How to Solve the Difficulty of Lack of Inheritance and Succession?, Shanghai has 63 national level intangible cultural heritage representative projects | Representative | Shanghai
Shanghai has abundant intangible cultural heritage resources. As of June this year, there are 63 national level representative projects of intangible cultural heritage, 251 municipal level projects, and nearly 800 district level projects. In addition, there are 120 national level representative inheritors, 794 municipal level projects, and nearly a thousand district level projects.
At the same time, the inheritance and protection of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage still face difficulties. After conducting research, Zhu Qi, a member of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the General Manager of Shanghai Duoyunxuan Group Co., Ltd., found that the representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage projects in this city are generally older, and many projects have lacked successors. It is recommended to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of intangible cultural heritage projects, implement classified policies, actively introduce social resources, increase innovation efforts on the basis of protection, and better demonstrate the contemporary value of intangible cultural heritage. Recently, relevant suggestions have received positive responses from the proposing department.
Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage is Inclusive and Inclusive
"Big Stork Mouth, Small Stork Mouth, Flower Chess Mouth, Straight billed Bird, Sand Big Head, Emerald Sand Bird, Red footed Bird..." When talking to reporters about bird whistles, 64 year old Yuan Juping from Luchao Hong Kong opened his mouth and announced the names of more than ten bird species in one breath, just like a dish name. These local people's nicknames for birds are deeply imprinted in his memory - since the age of 12, he has been learning local bird whistle skills from his father and grandfather, and now he can play the calls of nearly 20 species of wild birds.
The original name of the bird whistle was "bird raising short flute", which was originally a playing tool used by farmers along the Nanhui coast to lure birds during bird hunting. This technique has a history of more than 100 years. Starting from the 1980s, with the advancement of wild bird protection work in China, bird catching customs no longer exist, and the function of "bird whistle" has been transformed into a folk art performance style. In 2007, it was included in the first batch of Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Nowadays, Yuan Juping is one of the representative inheritors of the traditional craft of bird whistle at the city level.
Yuan Juping told reporters that he had to learn to recognize the calls of different birds since childhood, observe their size, color, and flight movements, and so on. "Don't be fooled by the fact that it's just a small piece of bamboo pipe, you can't learn it in three to five years." Nowadays, he goes to school every week to perform and teach students bird whistle skills, promoting Shanghai's local intangible cultural heritage. Sometimes, we also take children to the beach to experience bird watching and observe birds in extracurricular activities, promoting the concept of ecological protection.
Chen Qinjian, a lifelong professor at East China Normal University and deputy director of the Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Expert Committee, is one of the excavators of Shanghai's bird whistle technique and has been engaged in research related to intangible cultural heritage for more than 20 years. In his view, intangible cultural heritage embodies the unique concepts, magnanimity, charm, emotions, and wisdom of the local people, forming the cultural personality and unique spiritual taste of the city. Shanghai intangible cultural heritage not only embodies the characteristics of Jiangnan culture, but also is influenced by urban culture, with obvious Shanghai style characteristics.
The characteristic of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage is inclusiveness. In Zhu Qi's view, Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage has a wide variety of forms, including folk songs, stories, legends, and literature that reflect rural characteristics, as well as theatrical and folk arts that reflect urban culture. It also includes traditional art and handicrafts, as well as specialties that reflect the culture of commerce and commerce among the people. The intangible cultural heritage ecology is closely related to the diverse and inclusive cultural environment and character of the metropolis.
Industry insiders believe that, purely based on economic value considerations, the market value of intangible cultural heritage may not be very high, but it is of great significance for inheriting Shanghai's historical context, establishing Shanghai's cultural brand, and accelerating the construction of a socialist international cultural metropolis. Intangible cultural heritage embodies the survival wisdom, values, thoughts, emotions, and aesthetic orientation of the Chinese nation. Inheriting and protecting the historical and cultural heritage it carries is the only way for us to move towards cultural confidence.
The Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism introduced that since 2005, Shanghai has officially launched various work related to the protection of intangible cultural heritage, including census, excavation, sorting, recognition, evaluation, and management, especially for characteristic projects on the brink of loss. At present, the six batches of Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Project List have been announced, covering 10 categories, with a total of 370 municipal level intangible cultural heritage representative project protection units. This year, we will carry out the identification of the seventh batch of representative projects of municipal intangible cultural heritage, explore the establishment of the "Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Youth Inheritance Talent Reserve Bank", and strengthen the dynamic tracking and management of successors.
Establishing a Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Mechanism
Although Shanghai has initially established an intangible cultural heritage protection system that is in line with its characteristics, with the acceleration of urbanization, intangible cultural heritage resources are still facing unprecedented impacts and challenges. In Zhu Qi's view, intangible cultural heritage projects cannot be sustained solely by relying on natural inheritance, and it is urgent to mobilize social forces from all aspects to form a joint force and jointly support and guarantee them.
In the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage, human factors are often the most crucial. In fact, intangible cultural heritage is not a material inheritance. Its core values and skills rely entirely on human inheritance. If the inheritor disappears or loses the ability to inherit, the skills will no longer exist. It can be said that the main characteristic of intangible cultural heritage is its close relationship with people.
Taking the aforementioned bird whistle intangible cultural heritage as an example, in 2006, the Nanhui District Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Sub center found in a census that there were still some old bird whistle artists in the southeast corner of the Lu Chao Port area in the coastal area, and the inheritance was at risk. Yuan Juping admitted that he had tried to teach his son this skill, but his son was unwilling and believed it was both difficult and hopeless. Some elderly people who previously mastered this skill in the same village have passed away, while others have left the local area and cannot be contacted.
This is consistent with the results of the committee member's research. "Inheriting from generation to generation" is the main way of inheriting intangible cultural heritage. A questionnaire survey shows that the representative inheritors of Shanghai intangible cultural heritage projects are generally older, and young people believe that they are disconnected from contemporary life. In addition, the difficulty of learning is high, the time is long, and there is a lack of sufficient income and benefits. The desire to enter the industry is generally low, and many projects face the dilemma of a lack of successors.
Regarding this, Zhu Qi suggests that for inheritors included in the protection project, while providing financial and policy support, they should also clarify their obligations, establish strict new talent training plans and assessment goals, and warn and punish inheritors who have not taken apprentices or taught skills for a long time. For inheritors who are old and unable to meet their expectations, an exit mechanism can be established. At the same time, we need to strengthen the support and training of the new generation of inheritors, especially the construction of intangible cultural heritage inheritance bases, actively improve the professional titles, staffing, and treatment of intangible cultural heritage practitioners, so that more young people who love intangible cultural heritage can focus on learning and inheriting skills with peace of mind.
It is reported that in recent years, Shanghai has continued to promote vocational skills improvement actions, focusing on strengthening skill enhancement in the modern service industry, cultural creativity, and intangible cultural heritage protection fields. It encourages units where intangible cultural heritage inheritors work to apply for special funding from chief technicians and skill master studios, fully leveraging the exemplary and leading role of high skilled talents. Next, the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security will closely combine rural revitalization, characteristic industries, and intangible cultural heritage inheritance projects, continuously improve the evaluation system for skilled talents, smooth the growth channel for skilled talents, and establish a protection mechanism for intangible cultural heritage projects with Shanghai characteristics.
