[Yao Hui] Why is it "original ecology"? --Reflection on the protection of intangible cultural heritage in the era of globalization
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Important: The "authenticity" corresponding to the word "original ecology" in the Chinese context) was banned or used with caution by relevant UNESCO resolutions as early as 2011.
In the music industry in China,"original ecology" is still widely used as a standard term representing the direction of intangible cultural heritage protection.
"Original folk songs" have gone through a process of being constructed from "folk songs" to "singing methods" in a certain sense, and have also gone through the process of contextualization, de-contextualization and re-contextualization.
The inconsistent economic development levels of cities and rural areas and the positions of all parties have resulted in fundamental differences in the demands of singers and scholars after "original ecological folk songs" have appeared on the mass media.
It is necessary for us to deeply reflect on the "original ecology" phenomenon and the issues of intangible cultural heritage protection and cultural diversity it reflects.
The word "original ecology" has once become a hot word in the music field to describe "authentic" folk songs.
It is also a high-frequency word in the field of intangible cultural heritage protection in China's music industry.
Searching "China Knowledge Network", as of the end of 2018, there were 754 articles with the theme of "Original Ecological Folk Songs", which shows the degree of attention they have received.
It can be said that in the context of China and within a certain period of time,"original ecology" represents an important direction for the protection of intangible cultural heritage.
However, at the sixth and seventh ordinary sessions of the Intergovernmental Commission for UNESCO held in 2011 and 2012, the resolutions on the protection of intangible cultural heritage listed a series of inappropriately used words, including authenticity, which is often translated as "authenticity" in the Chinese context and in the field of intangible cultural heritage protection, and its reference can basically correspond to "original ecology"[1].
The resolution believes that the improper use of these terms exposes a lack of full understanding of specific chapters of the 2003 Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention") by some declaring countries, which violates the values of the drafters of the Convention and the spirit of the Convention [2].
In November 2015, the 10th ordinary session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage (IGC) reviewed and approved the "Ethical Principles for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage"(hereinafter referred to as the "Principles"), of which Article 8 states: "The dynamic and living nature of intangible cultural heritage should always be respected.
Authenticity) and exclusivity should not constitute problems or obstacles to the protection of intangible cultural heritage." [3]It can be seen from this that the decision to "ban" inappropriate terms such as "authenticity" is precisely to demonstrate full respect for the dynamics and vitality of intangible cultural heritage.
Different from solid material cultural heritage, the "living" inheritance of intangible cultural heritage shapes its variability and particularity.
Therefore, there is no need to question the authenticity and origin in theory, and it is difficult to judge what is "foundation" and what is "truth".
The question is, why are synonyms such as "authenticity,""original ecology" and "original flavor" that are banned, used with caution, and even considered to violate the spirit of the Convention in China's music industry still regarded as standard words representing the direction of intangible cultural heritage protection and widely used? What this article focuses on is, through the case of "original ecological folk songs", how do we view the protection concepts of the Convention, the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines") and the "Principles" and the inconsistency between China's localization practice? How to think about the relationship between "original ecology" and cultural diversity in the context of globalization?
1.
From "folk songs" to "singing methods": the constructed "original ecology"
The first one to talk about "original folk songs" was Jin Zhaojun's article "Singing the Voice of the Times-After the Review of the National Farmers Singer Grand Prix" in 2001.
The article believed that the academic "national singing school" had overwhelmingly obstructed the traditional "original" singing style art, and for the first time,"original ecology" was regarded as a singing style opposed to the academic "national singing school"[4].
In 2004, promoted by a series of singing competition programs such as the Northern Shaanxi Folk Song Classic Song Festival "Shandan Flowers Blooming Red", Zuo Quan's "Second North-South Folk Song Challenge Competition","Native Yellow River-Top Ten Local Song Kings Concert" and "CCTV Western Folk Song TV Competition","Folk Song·China" and "Charm 12", scholars such as Qiao Jianzhong, Wu Guodong, Tian Qing, Fan Zuyin, Tian Liantao, and Zang Yibing began to wonder what "original folk songs" are, There was a heated discussion on the authenticity and comparability of "original folk songs" after being put on the stage or participating in competitions.
