, but some are preserved and some are protected.
Intangible cultural heritage is generally preserved by identification, recording, and filing; projects with high historical, literary, artistic, and scientific value are protected by effective measures such as inheritance and dissemination.
In our work, we should give full play to the leading role of the government, encourage and support the active participation of all sectors of society, and correctly handle the relationship between preservation, protection and utilization.
(4) The value and significance of intangible cultural heritage
(1) Chinese culture has a long and splendid history of 5,000 years.
It is the spiritual link that the Chinese nation continues to live forever and the national line is passed down.
It is the source of strength for the Chinese nation to endure in the face of severe challenges and various complex environments.
As an important part of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, intangible cultural heritage is deeply embedded in the development history of the nation, reflecting the vitality and creativity of the Chinese nation's culture.
Intangible cultural heritage is also one of the important factors in promoting the construction of socialist culture in our country.
(2) Each country and nation has its own unique cultural traditions.
Intangible cultural heritage reflects the common psychological structure, ideology, production and lifestyle and other characteristics formed by each country and nation over a long time.
Therefore, intangible cultural heritage is not only a national spirit.
The carrier is also a symbol of the national spirit, and an important foundation for group and national cohesion.
Therefore, protecting intangible cultural heritage has the role of promoting the cultural identity of the Chinese nation, enhancing social cohesion, and enhancing national unity and social stability.
(3) Intangible cultural heritage is a variety of traditional cultural expressions and cultural spaces inherited from generation to generation by people of all ethnic groups and closely related to people's lives.
It is the crystallization of knowledge and wisdom existing among the general public, demonstrating the superb skills and talents of the general public.
(4) The protection of intangible cultural heritage within the framework of UNESCO is of particular significance to ancient civilizations and big countries like my country with unique historical paths.
It provides an international platform to showcase China's excellent traditional culture and unique cultural values.China's intangible cultural heritage has a long history, rich resources and colorful.
It is our inexhaustible and inexhaustible spiritual treasure house, an important link for international cultural exchanges, a common precious asset for all mankind, and a vivid display of world cultural diversity.
2.
The current situation of my country's intangible cultural heritage protection work
As my country's comprehensive national strength continues to increase, local governments at all levels have included the protection of intangible cultural heritage on their important agendas.
The Ministry of Culture has made unified arrangements and comprehensively promoted it, organized and carried out a series of fruitful work, and made remarkable progress, and initially established an intangible cultural heritage protection mechanism that suits my country's national conditions.
It is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
(1) Study and formulate policies and regulations to determine the principles, principles and goals for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
In 2005, the General Office of the State Council and the State Council successively issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in my Country" and the "Notice on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Heritage", establishing "protection first, rescue first, rational utilization, and inheritance" The "intangible cultural heritage protection work policy" puts forward the principles and goals of protection work.
The Ministry of Culture has formulated and promulgated departmental regulations such as the "Interim Measures for the Protection and Management of National Intangible Cultural Heritage" and the "Interim Measures for the Identification and Management of Representative Inheritors of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects".
Certain progress has also been made in the construction of local laws and regulations.
Eight provinces and regions including Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Ningxia, and Xinjiang have successively issued regulations on the protection of ethnic and folk culture or regulations on the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
(2) The first national census of intangible cultural heritage has been basically completed.
In June 2005, the Ministry of Culture uniformly deployed the national census of intangible cultural heritage, which was basically completed by the end of 2009.
According to incomplete statistics, this census collected 290,000 precious objects and materials, and the census's written records reached 2 billion words.
The total amount of intangible cultural heritage resources is quite alarming, and a number of endangered intangible cultural heritage projects have been identified and rescued.
Through census, we have a more comprehensive understanding and mastery of the types, quantity, distribution status, living environment, protection status and existing problems of intangible cultural heritage resources in various regions and ethnic groups.
(3) The list system of representative intangible cultural heritage works at the national, provincial, municipal and county levels has been initially established, and the identification and protection mechanism for representative inheritors has been continuously improved.
In accordance with the spirit of the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in my Country" of the General Office of the State Council, after recommendation, review, publicity, and announcement procedures, in 2006 and 2008, the State Council successively approved and published two batches of 1028 national-level intangible cultural heritage representative project.
As of December 2009, all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government across the country have established a provincial representative list of intangible cultural heritage, with a total of 7109 representative works projects.
Some cities and counties have also established a list of intangible cultural heritage at this level.
A list system of representative intangible cultural heritage works at the national, provincial, municipal and county levels has been initially formed.
