New Observation on Culture｜Grassroots Response to Protecting Cultural Heritage

On June 8, we will usher in the 2024 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. The theme of this year’s day is “Protecting Cultural Relics and Inheriting Civilization”, and the home city event will be held in Shenyang, Liaoning. This is the first time that the Cultural and Natural Heritage Day has been held in the Northeast region since the launch of the main city event.

What are the characteristics of the cultural heritage of the Northeast region? How can the local government better integrate cultural heritage into regional development and people's lives?

On the eve of Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, the reporter came to Liaoshen with the theme activity of "Cultural Relics Protection at the Grassroots Level" organized by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. From archaeological sites to cultural and museum venues, from front-line workers to cultural and museum enthusiasts, amid the dotted historical and cultural relics, reporters felt that front-line cultural preservation workers each carefully answered the "Cultural Heritage Protection" test paper, witnessing the continuous growth of grassroots cultural preservation forces.

Looking at millions of years of human history, 10,000 years of cultural history, and more than 5,000 years of civilization history, the question "Why China?" is endlessly thought-provoking.

Outside the First Site Protection Exhibition Hall of the Niuheliang Site in Chaoyang, Liaoning, Jia Xiaobing, director of the World Archeology Research Office of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and leader of the Niuheliang Site excavation team, and Guo Mingzheng, research librarian of the Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, led the team to conduct field archaeology Work.

"Currently, our understanding of the first site is to divide it into nine platform bases, and we are gradually clarifying the overall appearance to lay the foundation for in-depth research on Hongshan culture." Guo Ming introduced.

After the discovery of the Niuheliang site, the famous Chinese archaeologist Su Bingqi once pointed out that "from here we see the dawn of five thousand years of Chinese civilization." The Hongshan Culture is the most famous Neolithic archaeological culture in Northeast China. The study of it will provide a "northern model" for the study of the origin of Chinese civilization in a pluralistic and integrated manner.

On May 20, archaeologists inspected the archaeological site of the Niuheliang site. Photo by reporter Yang Zhanfei

In Fuxin, Liaoning, the relevant discoveries of the "Chahai Site", an important early Neolithic cultural site dating back 8,000 years ago, are of great significance to the exploration of early Chinese civilization. The next step for archaeologists is to search for cultural clues at the Chahai site and find the source of culture.

Generations of archaeologists have been working hard in the fields and strata, in ruins and relics, constantly uncovering the mystery of prehistoric civilization.

In the 1980s, Jinniushan Man fossils dating back nearly 260,000 years were discovered at the Jinniushan site in Yingkou. The discovery of ancient human fossils in Jinniushan has filled the gap in human development during this period and provided a wealth of physical data for the study of ancient humans in this period. Today, relevant dating studies are still ongoing.

The site covers an area of ​​about 14 hectares, with lush vegetation and gravel roads that are not easy to walk on. Yu Zhongxu, director of the Yingkou Dashiqiao Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Center, said that in addition to necessary reinforcement and protection projects for the site itself and its carriers, human intervention including road construction should be carried out as little as possible in the protected area to maintain the original style of the site and "protect it well" Only the ruins can be left for future generations to better study.”

The Hushan Great Wall winds along the border within the Dandong region and is the eastern starting point of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. Zhou Zengcai, a 56-year-old villager in Hushan Village, "grew up watching the Great Wall" and is the protector of the Hushan Great Wall.

The ruins are spread over 20 square kilometers, and it takes more than half a day to walk around. Zhou Zengcai "comes to visit whenever he has nothing to do" and has been gone for more than 30 years. He is responsible for inspecting the six beacon towers and ensuring that they remain in their original condition.

"My eyes are surveillance." Zhou Zengcai said with a smile. He is familiar with the vegetation, trees, bricks and stones of the Great Wall, and it is deeply "imprinted" in his mind. Protecting the Great Wall is Zhou Zengcai's mission, and it is also his firm belief in his heart: "The Great Wall is our national treasure and our pride. As long as I can walk, I will keep coming to see it."

Cultural heritage is not a dead thing. It played an important role in the past and can still benefit people today.

The site of the renovation project of the old Yamato Hotel in Lushun, taken on May 22. Photo by reporter Yang Zhanfei

In front of the former site of Lushun Industrial School, loblolly pines stand tall and acacia flowers are fragrant. This Russian-style building, built in the early 20th century, was restored in May last year. It has hosted hundreds of museums’ cultural and creative product exhibitions, Lushun Folklore Exhibition and other revitalization projects, and has become a comprehensive art district.

A Lushunkou, half of China's modern history. There are many modern old building remains in Dalian's Lushunkou District, of which the Taiyang Valley area is a typical representative. According to statistics, from April 29 to May 3 this year, Taiyanggou Historical and Cultural District received more than 100,000 tourists and achieved a comprehensive tourism income of nearly 45 million yuan, both significantly exceeding the level of the same period in 2019.

In January 2024, Lushunkou District was awarded the "Liaoning Lushunkou Military-Civil Integration National Cultural Relics Protection and Utilization Demonstration Zone". "In the next step, we will build high-quality living communities, national memory museum clusters, cultural tourism characteristic commercial blocks, etc. in different regions, so as to better integrate the reform results of cultural relics protection and utilization into life and benefit the people." Staff of Dalian Lushun Taiyangou Cultural Industrial Park Wang Guimin said.

Guard with heart, cherish with heart, use with heart... The more people keep cultural heritage in their hearts, the more inexhaustible power a civilized country will have to stand proudly.