Their views focus on:1."Original ecology" is an idealistic and unavoidable term [5];2.
The reason why scholars acquiesce and advocate this is to change the existing "emphasis on technology over art" and standardization of academic schools in the music industry, and restore the original diverse look of folk songs by promoting the "original ecology" of folk songs [6];3.
In this process, the media and stage have an inevitable alienation effect on folk music, but we should see the most reasonable part of these work [7]; 4.
Protecting and inheriting the "original ecological culture" does not mean that it is not about innovation, but that while maintaining the "roots and sources", we will show good things to everyone by holding folk song competitions and other forms, and let it "live" first.
Come down "[8];5.
The" original ecological folk songs "you hear on the stage will definitely change, but this change is not a fundamental change [9].
Scholars advocate "original ecology", which is a classification of Bel Canto, ethnic and popular singing methods that have long been formed in the music industry, and that only Western Bel Canto singing is scientific and authentic.
The singing methods of China are all unrefined.
Challenges posed by the established understanding of "local singing methods." In this discourse,"original ecology" is regarded as the contradictory opposite of the academic school.
In 2005, Zhang Xiaonong's article first talked about the protection of "original ecological folk songs" from the perspective of "oral cultural heritage" and "intangible cultural heritage"[10].
The following year,"intangible cultural heritage" became one of the top ten media and Internet hot words that year and attracted widespread public attention.
If scholars only stayed at the level of topic discussion on this issue at first, by 2006, under the joint promotion of the intangible cultural heritage protection craze and the media and scholars,"original ecological folk songs" entered a practical practical level, sharing equal footing with Bel Canto, Ethnic, and Popular singing methods, and were included in the CCTV Young Singer Grand Prix, breaking the "three-divided world" singing classification pattern in the vocal music industry for the first time.
In 2006, Tian Qing, then deputy director of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said: "I think that from the perspective of our musicologists, the original singing method has at least three meanings: first, continue history and let us find the roots of national culture; second, re-emphasize the essence of art, advocate true feelings and individuality, oppose technological supremacy and scientism in the art field, and return to the authenticity of art; third, advocate cultural diversity and oppose only one voice in a certain art." [11]Li Song believes that traditional culture and national folk culture are our cultural genes [12].
As a representative art form and cultural existence of cultural tradition, cultural diversity and marginal grassroots culture,"original ecological folk songs" are regarded as social recognition.
The continuous improvement and deepening of degree is essentially a process of cultural consciousness [13].
It can be seen that Tian Qing has given the "original ecology" more the function and mission of returning to artistic authenticity, individuality and cultural diversity, as well as continuing history, in order to continue the national culture and solve the problem of ecological imbalance and artistic aesthetics in the music industry itself.
Compared with other scholars '"debate on name and reality" on the word "original ecology", Tian Qing and Li Song pay more attention to the impact and significance of the so-called "original ecology folk songs" phenomenon on academic circles and even society.
Therefore, from "folk songs" to "singing methods","original ecological folk songs" have gone through a process jointly constructed by multiple actors in a certain sense.
In addition to scholars participating in the selection, answering on the spot, and advocating the establishment of a separate "original ecological group", the shaping role of the media cannot be underestimated [14].
In addition, it should also include participatory construction completed by the audience inside and outside the venue by asking questions, because some questions directly point to the connotation of "original ecological folk songs" itself, such as "Are the 'original ecological folk songs' of different ethnic groups comparable?" These questions in turn prompted scholars to further think and explain the connotation and extension of "original ecological folk songs or singing methods)".
People's use of the word has in fact gone beyond its literal meaning and mere discussion of musical forms.
From the perspective of scholars, expectations for the value of "original ecological folk songs" are generated based on identity and urban cultural reality.