From 2007 to 2009, the Ministry of Culture successively evaluated and announced three batches of 1488 representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects.
Local provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have also successively identified and named 6332 representative inheritors of provincial intangible cultural heritage projects.
For the identified representative inheritors, the cultural department actively supports the representative inheritors to carry out teaching activities by recording and sorting out technical materials, providing teaching venues, funding teaching activities, organizing publicity and exchanges, collecting representative works, establishing archives, and databases.
activities.
(4) The construction of cultural and ecological protection experimental zones is steadily advancing.
The Cultural and Ecological Protection Experimental Zone is a designated area with the protection of intangible cultural heritage as its core, comprehensively protecting specific cultural forms with rich historical accumulation, good survival status, special value and distinctive characteristics, and promoting comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of society.
specific area.
The construction of cultural ecological reserves is an innovative mechanism for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
From June 2007 to June 2010, the Ministry of Culture has successively established eight national-level cultural and ecological protection experimental zones, including Southern Fujian Culture, Huizhou Culture, Regong Culture, Qiang Culture, Hakka Culture (Meizhou), Wuling Mountain Area (Xiangxi) Tujia and Miao Culture, and Marine Fishing Culture (Xiangshan) and Jinzhong Culture.
At present, the construction of eight experimental areas is being carried out actively and orderly.
(5) Infrastructure construction such as the display and teaching of intangible cultural heritage is gradually underway.
According to incomplete statistics, at present, all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across the country have established 424 state-owned or private intangible cultural heritage museums, 96 exhibition halls, 179 folk museums, and 1216 teaching centers in various forms.
The establishment of these infrastructures provides a venue and platform for protecting, inheriting, displaying and promoting local intangible cultural heritage.
(6) Actively explore the productive protection of intangible cultural heritage.
Intangible cultural heritage such as traditional art and traditional arts has the characteristics of low energy consumption, non-pollution and quick results, and is suitable for the development of labor-intensive characteristic cultural industries.
All provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have actively explored the productive protection of intangible cultural heritage and played a certain role in driving the development of related industries, stimulating domestic demand, expanding employment, responding to the global financial crisis, and promoting stable and rapid economic growth.
A large number of time-honored and famous enterprises engaged in intangible cultural heritage projects have regained their vitality and vitality through productive protection, enhancing the influence of national brands.
(7) Carry out extensive and in-depth publicity and education, and the awareness of cultural heritage protection in the whole society has been continuously enhanced.
In order to cultivate and improve the cultural consciousness of the whole people and create a good social atmosphere for cultural heritage protection, the State Council established "Cultural Heritage Day".
Since 2006, the Ministry of Culture and local cultural departments have used the "Cultural Heritage Day" and traditional Chinese festivals to vigorously carry out publicity and education activities such as intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, performances, forums, and lectures.
The Ministry of Culture has hosted a series of activities such as "China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Achievements Exhibition","China Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Skills Exhibition", and "China Minority Traditional Music and Dance Exhibition".
In addition, newspapers, magazines, television, the Internet and other media are used to comprehensively report and publicize the protection of intangible cultural heritage; actively communicate with the education department to make intangible cultural heritage an important carrier for traditional cultural education and patriotic education for young people.
(8) Comprehensively understand the experience of various countries and carry out extensive international exchanges and cooperation.
Many countries in the world have gradually realized the importance of protecting their own traditional culture in the process of modernization, formulated special regulations to protect intangible cultural heritage, established relatively mature working mechanisms, and achieved relatively successful experiences.
For example, Denmark, Romania, Russia, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Slovenia and other countries have taken measures to collect, record and organize folk literature and art, and established specialized institutions to conduct research; Japan, South Korea and other countries have specially formulated cultural property protection laws to promote the promotion of intangible cultural heritage by conducting surveys of folk cultural property, identifying holders and holding groups of important intangible cultural property, and funding inheritance; Countries and regions such as Northern Europe and Canada carry out cultural and ecological protection and build cultural and ecological museums; countries such as India and Egypt have set up special sites to focus on cultivating craftsmen; France launched a national rescue project for folk cultural heritage in the 1960s, conducting a "general census" of cultural heritage.
There is also a special "National Heritage Day" event every year to enhance citizens 'awareness of heritage protection.
Currently, there are more than 18,000 cultural associations in France regard protecting and displaying heritage as their job.
The experience of relevant countries in carrying out cultural heritage protection has played a certain role in promoting my country's intangible cultural heritage protection work.
