Guan Hongliang: Why has ice and snow art become a "kaleidoscope" of mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations?
China News Service Harbin, February 13 Title: Guan Hongliang: Why has ice and snow art become a "kaleidoscope" for mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations?
China News Service reporter Wang Lin
Taking the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as an opportunity, ice sculptures and snow sculptures decorated the atmosphere of the Winter Olympics and showed a different style. In the process of origin, maturity and development, Chinese ice and snow art has gradually gone abroad and influenced the world. In the ice and snow sculpture competition, ice and snow cultural exchanges, ice and snow tourism mutual visits and other activities, the ice and snow art with its own strengths and weaknesses has become a "kaleidoscope" for mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations.
Recently, Guan Hongliang, senior creator of the Ice and Snow Culture and Art Professional Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association and researcher of the Sculpture Institute of heilongjiang Contemporary Art Research Institute, recently interviewed Guan Hongliang, interpreting the process of Chinese ice and snow art going to the world through the perspective of ice and snow sculpture art and personal overseas participation experience, comparing the similarities and differences between Chinese and Russian ice and snow sculpture art, and the possibility of making "cold ice and snow" into a "hot fashion" for civilization exchanges between The East and the West.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: What are the characteristics of the world's major winter festivals? What are the international elements of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival?
Guan Hongliang: Different regional humanities have derived different ice and snow cultures, and the world's major winter festivals are the representative embodiment of ice and snow culture on a global scale. The highlights of the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan are the "International Snow Statue Competition" that competes in snow sculpture techniques; the 10-day Winter Carnival in Quebec, Canada, like the winter version of the "Disney Carnival"; and the Oslo Ski Festival in Norway, held on the first Saturday of March every year, is a grand event for ski lovers around the world.
Among them, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival can be called the world's longest ice and snow festival, with only the opening ceremony, no closing ceremony, creating a super long ice and snow season that lasted for 5 months. In recent years, this festival has been upgraded from local to national and international, inviting hundreds of foreign guests from dozens of countries and regions to participate in international exchanges and cooperation around more than 400 winter activities such as culture, tourism, sports, economy and trade.
Past Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. Photo by Cao Ning, China News Service
Past Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. Photo by Liu Changshan, China News Service
China News Service: How did China's ice and snow art come into being, and how did it go abroad and influence the world?
Guan Hongliang: Natural ice and snow form a humanistic art, first of all, it needs a unique cold climate and ice and snow resources. China's ice and snow activities originated in the north, and since ancient times, ice and snow fishing, ice and snow sports, ice and lantern making and other activities have been inherited, which is not only the embodiment of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, but also the embodiment of the optimistic character and life wisdom of northerners.
Heilongjiang is considered to be the birthplace of China's ice and snow art and modern ice and snow tourism industry, and the ice and snow carving artists here can be described as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Since the "Ice City" Harbin held the first ice lantern garden party in Zhaolin Park in 1963, with the accumulation of ice and snow culture and the budding of commercial operation, ice sculpture and snow sculpture have continuously made breakthroughs in scale, style and lighting. In 1985, the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival was held for the first time in China. In 1999, Harbin Ice and Snow World was held for the first time, and ice and snow art began to go global.
Harbin ice and snow sculpture artist in the 1960s. Harbin Ice Lantern Garden will provide a picture
In 1966, the 4th Harbin Ice Lantern Garden Fair. Harbin Ice Lantern Garden will provide a picture
Since the 1980s, Harbin ice and snow sculpture artists have increasingly gone abroad to exchange and display, and have successively appeared in Canada, the United States, South Korea, Japan and other countries. Jilin, Xinjiang, Beijing, Shanghai and other places have also built ice and snow theme parks. Tourists from all over the world enter China to enjoy ice and snow, and Chinese sculptors have also been invited to build ice and snow landscapes abroad.
China News Service: How do The ice and snow sculpture art between China and Russia achieve mutual appreciation, mutual learning and mutual integration, and what are the similarities and differences?
Guan Hongliang: Parts of China and Russia are also in the middle and high latitudes, and the winter is cold, long and snowy. China and Russia are friendly neighbors to each other, creating a good environment for people-to-people exchanges and promoting close and harmonious exchanges between China and Russia in the field of ice and snow sculpture art.
The sculptural skills of the artists of the two countries are equally superb, and there are some differences in comparison. China likes to build large-scale ice buildings, paying attention to details in carving techniques, highlighting the beauty of craftsmanship; Russian ice buildings are small in volume, paying attention to ideology and abstraction. In the winter, the local governments of China and Russia will invite each other's players to participate in the competition, appreciate each other, learn from each other, promote each other, and form a deep friendship.
