Source: Southern Network
"'Lose courtesy, but ask for the wilderness'. This sentence is really too clever and far-sighted, and I only hope that we will keep the treasure of the horse lantern intact among the mountains before the 'loss of etiquette'. Qiu Xiantian, a Hakka boy born in Guangzhou but always caring for his hometown, and a high school student at the Affiliated Middle School of South China Normal University, paid attention to the precious cultural heritage of the Hakka traditional folk art of the horse lantern in his hometown of northeast Guangdong, and on the basis of many returns to his hometown for interviews and investigations, he independently completed the "Investigation and Research Report on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Xingning Daping Horse Lantern" of nearly 30,000 words, shouting for the protection of this Hakka literary and artistic treasure.
Yau Xiantian (second from left) with an old artist in Daping (file photo)
Horse lantern, also known as horse lantern dance, including song, dance, playing, performance of a variety of forms of expression, with blessings, diligence, creativity, innocence value orientation, since its birth has undertaken the folk spontaneous music and dance education function. The horse lantern is quite Hakka style, which is a unique portrayal of the life of the Hakka family in northeast Guangdong, carrying the expectations of the local people for a better life for generations, and also becoming the spiritual sustenance of the wanderers in a foreign land for their hometown memories. 17-year-old Qiu Xiantian was influenced by his father, who had a strong hometown complex, and was full of interest in exploring the customs and artistic characteristics of his hometown. Due to a chance encounter with the horse lantern, he felt the unique charm of this hometown intangible cultural heritage, and also noticed the difficult inheritance problem that the horse lantern is currently facing. The collective aging of artists, the slow update speed of lyrics, the lack of interest of young people, the narrow channels of art dissemination, and the impact of Internet entertainment make the marquee in danger of disappearing.
In order to better inherit the intangible cultural heritage of his hometown and make a voice appeal for the intangible cultural heritage skills, Qiu Xiantian began to collect materials, sort out documents, conduct field investigations, and finally form a research report, through combing and analyzing the historical source, survival status, artistic characteristics, problem dilemmas, countermeasures and ways out, etc., and recorded and prospected in detail the past, present and future of the Hakka Intangible Cultural Heritage Daping Horse Lantern. For the first time, the report collects and collates the full set of song scores and lyrics of Daping Marquee, conducts serious traceability research on the intangible cultural heritage of Daping Marquee, and puts forward many feasible countermeasures and suggestions for the inheritance and protection of Daping Marquee, which has important innovative significance and practical value. Through this detailed research report, more people have glimpsed the cultural heritage of traditional Hakka folk art represented by the horse lantern, and also aroused more attention to the dilemma of inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills.
On September 15, 2021, nanfang daily reported on the investigation report of Yau Xiantian
The excellent traditional Chinese culture created and continued by the Chinese nation in the course of thousands of years of history is the root and soul of the Chinese nation. Folk art is a bright treasure and a distinctive symbol of Chinese culture, and adhering to folk art is to protect our spiritual homeland. Hakka people have the value of identifying with the horse lantern, which makes the villagers and the Hakka people who go out to work have unlimited homesickness, and the horse lantern dance in ancient costumes exudes a strong family friendship. The horse lantern dance is also an important part of Hakka culture, with its unique artistic characteristics, and the protection of the horse lantern is of far-reaching significance for enriching the content of Hakka culture. As a "post-00s" high school student, Qiu Xiantian enthusiastically and actively participated in the research, protection and innovative development of his hometown's intangible cultural heritage, and also fully demonstrated the youth strength in the process of inheriting China's excellent traditional culture. More and more young people are joining the ranks of non-genetic inheritance and cultural succession.
This year's New Year, Qiu Xiantian returned to his hometown and uploaded a video of him returning to his hometown to worship his ancestors on social platforms. In the video, he switched to his ancestors to pray for blessings in Mandarin, English and Hakka, and one of the sentences was "There are also many Hakka people overseas, and there are also many Hakka people with the surname Qiu, and they also miss their grandparents and grandmothers, please don't forget them, and bless them" said the voice of thousands of overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese. From this Hakka teenager, we see the cherishing and continuation of traditional culture by the younger generation, see the connection between clans, bloodlines, intangible cultural heritage and tradition to inherit ancient and modern, connecting China and foreign countries, and see that Chinese culture continues to strengthen cultural self-confidence in protection, inheritance and pioneering and innovation, build a socialist cultural power, and help Chinese culture go to the world.