The tie that binds: cultural heritage that defines who we are
Print Edition
SHANGHAI may give the impression of endless glass, steel and concrete, but there is a softer side to the city that embraces the traditions that bind generations together.
Cultural heritage is marked by folk arts using paper, dough, silk, bamboo, jade and traditional Chinese instruments.
Today, on the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Day, the city is proudly hosting an array of splendid folk arts. The main venue is the Great World Entertainment Center, a former fun house of the 1920s and 1930s that reopened in March after a radical makeover.
But that’s not the only place where observances will be staged. The Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts will open its work studios to visitors, with skilled craftsmen showing how they turn scraps of paper, heaps of rocks or piles of dough into gorgeous artworks.
“Shanghai has spared no effort in rediscovering and preserving its intangible culture over the past 12 years,” says Wang Wei, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and TV.
“Intangible cultural heritage” is an all-encompassing term coined by UNESCO. It refers to language, performing arts, rituals and festivals, and traditional craftsmanship that define particular communities or groups of people.
It is in contrast to tangible heritage, like ancient structures, archeological sites, coral reefs, rainforests and other physical entities that also form part of history and culture.
Last year, Shanghai adopted a law on protection of intangible cultural heritage, providing legal support for preservation efforts. A regular meeting of 15 municipal government departments and 87 experts from different fields is held to offer guidance on how to protect cultural heritage.
The Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Center has been established, with branches in each of the local district to promote the campaign and provide financial support.
In the past five years, a special fund has dispersed more than 38 million yuan (US$5.6 million) to 245 projects and 188 people who are considered “heirs” of particular folk arts.
So far, Shanghai has given cultural heritage listing to 55 national, 220 municipal and more than 400 district-level art projects and more than 1,400 “heirs.”
“We are also tapping every possible means to record our cultural heritage,” Wang says.
In the modern age, a database of more than 62,000 digital items has logged hand-written documents, music scores, photos, radio cassettes, video clips and compact discs. They are available on www.ichshanghai.cn.
“An urgent task is the promotion of traditional culture among young people,” Wang says. “We want them to become interested enough to carry forward the traditions of their forebears.”
Since 2013, cultural heritage studies have been introduced in Shanghai schools, involving more than 400,000 students. Education materials include animated films and cartoon books.
Youngsters learn how to make paper lanterns for the annual Lantern Festival, wrap zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) for the Dragon Boat Festival, play traditional gongs and drums, and perform puppet shows.
Zhang Yonglian, 80, an heir in the art of farm songs, teaches students in the Qingpu District some of the songs senior farmers sang while they toiled in the fields. The lyrics are in the Qingpu dialect.
“Many local children don’t know how to speak the dialect,” the old man says. “So when they started to learn the songs, they were very interested by the weird pronunciations of the words. They came to love them.”
But most students lose interest by the time they enter the middle school, where academic pressure is greater.
“At least they can hum some of the simple tunes of farmers,” Zhang says. “For me, that’s enough.”
The Shanghai government wants to be more proactive in stirring young passions.
Since 2015, eight local universities have set up special courses offering majors to more than 800 students in art forms such as bamboo carving, porcelain making, shadow plays, silk embroidery, puppet making and jade cutting.
“The next step is to develop the commercial value of these folk arts to make them more sustainable,” Wang says.
A series of cultural products have already been marketed, such as China’s top 10 teas, Shanghai traditional dumplings and Jinshan peasant paintings.
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