"Some intangible cultural heritage projects with active inheritance value, if combined with today's social life, often have industrialization prospects, but the corresponding investment will be relatively large." The committee suggests that the government should increase its efforts in resource allocation and financial support for intangible cultural heritage projects, but not "sprinkle pepper noodles". Instead, it should focus on "rewarding achievements" and use actual protection achievements as the basis for support
The Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism stated in its response that a total of 13.9 million yuan of national intangible cultural heritage special funds and 6.975 million yuan of municipal intangible cultural heritage special funds will be invested in 2022 for subsidies for national and municipal representative inheritors, representative inheritor recording projects, research and training programs for Chinese intangible cultural heritage inheritors, and related intangible cultural heritage projects. Next, we will further improve and optimize the allocation and utilization of special funds for intangible cultural heritage protection.
Cross border cooperation brings about the rebirth of intangible cultural heritage
The inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills in contemporary times cannot be separated from innovation based on protection. Zhu Qi suggests that for some projects with a solid foundation in active inheritance, we should learn from advanced foreign experiences, fully utilize the cultural influence of intangible cultural heritage, actively introduce social resources, increase cross-border integration, encourage innovation, integrate into modern urban life, and showcase the contemporary value of intangible cultural heritage.
Taking bird whistle as an example, although it is no longer a bird catching tool, it still has important utilization value in social transformation. What pleases Yuan Juping the most is that the bird whistle's function of attracting birds can be transformed into an auxiliary tool for bird research and protection.
Many years ago, experts and teachers from the Bird Research Special Group of the Department of Biology at East China Normal University would visit Luchao Port in Nanhui every year to observe and study the species and quantity of migratory birds in the Yangtze River Estuary, and record the migration time and flight routes of migratory birds. At that time, Yuan Juping and others would help them use bird whistles to lure birds and catch birds, or make specimens, or label them with foot rings and release them for observation. "I will also send the wild birds with foot rings that I have caught to the research team. Bird catching is for scientific research, and scientific research is also for better bird protection."
Similar to bird whistles, cross-border cooperation has become an important way for many intangible cultural heritage projects to regain their vitality. Zhu Qi told reporters that taking the Duoyunxuan woodblock watermark technique as an example, it has been continuously innovating for decades since the restoration of related techniques in the 1950s. For example, on the basis of traditional core technologies, modern creativity is introduced, new techniques are developed, and products with intangible cultural heritage elements such as aromatherapy and library tickets are launched in cooperation with trendy brands and post offices, all of which are welcomed by consumers. "If there is no innovation, traditional skills cannot go as far as they are today, and more importantly, it is necessary to develop usage scenarios that are dependent on life."
In recent years, with the increasing emphasis on traditional culture in society, more and more protection units with intangible cultural heritage skills have actively contacted relevant enterprises and attempted cross-border cooperation. Many business owners themselves are very interested in traditional culture. In Shanghai, by holding the first "Intangible Cultural Heritage New Experience" China-Chic Cultural and Creative Design Competition, relevant enterprises developed and launched a series of products and designs of national cultural and creative products. The competition received wide attention nationwide, and finally nearly 500 entries were registered.
The Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism introduced that through transformation and upgrading, traditional craft enterprises such as "Cao Sugong Ink Ingot Making Skills" and "Zhou Huchen Brush Making Skills" will be guided to break through boundaries, strengthen cultural and creative product development, IP authorization cooperation, cultural and tourism interaction experience, lower the threshold for public participation, and support traditional craft enterprises to effectively inherit and develop in urban renewal, polishing their brands.
In addition, many intangible cultural heritage projects in Shanghai are closely integrated with people with disabilities, providing them with more opportunities for home employment. The reporter learned that in recent years, Shanghai has launched many intangible cultural heritage projects with local characteristics and that meet the physical conditions of people with disabilities based on the actual situation of the region. Through docking with project units, it has been recognized as an employment unit for intangible cultural heritage for people with disabilities, and a group of "Sunshine Handicrafts" intangible cultural heritage studios for people with disabilities have been established. As of the end of May this year, all districts in the city have completed the identification of intangible cultural heritage employment units. At the same time, 9 intangible cultural heritage studios have been established in 8 districts, and 2 districts are preparing to build intangible cultural heritage studios.
