Using E-commerce to Assist Intangible Cultural Heritage Economy | Summer Practice, [Video] "00s" Aquatic College Students Returning to Guizhou for Research | Team | Economy | Summer

Water books, flute, horsetail embroidery, Miao embroidery... These intangible cultural heritages deeply hidden in Guizhou have been transformed into exquisite souvenirs and decorations by a group of students from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics through short videos, e-commerce live broadcasts, and other means. This not only inherits intangible cultural heritage, but also promotes the local intangible cultural heritage industry.

Sandu, Guizhou is the only autonomous county of the water ethnic group in China. This summer, the "Le Zai Lian" team from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics conducted research on the intangible cultural heritage of the Shui ethnic group in Sandu Shui Autonomous County. As a member of the "Three Down to the Countryside" social practice special activity team in Guizhou Province in 2023, Pan Shengzi, the founder of the "Le Zai Lian" team, is a female college student born in the 2000s who will soon enter her senior year. Her hometown is in Sandu Water Autonomous County. From a young age, she has been deeply influenced by ancient water culture such as horse tail embroidery and water calligraphy customs.

Founder of the "Le Zai Lian" team - Pan Shengzi, a senior student at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics.

The Shuishu script in Sandu, Guizhou is one of the very few pictographic scripts still in use in the world, and is known as the "living fossil" of pictographic scripts. In 2006, the "Water Book Customs" was announced by the State Council as one of the first batch of representative works of national intangible cultural heritage. In 2022, "Guizhou Province Water Book Literature" was also included in the "Memory of the World Asia Pacific Region Directory". The horsetail embroidery of the Shui ethnic group is also one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage. The raw materials for this type of embroidery are quite special. Local embroidery women first wrap 3-4 horsetails into a strand with white thread, then use this strand of thread to fix the outline of the pattern on the canvas, and then use "heart filling embroidery" to complete the embroidery. "The biggest difference from other embroidery is that horsetail embroidery has a strong three-dimensional sense, like relief."

A ring made of horsetail embroidery.

However, Pan Shengzi, who is studying in Shanghai, found that most people around her still know very little about these aquatic cultures. "These excellent cultural heritages should be known to more people," Pan Shengzi thought to herself. With the encouragement of school teachers, in 2022, Pan Shengzi, a girl from the Shui ethnic group, firmly embarked on the path of promoting and entrepreneurship based on the Shui ethnic intangible cultural heritage.

The Tiktok number of the "Happy Link" team released a lot of short videos about Guizhou intangible cultural heritage such as water script and horsetail embroidery.

In the summer of 2023, Pan Shengzi received entrepreneurship training in Shanghai, and her team went to Sandu to conduct on-site research. How to inherit ethnic culture? In the research, the "Le Zai Lian" team learned from Yang Shengzhao, a national intangible cultural heritage inheritor of the water book custom, that water books have always been under the pressure of "passing on the inside but not the outside, and passing on the male but not the female" customs. However, Yang firmly believed that excellent cultural traditions should be understood by more people, so she officially accepted female disciples. In order to promote "Shui Shu characters", during the research period, the "Happy Link" team shot a short video about "Shui Shu creation" on the spot. After being released on the WeChat video number and Tiktok, the number of visitors reached 15000, greatly expanding the awareness of "Shui Shu". "In the future, we will also combine local customs and write blessings on fans and handbags using calligraphy, turning intangible cultural heritage into cultural and creative products," Pan Shengzi told reporters.

Guizhou Intangible Cultural Heritage - Water Book.

With awareness, how can the intangible cultural heritage industry open up new horizons? In the research, the "Le Zai Lian" team learned from Professor Song Shuixian, the national inheritor of Ma Wei Embroidery's intangible cultural heritage, that the development of the intangible cultural heritage industry has fallen into a dilemma of insufficient momentum. So, the students of the "LeZailink" team planned on-site and assisted in setting up e-commerce live broadcasts, providing new development plans such as combining offline learning and online live sales.

A necklace made with horsetail embroidery.

Earrings, jewelry, bracelets, rings, small bags with ponytail embroidery... Young people who are not familiar with ponytail embroidery have no desire to purchase. How to increase their willingness to purchase? The Le Zai Link team has filmed these intangible cultural heritage products into exquisite short videos, which appear particularly charming. After these short videos were released on Tiktok, the number of views exceeded 500000, attracting nearly 100 fans to add WeChat and ask about products related to horsetail embroidery. "Some products are available in Tiktok e-commerce, and if necessary, you can directly place an order to buy them. Some horsetail embroidery cultural and creative products have not yet been put on the shelves, and they send specific product links to customers in need." Pan Shengzi told reporters that at present, online sales have reached about 50000 yuan. At the same time, the "Le Zai Lian" team conducted an offline market art exhibition, which was exhibited three times and achieved a revenue of 50000 yuan.

Ornaments made with horsetail embroidery.

Not only has it inherited intangible cultural heritage and promoted local economic development, but research has also yielded many benefits for students themselves. "My hometown is an area with a strong ethnic atmosphere, and we all love and support our own ethnic culture. We don't want to see many ethnic treasures lost in the hands of our generation. We hope that through continuous research and exploration, we can find a suitable path for the development of ethnic industries. Through on-site research, I can truly feel and obtain more authentic information and knowledge." Pan Shengzi said with deep understanding, "During the process of returning home for research, from building a team to seeking solutions, and then implementing them, we also encountered many problems. My team cooperation ability, communication and organization ability, self-learning ability, adaptability ability, and leadership ability have been exercised, and my comprehensive ability has been improved. All of these have been beneficial to me in the future, whether it is..." Both entrepreneurship and work are very helpful

When fellow student Zhang Yu talked about this research, his face was filled with joy: "I am very happy to join my senior sister's' Joy in the Link 'team. This time, as the team leader and classmates, I came to Sandu Water Autonomous County to conduct research and experience the water culture on site. Whether it is the simple love contained in horsetail embroidery, or the diligence and wisdom of Chinese people carried by the water book customs, they all touched my heart and couldn't calm down for a long time. I really want to stay in Sandu for a while longer!"

It is reported that the "Le Zai Lian" team of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics is continuously supporting the inheritance and industrial development of intangible cultural heritage in the three capitals of Guizhou through documentary filming and other means.