They are also regarded as a solution to the problems existing in the vocal music teaching of academic schools in the music industry, and hope is placed on the "original ecology", advocating that academic schools learn from them, and intending to explore the future development direction of the overall national vocal music.
In essence, scholars 'pursuit of "original ecology" is to realize and strengthen cultural identity based on musical forms.
The word "original ecology" triggers not only professional debates at the level of word analysis in the academic field, but also gives it the ideal and mission to resist the homogeneous aesthetic trend brought about by global integration, and to continue history, clarify national cultural identity, and revitalize national cultural traditions.
In the process of relying on media power to attract social attention, the music industry's thinking about "original ecology" aesthetic issues has to some extent become a preliminary practice in solving related issues in China's intangible cultural heritage protection.
2.
From the countryside to the stage: Contextualization, de-contextualization and re-contextualization of "original ecological folk songs"
Many scholars and singers believe that the "original" folk songs moved on TV/stage have not lost their authenticity, and even if they mutate, their fundamental attributes will not change.
So, is this the real situation?
Qiao Jianzhong once believed that "stage" has a "double-edged" effect, which has a corresponding negative impact on the inheritance, creation and even their essential characteristics of folk songs.
First of all, once any folk song is on the modern stage, it must adapt to the requirements of the stage, such as clothing, makeup, gestures and even performance psychology, which are all very different from the "stage" of daily life.
This is essentially the requirement of professional performance.
Therefore, stage is professionalism.
For professional singers, the above behaviors are completely reasonable.
But for folk singers, it may not be reasonable and smooth.
It may eliminate the most distinctive aspects and add some "superfluous elements".
At least in form, it changed the "original appearance" of their singing.
Secondly, when folk singers sing in a natural environment, they are casual, simple and unpretentious, just like birds flying in the sky and fish swimming in the water.
However, on the modern stage, through repeated "rehearsals", the "non-repetitive" and vibrant original singing will inevitably be "shaped" and "prefabricated".
The sense of spontaneity, impromptu, and "I sing with my mouth, my heart" will be greatly reduced.
Some people who have never seen such a scene will even lose their ability to "create while performing".
This may be the most direct impact of stage on the authenticity of folk songs.
Third, stage practice and excessive competitions often induce some outstanding singers from the folk to relatively "solidify" their singing repertoire and styles for the sake of competitions, forming a bad tendency to break the world with one or two folk songs, and also The impromptu and creative nature of traditional folk songs run counter to each other.
Fourth, folk singing has always used the national language and local pronunciation, which directly reflects the styles and characteristics of different ethnic groups and regions.
However, we have noticed that in decades of "staged" performances, the most lost is local language.
One is that people from other places cannot learn to sing very well; if local people live in a big city for a long time and perform on the stage for a long time, they will also change their pronunciation intentionally or unintentionally in order to adapt to the tastes of urban audiences.
As for professional singers in colleges and universities, when singing certain folk songs, they will choose "Mandarin" without thinking.
As a result, the degradation of folk song style will become a "reasonable change" due to "stage transformation".
[15]
Qiao Jianzhong has actually touched on several key points, and the author will add some more.
Because there is more than one type of folk song that has been "staged" or entered into TV singing competitions, this issue also needs to be treated differently.
Some folk songs are often sung to oneself in the native environment.
They are a kind of "private" self-expression to relieve loneliness, focusing on the expression of individual emotions.
The singer himself is not a profession, and singing does not necessarily have an audience present, nor does he need to master the strategies and skills of how to interact with the audience.
Therefore, this type of folk song singing has not yet constituted a "communication event", nor does it need to follow the series of rules on the transmission of information symbols.
However, when folk songs are put on TV/stage, from being sung mainly for oneself to being sung to a broad audience, and from self-entertainment to entertaining others [16], they need to be performed under the rules of communication and operating rules such as TV competitions, etc., and follow the required relevant general rules.
In fact, the singer has gone through a "contextualized" transformation, from a person's self-dialogue and emotional expression to a transformative performance process of showing himself to others.
