Cannot be a multiple-choice question for local cultural heritage preservation. Media: Is it "poor to death" or "commercial disability"? Excessive commercialization makes cultural relics and ancient buildings "unrecognizable". Ancient buildings | cultural relics | local
Is it "poor death" or "commercial disability"? It cannot be a multiple-choice question for local cultural heritage preservation, and excessive commercialization and disorderly development are not allowed to cause damage to cultural relics, ancient buildings, and historical landscape. Absorbing social forces to enhance grassroots cultural heritage preservation capabilities is a necessary attempt to expand the path of cultural heritage protection. To some extent, exploring the participation of social forces in the protection and utilization of cultural relics and forming sustainable mechanisms is also a way of guarding civilization.
According to a CCTV report on August 19th, Tianshui City in Gansu Province has a relatively large and well preserved residential courtyard complex from the Ming and Qing dynasties in the northwest region. In order to rescue these ancient buildings, Tianshui City allocated over 888 million yuan in protection funds from 2015 to 2021. Many citizens and tourists have found that after renovation and commercial operation, many ancient buildings have been renovated and detached from their original appearance. Some have even been transformed into Japanese style restaurants, and some structural changes have endangered the safety of courtyards. Some local people say that this is purely highlighting commercial interests, without cultural heritage, and without truly authentic things. At present, the local response stated that a verification team has been established and corrective measures have been formulated.
The allocation of hundreds of millions of yuan for cultural relic protection indicates the local emphasis on protecting historical and cultural relics and developing the cultural tourism industry. However, the cultural heritage courtyard is completely unrecognizable, which is heartbreaking. The requirements for setting up before approval and repairing before approval are empty words, and the competent department is unable to supervise due to the lack of approval procedures. These are problems in local cultural heritage preservation work and also reflect common issues in the protection and development of cultural relics and ancient buildings in many places.
The protection of academic relics and ancient buildings is facing a dilemma of "poverty and death" in some places - the grassroots cultural protection forces are weak, relevant laws and regulations often encounter a "soft landing", and the situation of cultural relics and ancient buildings protection is becoming increasingly severe. Industry insiders have pointed out that national key cultural relics protection units are specially protected by the state, provincial cultural relics protection units are invested by the province, and county-level cultural relics have almost no corresponding funds.
In terms of development, some places often face the risk of "commercial disability" - socialized commercial operation is often the main means of development and utilization for cultural heritage units, and finding a development and utilization model that is tailored to local conditions is not easy. Improper introduction and excessive force can lead to "commercial disability".
Is it "poor to death" or "disabled in business"? It cannot be a multiple-choice question for local cultural security. Therefore, many places continue to explore the development and utilization methods of cultural relics and ancient buildings, explore various models, form a development industry chain, increase the protection dimension of cultural relics and ancient buildings, prosper the cultural tourism industry market, and accumulate strength for the protection and utilization of cultural relics resources and cultural inheritance.
In fact, it is an international practice to commercialize a portion of historical buildings with residential and commercial value to compensate for insufficient financial investment in cultural relic protection. But each country has corresponding restrictions on the specific development methods, and generally cannot change the purpose of the building itself. For example, in the above news, 29 cultural heritage preservation units in Tianshui Ancient City have been granted franchise rights by regulatory authorities, requiring them to complete approval and filing procedures in accordance with requirements such as the Cultural Relics Protection Law. Whether it is the establishment of business formats or renovation, they must obtain approval from at least county-level cultural relics departments.
However, some local cultural heritage preservation units often find it difficult to resist the commercial expansion and contraction, and relevant policies are also subject to wavering from time to time. For example, many ancient buildings in certain areas have been encroached upon by commercial projects, even resulting in a completely unrecognizable appearance; Some cultural relics and ancient buildings have been demolished to make way for economic development. Under public pressure, some places have invested heavily in restoration or even reconstruction, resulting in irreversible losses and losses. Some cultural relics and ancient buildings have been damaged, cutting off the local historical context and causing the regret of "one mistake becoming a lifelong regret.".
From many practical cases, the key to commercial development of cultural relics and ancient buildings lies in grasping reasonable and moderate boundaries and balance. This requires encouraging and supporting social forces to participate in the entire process of protecting and repairing cultural relics and ancient buildings, maintaining historical style, developing tourism and cultural creativity, and promoting cultural inheritance and development through social welfare funds, full investment, and cooperation with the government, in order to achieve the benign development of cultural relics and ancient buildings on the basis of "protection first".
At present, there are many places where "success codes" have been found in the protection and utilization of cultural relics and ancient buildings, such as ancient cities such as Suzhou in Jiangsu and Pingyao in Shanxi, ancient towns such as Wuyuan in Jiangxi and Lizhuang in Yibin, Sichuan, as well as historical and cultural blocks such as Langzhong Ancient City in Sichuan and Cangqiao Direct Street in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. In these large or small spaces, the local traditional style and cultural atmosphere are maximally preserved, and their cultural and tourism resources and economic development potential are also activated. In addition, Quwo County in Shanxi Province, Yi County in Anhui Province, and Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province have also issued relevant documents allowing people to "claim" cultural relics, but the results of these attempts have been inconsistent. It is worth reviewing and summarizing the experience and lessons learned.
The mottled shop and old house wood carvings, after years of baptism, appear even more desolate and heavy. The traditional cultural symbols carried by cultural relics and ancient buildings are worth cherishing, and excessive commercialization and disorderly development are not allowed to cause harm to the cultural relics, ancient buildings, and historical style.
China is a country with abundant cultural relics resources and should also be a country with great cultural relics protection. Absorbing social forces to enhance grassroots cultural heritage preservation capabilities is a necessary attempt to expand the path of cultural heritage protection. To some extent, exploring the participation of social forces in the protection and utilization of cultural relics and forming sustainable mechanisms is also a way of guarding civilization.