In August 2004, with the approval of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, my country officially joined the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Ministry of Culture actively participates in international exchanges and cooperation in the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
It hosted the "China Intangible Cultural Heritage Art Festival" in Paris, France, and hosted two "China Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festivals" in Chengdu, Sichuan.
It jointly carried out field surveys with Mongolia on "Mongolian Long-tune Folk Songs" and actively participated in the application of the "Representative List of Human Intangible Cultural Heritage" and the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Protection".
As of 2009, 29 intangible cultural heritage projects have been selected into the UNESCO "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" and "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Protection".
Our country is the country with the largest number of UNESCO listed projects in the world.
In May 2010, the "International Training Center for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region" was established at the China Academy of Art, becoming an important base for my country to participate in the protection of international intangible cultural heritage.
3.
Main difficulties and problems faced by the protection of national intangible cultural heritage
Overall, the protection of my country's intangible cultural heritage is still in its infancy.
Through continuous exploration, although the intangible cultural heritage protection system with China characteristics has been initially established, with the in-depth development of intangible cultural heritage protection, many problems have also emerged that require our attention, discussion and solution.
At present, my country's intangible cultural heritage protection work mainly has the following difficulties and problems:
1.
The trend of globalization has impacted the living environment of intangible cultural heritage
Due to the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, people's production and lifestyle have undergone major changes.
The development of science and technology and the improvement of productivity have improved people's material lives, and at the same time have also affected the environment on which intangible cultural heritage depends to varying degrees.
Some traditional customs have changed, many cultural memories have gradually faded, excellent culture passed down through generations has gradually been forgotten, some art types are facing the danger of extinction, some artists who master unique skills are aging, and young people are affected by the market economy and current employment concepts., they are unwilling to learn and inherit traditional culture and art, and there are few successors to inherit it.
Some intangible cultural heritage that relies on oral transmission and heart-to-heart transmission is constantly disappearing.
Take opera as an example.
In 1949, there were 360 species, and in 1982, there were 317 species.
In 2004, when it was counted again, it was found that there were only about 260 existing drama varieties in mainland China.
In just 60 years, 134 traditional drama varieties were lost, accounting for 35% of the total drama varieties.
Another example is traditional dance.
During the dance census 20 years ago, only 1389 of the 2211 dance heritages included in the "Dance Integration" volume of 19 provinces and cities such as Shanxi and Yunnan have been retained.
There were 853 activities that have disappeared or have no inheritance.
In just more than 20 years, the disappeared dance heritages accounted for nearly 37% of the total statistics at that time, and nearly two-thirds of the traditional dances in Hebei and Shanxi provinces have been lost.
The rate of decline, withering and extinction of intangible cultural heritage has reached an alarming level, and the current situation is very worrying.
(2) For a long time, there has been insufficient understanding, insufficient attention, and inadequate leadership and management of intangible cultural heritage protection.
Intangible cultural heritage has not been accorded the same status as elite culture for a long time, and there are few records in relevant historical records.
Intangible cultural heritage mainly relies on oral transmission and heart-to-heart transmission.
Due to lack of attention, it is left to its own accord.
Many ethnic folk art is unique and often exists because of people.
As the inheritors pass away one after another, people die out of their skills.
Since the launch of the protection of intangible cultural heritage, some local leaders have insufficient understanding and often confuse intangible cultural heritage with feudal dross.
Some people have failed to realize the importance of intangible cultural heritage in inheriting the Chinese context, promoting the national spirit and promoting social harmony and stability.
important role, insufficient understanding of the importance and urgency of protection work.
Some local cultural departments are highly motivated, but local governments have failed to implement funds and establish protection agencies, resulting in delays in the census, rescue and protection of resources in some places.
In some places, protection work lacks leadership, unclear protection ideas, blind development, and distortion and abuse of intangible cultural heritage occur from time to time.
This makes the current protection work impossible to carry out normally and affects the overall situation of cultural construction.
(3) The mechanism is not perfect enough and laws and regulations are absent
Although after several years of hard work, an intangible cultural heritage protection system that suits my country's national conditions has been initially established, the phenomena of "emphasizing declaration over protection" and "emphasizing utilization over management" still exist to varying degrees.
Grassroots intangible cultural heritage protection institutions are still weak, and a considerable number of city-level protection institutions have not yet been established or improved.
Many places do not yet have specialized staff, and theoretical research still lags behind the practice of protection work.
In accordance with the requirement in the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage that "each State Party shall take appropriate legal, technical, administrative and financial measures", countries that have joined the Convention must strengthen legislation and establish relevant legal protection mechanisms.