Of course, folk songs are also in some kind of communication and interaction in their native environment, such as folk songs or long rap in song festivals, religious ceremonies and rituals.
In a certain geographical and cultural area, singers and listeners share a set of local knowledge that only local people can understand, that is, the identification system needed in the process of symbol encoding and decoding.
This system has a regional scope."Insiders" openly shared a collective concept based on tradition and its carrying methods that conforms to the operating mechanism of rural society.
"Original folk songs" in this traditional context also exist as "communication events".
They are not just a simple free presentation of musical forms, but focus on the communication and interaction between the singer and the audience at the oral performance.
Of course, folk songs based on daily life are slightly different from folk epics or folk art, operas, and ceremonial music that require a high degree of reliance on local knowledge and the ability to identify "insiders" symbols.
Most of what they describe are ordinary joys, sorrows, sorrows, and worldly emotions.
Even if life experiences vary due to geographical separation, the understanding of life can have a side that transcends context and local knowledge, and the audience will not completely understand it.
But this is limited to Han folk songs.
Limited by language and local knowledge, ethnic minority folk songs still face many problems such as poor communication caused by disengagement from context when facing non-ethnic audiences.
So, what is this type of folk song missing during the process of stage performance symbol encoding) and audience listening symbol decoding)? For "original folk songs" in the oral tradition, singers and listeners jointly construct the folk song text during performance interactions.
The singer will recreate the text again and again in the oral performance according to the performance context and the audience's reaction, forming a different performance for each performance.
Diversified folk song presentation.
However, when "original folk songs" are put on TV/stage, participate in competitions and "de-contextualized", the audience is no longer the "insiders" in their county, township, and village who share local knowledge.
When this coding, decoding system and the hidden but dominant "silent contract" dominated by local/ethnic traditions become ineffective to some extent, and the grammatical rules created during the performance will be broken or encounter identification obstacles.
When the audience in the communication process changes from "insiders" to "outsiders", the imagination and improvisation creativity contained in the diversified living presentation will also be eliminated to a considerable extent.
Folk singer Shi Zhanming said: "Stage performances are very different from 'shouting songs' in the mountains.
In the mountains, I faced a flock of sheep and saw rolling mountains.
I felt free to 'shout' and sing songs.
Standing on the stage and facing so many audiences, I often feel nervous, so I can't perform well to my true level."[17] The paradox is that what we want to protect is precisely the diverse living creativity.
Whether" original ecological "folk songs separated from the context can still play the function of maintaining and inheriting local knowledge systems, whether folk songs without audience participation in the construction are still living texts, or whether the living creativity of" original ecological folk songs "will be solidified by television/stage, etc.
will become questions.
Moreover,"original" singers who leave the mountains and countryside and board "CCTV" still need to go through a "re-contextualization" process created by TV, especially for ceremonial contexts where self-cultural regulations are stipulated in the native context.
Folk songs in context [18].
In this process, the performer and the audience at the recording scene and the audience in front of the TV) need to quickly construct a TV-based, reductive, culturally understandable reconstructed context and a set of symbols based on the communication and interaction of multiple audiences.
system.
In other words, how to present it on TV is no longer the independent choice of the "original" singer, but has to go through the "second creation" of the TV director and enter a "re-contextualization" process.
[19]
In 2013, the "CCTV Youth Song Competition" no longer established a separate "original ecological group" and continued to return to the three major categories of singing patterns: ethnic, bel canto, and popular.
To this end, Tian Qing submitted a proposal to oppose the abolition of the "Original Ecology Group" at the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that year, and was signed by 34 CPPCC members from the literary and art circles, but ultimately failed to change the situation.
The explanation given by the organizing committee of the "Youth Song Competition" is: "Returning to the three major singing methods does not mean that we ignore the original ecology.
The main reasons are: First, original ecology songs are a form of singing that expresses local culture.
They are non-renewable and it is difficult to have new works emerging, and the songs are repeated a lot, and the contestants are also constantly repeating them in the selection of songs; Moreover, due to the large scope of the competition, many participating teams in many places do not have original singers, and the burden on outsourcing players increases, and the competition is of little significance; Third, since its launch, there have been differences, and there are reasons for their incomparable professional points of view.