In the Harbin International Combination Ice Sculpture Competition, the Russian team's work "The Birth of the World" won the championship. Courtesy of Harbin Ice and Snow World
China has formed an ice and snow sculpture industry chain, with rich and diverse carving tools and professional systems. At present, Russia does not have a mature industrial chain, many Russian players make their own sculpture tools, or borrow the opportunity to buy in China, we will also give some away, in order to encourage each other. In the past, Chinese and Russian participants would also exchange gifts such as portfolios as souvenirs.
China News Service: Why can the ice and snow art, which has its own strengths, become a "kaleidoscope" of cultural exchanges between the East and the West?
Guan Hongliang: Ice and snow is a gift from nature, it is the same white and flawless, crystal clear, it is the people who receive this gift are different, it is the illusion of it into a variety of forms, humanities, history, customs, fashion and other elements extend a greater aesthetic space, creating a different kind of ice and snow art. Therefore, the ice and snow art of different countries is like a "kaleidoscope" of human civilization.
Artists can use ice and snow sculptures as a carrier to show the culture of their country and nation. For example, the winning work of the 31st China Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition in 2017, "Lotus Pond Moon Color", was designed by me and jointly completed by ice and snow sculpture artist Su Shi. We carved images of lotus ponds, lotus flowers, moons, swimming fish, and corridors out of ice, showing the beautiful oriental charm.
2017 Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition winning work "Lotus Pond Moonlight". Courtesy of respondents
Due to cultural differences, we may not be able to understand foreign works at first, but through exchanges and learning, we can understand the differences and charms of Eastern and Western civilizations, which is also the wonder of ice and snow art. For example, the winning work of the 2018 Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition in China, "Spirit of the Sea", was designed by Su Shi and co-completed by Su Shi, Guan Dajiang, Yu Chunfeng and me, telling the myth of the sea with the image of a classical beauty, reflecting the combination of Eastern and Western cultures.
The winning work of the 2018 Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition "Spirit of the Sea". Courtesy of respondents
China News Service: How to build "cold ice and snow" into a "hot fashion" for the exchange of civilizations between east and west?
Guan Hongliang: The purpose of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association is to "promote Chinese culture and promote international exchanges", and the Ice and Snow Culture and Art Professional Committee, as its branch, is committed to improving the level of China's ice and snow industry and expanding international exchanges and cooperation. Therefore, it is our obligation and mission to build "cold ice and snow" into a "hot fashion" for the exchange of civilizations between the East and the West.
I have three suggestions for this. First, the emotion of ice and snow is warm. We should use ice and snow as a link to connect emotions, and pay attention to the emotional establishment of friends from all over the world in organizing activities, such as the establishment of an international organization for ice and snow sculpture art, regular exchange and mutual visits, etc.; second, the spirit of ice and snow is hot. We should work together to challenge common natural conditions and competitive goals, and inspire the resonance of the spirit of hard work, just like the Olympic spirit of "unity and fraternity, fair competition, and mutual understanding"; third, the ice and snow economy is hot. The ice and snow economy and trade extended in the fields of ice and snow art, ice and snow sports, and ice and snow tourism are a good way for all countries to cooperate for win-win results.
Chinese and Russian ice and snow sculpture artists take a group photo in front of the work. Courtesy of respondents
China News Service: What works have you created this winter? How can ice and snow art be integrated into the atmosphere of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?
Guan Hongliang: The much-awaited Beijing Winter Olympics is being held, as ice and snow sculpture artists, we have the enthusiasm and responsibility to "art" to help the Winter Olympics, and I created ice and snow sculpture works based on ice piers and snow melting. In addition, Harbin Ice and Snow World has created ice and snow sculpture landscapes such as the Five Rings Labyrinth and the Flying Winter Dream.
These works not only become a beautiful landscape in winter, which fills the atmosphere of a city's Winter Olympics, but also mobilizes the people's enthusiasm for ice and snow because it is widely loved by the public, and helps to achieve the goal of "300 million people participating in ice and snow sports". At the same time, the Beijing Winter Olympics will make more countries and more people in the world pay attention to ice and snow sports, appreciate ice and snow art, and provide a broader international stage for ice and snow sculpture. Ice and snow art has added atmosphere and charm to the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the Beijing Winter Olympics have brought opportunities and impetus to ice and snow art. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Guan Hongliang, a native of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is currently a senior creator of the Ice and Snow Culture and Art Professional Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, and a researcher of the Sculpture Institute of Heilongjiang Contemporary Art Research Institute. He is a member of the Ice and Snow Sculpture Art Committee of Heilongjiang Artists Association and a member of the expert jury database of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Competition. In the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival for more than 30 years, Guan Hongliang has participated in 15 domestic and international ice and snow sculpture competitions, including 3 awards in domestic competitions and 7 awards in international competitions. Among them, the snow sculpture work "Treading waves" won the first prize of the Russian International Snow Sculpture Competition in 2020.