As early as the 1950s, Japan promulgated the "Cultural Property Protection Law"; in the 1960s, South Korea promulgated the "Cultural Property Protection Law"; France, Tunisia, Brazil and other countries have also made clear provisions on strengthening the protection of intangible cultural heritage in relevant laws.
However, the lack of national laws on the protection of intangible cultural heritage in my country has restricted the in-depth development of intangible cultural heritage protection to a certain extent.
The "Intangible Cultural Heritage Law" has not yet been promulgated, protection work has not yet been incorporated into the legal track, and the protection of intangible cultural heritage is "no basis".
At present, all sectors of society strongly call for the promulgation of a national Intangible Cultural Heritage Law as soon as possible so that there is a law to follow for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
(4) The inheritors have not received due social recognition and lack of management personnel and research teams
Compared with material cultural heritage, the biggest feature of intangible cultural heritage is that it exists on the basis of people.
It uses sound, image and skills as the means of expression, and uses oral transmission and heart-to-heart teaching as the continuation method.
It is a kind of "living culture." Intangible cultural heritage must be continued and passed down by people.
People are the core of intangible cultural heritage that can last forever.
For a long time, the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage have not received due social recognition and belong to marginalized and forgotten groups.
The number of managers and researchers engaged in the protection of intangible cultural heritage is small and difficult to adapt to the current needs of intangible cultural heritage protection.
(5) Insufficient financial support
Since 2006, the central government has specially arranged central subsidies for local funds for the protection of national intangible cultural heritage.
As of 2009, a total of 586 million yuan has been invested in the protection of national intangible cultural heritage in the past four years, showing a year-on-year increase.
The year-on-year increase in protection funds reflects the great importance the country attaches to the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
However, compared with other countries, compared with my country's rich intangible cultural heritage project resources, and compared with the investment in material cultural heritage protection, the funds for intangible cultural heritage protection are far from sufficient, especially under the impact of the wave of modern economic globalization.
Under the circumstances that intangible cultural heritage is becoming increasingly endangered, the investment in protection funds seems to be "a drop in the bucket".
According to relevant data, since 1975, France's annual investment in cultural heritage protection has steadily accounted for 1% of the country's total budget; Japan's annual budget for the protection of intangible cultural property is around 10 billion yen, not yet Including raising funds of billions of yen.As of the end of 2009, among my country's two batches of 1028 national-level intangible cultural heritage list projects, only 535 projects were subsidized by the central government, accounting for 52% of the total number of projects.
Nearly half of national-level projects have not received central government financial support.
Limited government financial resources and insufficient investment are one of the difficult factors facing the rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage in some places.
The recording, sorting, preservation and protection of intangible cultural heritage require funds and modern scientific and technological carriers and means.
Due to insufficient funds, many places have not allocated special protection funds and insufficient technical equipment.
Some intangible cultural heritage that is on the verge of annihilation cannot be effectively recorded and rescued.
Intangible cultural heritage census data and folk literature and art that have been recorded and organized cannot be published, and even some intangible cultural heritage materials and objects that have been recorded and organized are in danger of being damaged and lost again.
There is also a lack of corresponding funds for the rational development and utilization of intangible cultural heritage resources.
4.
Suggestions for further strengthening the protection of intangible cultural heritage
To solve the problems existing in the protection of intangible cultural heritage in my country, the key lies in adhering to scientific protection concepts, strengthening the construction of laws and regulations, and improving the protection and inheritance mechanism to develop sustainably in the right direction.
The coming period will be an important stage for my country's intangible cultural heritage protection to enter comprehensive and in-depth development.
Regarding the next step of intangible cultural heritage protection, I make the following suggestions:
(1) Improve the protection and inheritance mechanism of intangible cultural heritage
At present, the protection of intangible cultural heritage has initially established a protection working mechanism with China characteristics, but many aspects still need to be further improved and strengthened.
In the next step, it is recommended to continue to proceed from the overall development of intangible cultural heritage protection, focusing on the construction of the directory system, the protection of projects and inheritors, the construction of cultural and ecological reserves, the construction of training sites, and the construction of intangible cultural heritage museums, etc., to further improve Intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance mechanisms, and further promote the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
On the basis of the previous batches of national-level intangible cultural heritage list projects and the review and identification of representative inheritors, we will gradually improve the evaluation and identification standards of intangible cultural heritage to make the standards more scientific and rigorous, and promote the healthy and steady development of the review and identification of intangible cultural heritage.