As the essence of local culture, each has its unique artistic brilliance and it is difficult to compare technically." [20]
Regardless of whether this explanation is reasonable or not, it at least reflects the fact that the so-called "local" and "non-local" experiences experienced by "original ecological folk songs" from rural areas in the process of "re-contextualization" of television.
There are contradictions between the two sets of knowledge symbol systems in terms of value cognition.
Repetition is an important rule of folk songs in the original context, but this rule is based on the local cultural context and audience.
The apparent repetition to outsiders is not completely consistent in the recognition system of the singer's performance and the "inside" audience.
Under the basic framework, the singer's impromptu creation will burst out with new sparks at any time in the local context and the audience's acceptance process, and repetition is not meaningless to them.
The floating space between the traditional text framework and the singer's personalized creation is precisely the interest of local audiences in appreciating and appreciating it.
Without repetition, it will not be accepted and recognized.
However, in the eyes of TV viewers who do not understand or are unfamiliar with local culture, not only is this symbol rule unrecognizable due to "de-contextualization", but the fun therein is basically "talking to each other"; in the TV context where the essence is always new and eye-catching, repetition makes a big mistake.
3.
From scholars 'visions to singers' demands: the distance between ideals and reality
From an academic standpoint, scholars strive for equal rights and living space for "original singers".
Is it out of their fascination and imagination with national history and local native culture, or is the singer trying to express her aspirations and demands through the mouth of scholars? In the process of safeguarding rights for "original ecological folk songs", scholars have the right to speak, but do the performers of "original ecological folk songs" also understand and agree with scholars 'opinions? After more than ten years of intangible cultural heritage protection movement, can "original ecological folk songs" afford the cultural ideals and missions they have been entrusted with?
Two cases are mentioned here first.
One: "Singer" Li Huaifu once recalled that before 2004, young people in his hometown did not like their own folk songs.
They all liked to sing karaoke and dance disco.
However, after the original folk songs came to the stage, especially after the youth song competition, this situation has undergone earth-shaking changes.
While these original singers represent their nation and sing their own folk songs all over the motherland and even the world, in their hometown, people's concepts are changing and young people's ideas are changing.
They no longer feel that these folk songs are old-fashioned and worthless.
Value, but are proud to learn folk songs and proud to have their own nation's artistic treasures go to the world." [21]Second: "The emergence of original music in the 'Youth Song Competition' has suddenly emerged.
Among them, the beautiful and charming singing of the Qiang people's wine songs has made the wild singing in the fields in the past popular hall.
It has been widely accepted by musicians and ordinary audiences.
The Qiang people's national confidence has begun to be reshaped.
Many Qiang folk artists have begun to re-spread the original ecological music culture of the Qiang people, and the team that learns and disseminates Qiang music has continued to grow." [22]It can be seen that the appearance of "original folk songs" on "CCTV" has indeed attracted much attention.
More importantly, the attention of the outside world has played a role in strengthening "intra-agency" identity and has become a powerful force in promoting the inheritance and development of folk songs.
But at the same time, after the "Youth Song Competition", singers were faced with different choices.
Either return to their original life, or choose to stay in the city to live and develop, lucky ones also enter professional academies and become professional singers.
From singer Po's description of Shi Zhanming, who has entered a professional cultural troupe, we can see the contradiction between his life needs and his "original ecology" aesthetics and values: "...
Later, even though Zhan Ming earned quite a lot of money from the performance and bought a house in the city and hired people to keep the flock of sheep, when he came, the reporter still had to go back and swing the sheep whip to take photos.
He still had to say against his will,'I still want to go home and herd the sheep.'" [23]Gao Baoli, who also participated in the "Youth Song Competition", said: "The reason why singers choose to adapt folk songs has their own difficulties.
