[Liu Tieliang] Internal value is the foundation of folk culture

This article is one of the "Anthropology" articles in the 16th edition of the 16th edition of China Social Science Journal.

Using the concept of "heritage" equates folk customs with cultural relics and monuments left by predecessors, emphasizing that folk culture has certain important value, but it also exposes people's lack of confidence in the realization of values within folk culture.

The current research of folklore is inseparable from the discourse on the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

On the one hand, this gives folklore the opportunity to participate in solving practical cultural problems, and on the other hand, it also causes some theoretical confusion.

A core question that has not yet been clarified is whether the concept of intangible cultural heritage can really explain the value of folk culture?

Intangible cultural heritage is a concept about cultural classification and value judgment.

It mainly refers to folk culture that is about to disappear or undergo fundamental changes.

This concept was originally intended to clarify the scope of cultures that require special protection and emphasize the reasons for protecting them.

But what value does folk culture have? How can the value of folk culture be realized in real life? Discussions on these two important issues have been both activated and disrupted by the concept of intangible cultural heritage.

In fact, scholars are busy evaluating and scoring folk customs according to the value standards of "heritage", failing to conduct more investigation and research on changing folk customs in various places.

At present, the protection of folk culture attaches great importance to the realization of external values

The value of folk culture can be understood from two aspects: "internal value" and "external value".

Internal value refers to the role played by folk culture in the society and historical time and space in which it exists, that is, the value recognized by the people as insiders and actually used in life.

External value refers to the economic benefits and other values obtained by outsiders such as scholars, social activists, cultural industry professionals, etc.

add to the concepts, comments or commercial packaging of these cultures.

The relative distinction between internal values and external values is related to the fundamental contradictions faced in the protection of folk culture.

The realization of the two values of folk culture should complement each other, especially the need to protect the realization of their values.

At present, most of the practices and results of "protecting" folk culture pay attention to the realization of its external values.

Many protection plans are formulated in accordance with the values of outsiders, and outsiders have gained some power to interfere in the inheritance of folk culture.

This may cause harm to the original internal values of folk culture.

The fundamental value of folk culture is its internal value with life characteristics, rather than the external value of treating it as an object of appreciation and product packaging.

The internal value is the "foundation" and the external value is the "end".

If the cart is inverted, the natural inheritance and normal renewal process of folk culture may be curbed.

Folk culture is not a "heritage" for outsiders to appreciate

In social life, whether and how a specific folk culture can be passed down will inevitably be subject to the influence of industrialization and technology, as well as changes in the structure of social relations.

When fundamental changes occur in the group's lifestyle, the form and role of folk culture will inevitably undergo some changes, and it is impossible to maintain its "original flavor".

But folk culture should not be just a "heritage" for outsiders to appreciate, such as being displayed in museums and performed in tourist venues.

Folk culture should be able to continuously play its role in the continuous construction of social lifestyles and communication methods, through interpretation of meaning and innovation of forms, so as to continue to maintain its intrinsic value.

The internal value of folk culture does not arise in self-isolation.

As a symbol and tool for mutual identification and communication between people, the value of folk culture not only exists in the internal life of a certain region and group, but also exists in cross-regional and cross-group communication.

The openness of the internal values of folk culture is also reflected in the mutual transformation relationship between them and external values.

For example, the belief in Emperor Guan can take root in many places, which is inseparable from the admiration of the ancient central government and the interpretation of literati from various places.

This shows that external values can be transformed into internal values provided that they are recognized and participated by the majority of the local people.

In other words, there is a process of mutual recognition and acceptance between internal and external values.

When outsiders carry out the protection of folk culture, they need to strengthen their understanding of the value within them.

At the same time, they also need to give special support to the realization of the value within folk culture.

In Yangshudixia Village, Huairou District, Beijing, there is a custom for women to form associations to cook "Lianqiao Rice"(or "Queer Rice") on the 15th of the first lunar month every year.

Legend has it that this is to thank the sparrow for helping them obtain food seeds, and also to express the interest of life in the mountain village.

After this custom entered the national intangible cultural heritage list, it called a large number of tourists to come and eat "Lianqiao Rice".

It should be said that this is no longer a village folk custom in the original sense.

The focus of value realization is shifting from the inside to the outside, developing the local tourism economy.

This is an example of the current internal and external values of folk culture replacing each other and may become another normal state, showing that the protection of folk culture cannot escape the constraints of the transformation of the entire society.

Folklore scholars should have a clear understanding of this.

Among them, the most important task should be to pay attention to whether the internal values of folk culture rooted in life have been maintained and revitalized.

Folk customs are inseparable from physical practice

Out of this concern, it is necessary to reflect on a series of concepts and practices in the process of protecting folk culture.

The first is the classification of folk customs.