Further strengthen the protection of list items and representative inheritors at all levels.
Provide classified guidance for intangible cultural heritage projects that have been selected in lists at all levels, conduct in-depth research on protection methods, study and formulate standards and norms for classified protection of items in the national intangible cultural heritage list, and implement targeted protection measures.
Take effective measures to focus on strengthening the protection of representative inheritors.
On the basis of finding out the current situation of inheritors, we will continue to identify and name representative inheritors of list projects at all levels, promptly record the rich knowledge and superb skills mastered by the elderly inheritors, and subsidize inheritors to carry out apprentice teaching, teaching, exchanges, displays and other activities to help inheritors who have real difficulties in life, and support, commend, and reward inheritors and inheritance groups who have made outstanding contributions.
Further clarify the ideas for the construction of cultural ecological reserves and implement the overall protection of intangible cultural heritage.
(2) Strengthen team building including inheritors, work managers, and researchers
The core of the Scientific Outlook on Development is people-oriented, and the talent team is the key to protecting intangible cultural heritage.
First of all, it is recommended to strengthen the construction of the team of inheritors, take active measures to provide guarantees for inheritors to carry out inheritance work, and actively carry out policy training for inheritors, so that they can timely understand the national policies and regulations on the protection of intangible cultural heritage and better Promote the development of inheritance work.
The second is to strengthen institutional construction.
In the process of local institutional reform, we strive to strive for staffing and establish a special intangible cultural heritage protection agency; the third is to systematically train existing intangible cultural heritage protection staff to ensure regular and institutionalized to form a full-time and part-time protection team; Fourth, it is necessary to work closely with universities and scientific research institutes to establish majors related to intangible cultural heritage, establish a number of research and training bases, cultivate a number of master's and doctoral students, and provide professional talents for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
(3) Accelerate the legislative process to provide legal protection for the protection of intangible cultural heritage
The protection of intangible cultural heritage is a cause that contributes to the present and benefits the future.
Protecting intangible cultural heritage and protecting the spiritual home is the due responsibility of every Chinese son and daughter.
Legal protection must be provided to carry out the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
At present, although effective progress has been made in the protection of intangible cultural heritage and has played an important role in promoting comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development, we deeply feel that due to the lack of national laws on the protection of intangible cultural heritage, to a certain extent, it restricts the in-depth development of intangible cultural heritage protection work.
Therefore, all sectors of society strongly call for the promulgation of a national intangible cultural heritage protection law as soon as possible so that there is a law to follow for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
At the same time, we will continue to promote the construction of local laws and regulations to gradually standardize and legalize the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
(4) Leaders of relevant administrative departments will raise awareness, strengthen leadership, and increase investment in the protection of intangible cultural heritage
Leadership attention and financial support are powerful guarantees for the in-depth development of intangible cultural heritage protection work.
It is recommended that leaders of relevant administrative departments should fully understand the importance of the protection of intangible cultural heritage, attach importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage from the perspective of being responsible to the country and history, strengthen leadership over the protection of intangible cultural heritage, and provide support in terms of institutional construction, Funding guarantee, talent team training and other aspects.
It is recommended that finance at all levels further increase investment in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, especially local finance.
At the same time, individuals, enterprises and social organizations are encouraged to subsidize the protection of intangible cultural heritage and absorb social funds through multiple channels, thereby Provide strong financial support for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
(5) Strengthen publicity and guidance on the protection of intangible cultural heritage
Intangible cultural heritage is a kind of cultural wealth that is closest to and closely related to the lives of hundreds of millions of people; the protection of intangible cultural heritage can only be achieved if it attracts the consistent attention of the whole society and only on the basis of improving the cultural consciousness of the whole nation.
By strengthening publicity and guidance, the public, especially government officials at all levels, can fully realize that intangible cultural heritage is not only a historical wealth, but also an indispensable and important resource for modernization and a spiritual driving force for promoting comprehensive social progress.
one.
Finally, as a researcher engaged in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, I sincerely hope that national laws on the protection of intangible cultural heritage can be promulgated as soon as possible.
This will promote the construction of our country's socialist culture, enhance the people's sense of happiness in life, enhance national identity and cohesion, promote social stability and harmony, enhance the country's soft power, and promote the diverse development of human culture.
Provide strong support.
This is exactly what the broad masses of people of all ethnic groups in our country earnestly hope for.
(Liu Kuili: Honorary Member of the Faculty of China Academy of Social Sciences and Chairman of China Folk Society)