Native folk singers are basically farmers, and survival is the primary problem they need to face." Only when we are accepted by the public and become mainstream can our lives improve.'" [24]
After the "Youth Song Competition" pushed the "original singers" into the spotlight, who would pay for their life choices after the competition became a real question.
Although scholars did not originally intend to change the life of the "original singer" after the game, under the influence of various realistic entanglements such as social status, interests, identity, and attention, life may change has become a fact.
The paradox is that scholars hope to use the power of the media to push unknown folk singers to the front of the curtain and let more people see them.
The purpose or original intention is to prevent these folk singers who are in a "culturally weak" from being alienated and assimilated by the wave of modernization and the pursuit of professionalism, but the fact is to some extent on the opposite path.
When these folk singers are not paid attention to, they can still retain their folk lifestyles, aesthetic concepts and traditional singing methods; when they quickly enter the public's view through television as "original singers", their lifestyles, aesthetic concepts and singing methods and styles will mean being separated from the original folk context and accepting a new "re-contextualization" process.
As for how many singers can adhere to the "original ecology" during this process, it completely depends on the individual singer's understanding and choice.
Moreover, in the face of the strong attraction that living conditions can be improved, the so-called adherence to local culture and aesthetic individuality often seems to be vulnerable to a blow.
For scholars,"original folk songs" are just a problem they have to face at the academic level.
They are topics they have to study or promote.
They have nothing to do with daily life.
Therefore, they can completely think from the perspective of cultural development.
Folk singers, on the other hand,"Original folk songs" are their life itself, so "how to sing" will naturally be influenced and influenced by many factors other than singing.
In fact, how to consider identity transformation and native life is a big problem that is thrown to "original singers" after appearing on TV.
Scholars hope that singers can still stick to their original style and singing methods and maintain their "original ecology" after receiving social attention, but the latter wants to improve their lives through professionalism; scholars push them into the spotlight, realizing the hope they placed at the beginning."Original ecology" has attracted widespread attention from audiences across the country, arousing awareness of protection on a larger scale, but at the same time it has pushed them to the forefront of being constructed or actively accepting reinvention and rapidly mutating [25]; Scholars hope that "original ecology" can become a value subject to fight against the lack of cultural and artistic individuality, but it can also quickly dissolve singer personality in urban life and professional survival.
As a method,"original ecology" may solve the problems of orientation for the development of aesthetics and national art in the academic circles themselves and even the times, including the issues of cultural consciousness and the continuation of historical traditions.
However, intangible cultural heritage protection has now become the object of joint construction by multiple roles such as governments, scholars, inheritors, media, Universities, enterprises, cultural organizations, grassroots cultural people, designers, and cultural creators.
In the future process of rural transformation such as "poverty alleviation" and "rural revitalization", the trend of multi-party construction will become more and more obvious.
Under the interaction of multiple discourses and the superposition of interests of all parties, whether folk singers will be assimilated and alienated is no longer a unilateral choice for singers or scholars.
Therefore, those good original intentions may turn into wishful thinking or utopian imagination to some extent.
As Li Song said: "The protection of original ecological folk songs clearly shows the distinction between active and passive in the interaction between cities and rural areas, mainstream and folk, and shows multiple value orientations in this interaction with different purposes.
Most of this diverse value orientation comes from mainstream society, and the protected objects are basically expressed in the mentality of 'I love tradition, but pay more attention to practical interests.' Combining this mentality with external demands, the easiest agreement to reach is the direct utilization of resources, which leads to the original ecological culture often entering a certain chain of interests in the name of protection or being protected.
The 'symphony' of collecting styles, discovering, excavating, creating, packaging, developing and utilizing forms an unbalanced state of protection and utilization.
Of course, it is difficult to say what a reasonable state of protection and utilization is, and there is no reason to criticize various interest claims in the face of original ecological culture.
But what is clear is that eager for quick success and instant benefit is by no means an ideal cultural ecology, nor can it achieve the true purpose of protection." [26]
The fundamental reasons are two "unsynchronized": one is that scholars 'pursuit of cultural diversity is not synchronized with singers' needs for real life, which is ultimately caused by the unsynchronized development of urban and rural economies; the other is the mismatch between the "inside" as singers and the "outside" as scholars.