For a long time, scholars have carried out so-called scientific interpretations of folk customs that are originally integrated with life according to their needs.

For example, the art discipline requires identifying folk customs as art, and distinguishing clearly what is literature, what is music, and what is art.

Festival researchers need to find out what religious festivals and what production festivals are.

However, these explanations often ignore people's overall and comprehensive feeling of folk customs based on their personal experience, so they cannot appreciate the intrinsic value of folk culture.

Selecting some folk customs into the list of intangible cultural heritage at all levels according to such classification standards cannot guide folk culture to realize its original value in life.

The classification of folk culture, which is aloof from life, is censured.

The second is about the role of "inheritors".

The idea that folk culture can be inherited as long as some of the skills or knowledge of the "inheritors" are protected is a bit simple.

A large number of facts show that these inheritors only turn their crafts and talents into bulk tourism commodities or performances to show to outsiders.

This practice cannot restore folk customs as emotional symbols and play their role in mobilizing and organizing the process of harmonious life.

The reason is that the inheritance of folk culture relies particularly on groups and society.

When society has other expectations for the roles of these individuals, then he has to change the role he assumes, even though he has a lot of knowledge of folk culture.

At the same time, we must also realize that not only the inheritors recognized by the government, but everyone has ever-changing folk culture.

Everyone's life more or less reflects the value of folk customs.

The reason why the culture of a society is a whole is that the whole of this culture can be seen in one's life.

Finally, there is the substantive question of whether "intangible culture" reveals the value of folk culture.

Folk customs are created, passed down and enjoyed by people as life culture.

The use of intangible culture to define folk customs is based on a detached and "objective" standpoint, that is, as a protector or researcher, and does not point out the correct way to personally experience folk customs.

All folk customs are inseparable from physical practice, and folk customs have the nature of physical experience.

Participating in the lives of local people can best mobilize one's own physical experience to experience the physical experience of others, so that one can truly appreciate the internal value of folk culture in the local area.

Taking the experience of a case investigation as an example, in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing, Changgou Town is a famous market.

In modern times, some surrounding villages have relied on the market to form a division of labor and production pattern based on the village.

There is a local saying (proverb):"The baskets of Qixian Village, the baskets along the village, the small cars of Taihe Village, and the boys of Beiwu (village) make great incense." ("Qi Da Xiang" refers to squeezing sesame oil.) This proverb not only records a period of rural economic history, but also records physical experiences that only local people can experience, and contains many personal life stories of villagers.

In order to feel the collective physical experience of these villagers, the author formed the concept of "village labor model" during the investigation.

"Labor" refers to the behavior of villagers engaged in production and exchange, which has a certain meaning of identity; as a folk cultural phenomenon, labor is the most common and common group and patterned cultural phenomenon in all societies.

With the advancement of industrialization, the labor model of these villages in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing has been disintegrated and has become historical memories.

Only a few elderly people are still engaged in this modeled production and sales activities.

The case along the village also shows that folk culture is not only facing the problem of retaining some cultural forms, but also issues that need to be discussed in conjunction with urban and rural development models.

Culture alone cannot solve cultural problems.

Describing village people's memories of this period of history from the perspective of physical experience can make up for the shortcomings of general rural economic history research and rural social history research, because it helps to understand the process of interaction and mutual shaping between people and cultural traditions.

For example, the weaving of baskets by people along the village has not only changed their lives, but also changed their physical experience to a certain extent.

The protection of intangible cultural heritage originates from the cultural crisis, but protection itself cannot fundamentally overcome the cultural crisis.

Contemporary people's awareness of cultural crisis is closely related to people's physical experience of the great changes in the environment, such as the emotion that "the taste of the New Year has faded." Therefore, only by "understanding" the value of various folk cultures can we deepen cultural exchanges between people and enhance the rationality of contemporary cultural creation and inheritance.

(Source: China Social Science News Author: Liu Tieliang Unit: School of Liberal Arts, Beijing Normal University)

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"Hua 'er", also known as "Youth", is a unique high-pitched folk song spread in northwest China.

The tunes are high and melodious, the lyrics are simple and fresh, and it has distinctive local characteristics and a strong national style.

The most remarkable characteristics of "Hua 'er" are: first, it uses history, drama, etc.

that are familiar to the general public as themes; second, it uses fresh and unique dialects that are familiar to people of all ethnic groups, and adds some imaginary tunes and lining words to the lyrics, such as ha, mo, ah, la, etc., to enhance the mood, strengthen the sense of rhythm, make up for the gaps in singing, and achieve the goal of overcoming the limitations brought by local languages.

In 2009, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other provinces and regions, where "Hua 'er" is most widely spread, jointly applied for the United Nations "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" with the northwest "Hua' er" as a whole and achieved success.