The above will inevitably bring about a lack of synchronization in concepts and consciousness, resulting in different expectations and demands for "original ecological folk songs" when they reach the stage of elegance or later.
If any civilization goes through a process from rupture to return or recovery, then the process that scholars are trying to recover is precisely the process that singers are trying to break.
In addition, the current cultural consciousness of cultural diversity, intangible cultural heritage protection and rejuvenation is the consciousness of intellectual groups, not the cultural consciousness of "original ecological singers" from the people.
This is another reason that leads to the inconsistency of the two demands.
important reason.
4.
Reflections on the protection of intangible cultural heritage in the era of globalization
Li Song believes that "original folk songs" are not so much a cultural concept as a cultural event, which is a reflection and appeal by China intellectuals based on cultural reality.
[27]The phenomenon of "original ecological folk songs" has gone through thirteen years since its rise in 2006.
From the perspective of the Convention, Guidelines and Principles, it is necessary for us to rethink it culturally.
The many practical choices of "original" folk songs and singers have in fact gone beyond the question of whether "original" is "authentic" at the formal level, whether there is authenticity, and whether it is necessary to discuss how "original" is possible; At the same time, it is no longer a problem for the music industry itself.
In essence, it should be a general proposition that scholars from all over the world need to face and how to practice intangible cultural heritage protection practices in the context of globalization.
In this sense, the phenomenon of "original ecological folk songs" can be regarded as a typical case of observation and reflection.
First of all, returning to the "Principles", we find that there are entanglements and contradictions between the "Principles" and operational reality in the phenomenon of "original folk songs".
The Convention, Guidelines and Principles are established to achieve the protection of intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity, and to resist globalization and cultural homogenization; they emphasize that relevant communities, groups and individuals should play a major role in protecting what they hold.
Intangible cultural heritage should play a major role in the process, which is the common direction of the above three UNESCO documents.
On the one hand, scholars or media who are "outsiders" have no right to make choices, and the right to choose should be returned to the communities, groups and individuals who inherit and practice intangible cultural heritage.
As Principle 6 states,"Each community, group or individual shall assess the value of the intangible cultural heritage it holds, and such heritage shall not be subject to external judgments of value or significance"[28].
But on the other hand, specific to the phenomenon of "original ecological folk songs", if communities, groups and individuals are allowed to make voluntary choices, their choices are often consistent with scholars 'visions or the cultural diversity advocated by the Convention, Guidelines and Principles.
Sexual conflicts with each other, and tend to be consistent with modern urban life, towards the cultural homogenization pointed out by globalization and modernization.
Restricted by life demands,"original" singers have not yet established their own cultural consciousness or cultural subjectivity rights demands.
When multiple actors of modernization and urbanization intervene, the singer's evaluation standards and realistic choices are often voluntarily controlled or influenced by external forces.
At this time, the first thing that "original" singers consider is not the survival of the intangible cultural heritage they have in the present and future, but the real life itself in front of them.
When the right to choose is returned to communities, groups and individuals, whether they have the identity and cultural identity of this right, whether they have the will to exercise this power, and whether they have the sense of autonomy with the goal of maintaining the survival of intangible cultural heritage, it becomes a practical problem that all walks of life need to face.
Secondly, the process from the constructed "original ecological folk songs" to the singer's "stage" selection and the reconstruction process of multiple actors is collected, protected, encouraged, researched, packaged, improved, processed, and promoted.
In the publicity [29]), even those scholars who want to affirm the rights of "original ecological" singers consciously or unconsciously and inevitably participate in the construction.
So, since the Convention, Guidelines and Principles emphasize the return of rights to communities, groups and individuals, does this mean that scholars and media should withdraw from the practice of intangible cultural heritage protection?
Real operations are far from covered by the binary oppositional logic of either or, right and wrong.
In fact, while the Convention, Guidelines and Principles emphasize the dominant position and role of communities, groups and individuals in the protection process, they also stipulate the roles of experts, scholars and the media.
For example, chapter 3 of the Guide regards experts, professional centers and research institutions as components of functionally complementary cooperation [30], whose responsibility is to provide professional consultation and academic research; chapter 4 of the Guide states: "States parties are encouraged to support media promotion activities and use various forms of media to disseminate intangible cultural heritage...
Encourage audio-visual media to produce high-quality radio and television programs and documentaries to increase the visibility of intangible cultural heritage and demonstrate its role in contemporary society." [31]In other words, the above-mentioned document is not intended to deny the actual participation of scholars and the media, but requires scholars and the media to carefully grasp the scale and severity at the level of role play.Specific to the phenomenon of "original ecological folk songs", we have to say that through the promotion and dissemination of the "CCTV Youth Song Competition" platform, the visibility of "original ecological folk songs" and intangible cultural heritage has indeed been improved, but we must also reflect on the construction of scholars and media power.
Objective existence and efforts to recreate context.
Third, there is a conflict between global economic integration and cultural diversity.
The development of culture has always been interrelated with the development of economy and politics.
The development of culture and art is not only subject to the trend of the overall values of economy, politics and the times, but also their vane and symbol symbols.
They often exist as a whole and cannot be separated from each other, global economic integration often brings about the homogenization and integration of culture.
However, when the unprecedented development of information technology breaks down the original cultural divide, when integration and modernization become the common global development goals and life pursuits, emphasizing cultural diversity means that culture must be independent of economic development and become a self-contained system.
How to achieve cultural diversity under the premise of global economic integration has thus become a proposition of the times.
At the same time, adhering to tradition in this context will naturally become particularly difficult.
"Original ecological folk songs" are a portrayal of folk life, and what they sing must be the life experienced locally.
Whether this is a traditional life with historical flavor in scholars 'ideals and marks the national cultural identity, or a new life expected by singers, its vitality and appeal come from it.
But when life changes, we also require "original" singers to still sing the "original" folk songs that "outsiders" want to hear.
Then this folk song is already out of the original context, displayed to others to watch and cater to others, and no longer about the natural expression of emotions relying on the "original".
Whether the change is caused by external intervention or the singer's voluntary choice.
This will remind us of similar problems faced by so-called "original" intangible cultural heritage tourism in the tourism industry.
Tourists hope to go to "original ecological areas" to find "foreign cultures", most of which are intangible cultural heritage.) However, the reality is that "foreign cultures" in the eyes of tourists are actively moving closer to modern homogeneous culture.
If a local cultural owner or intangible cultural heritage inheritor of a tourist destination disguises himself as the lost "other" imaginary "I culture" in order to meet the needs of tourists, then there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the "reality" and the unreality created by design.
What outsiders are looking for are cultural differences, and differences are constantly diminishing in the modern process.
The original ecology can only be "restored" to its original context through "performance" and thus be viewed.
At this point, the "original ecology" has actually faced the disintegration of the concept, but in the practice of protection, the problem of "original ecology" has not been solved.
If it is the gene of local culture, and if cultural diversity requires it not to lose its identity in homogenization, then what is the path to realization? The author uses this article to inspire people, hoping to cause academic circles to rethink relevant issues.
What needs to be emphasized is that the word "authenticity" will be given different interpretations and practices in different contexts, different positions, and different groups of people.
UNESCO does not advocate the use of the word "authenticity" at the United Nations and international levels in order to avoid conflicts and disputes between countries and nations.[32] The "original ecology" of China's music industry is a practical act that starts with the discourse context within the discipline and is then combined with intangible cultural heritage protection.
From the perspective of a country, intangible cultural heritage can be a means and path to shape self-culture, political identity, and national identity.
"Authenticity" needs to be analyzed and understood in conjunction with context.
This article was originally published in "Literary and Art Studies", No.
5, 2019, and was reproduced with the author's authorization.
The annotations in the article are omitted, please refer to the original issue.