Editor's Note:
On February 23, the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Hangzhou opened, proposing to "strive to build a world-class socialist modern international metropolis", and to show "the governance of China" with the "window of the city", and to strive to achieve the six major goals of building a window of innovation, a window of humanities, a window of beauty, a window of openness, a window of good governance, and a window of happiness. The Hangzhou Branch of Zhejiang News Group specially launched the "City Window Famous Artists Talk" special media report, inviting experts and scholars to jointly interpret the connotation of Hangzhou's "City Window".
Looking out of the window, you can often see more future possibilities. At this party congress, Hangzhou proposed to brilliantly present the charm of history and culture, and strive to build a window of humanity. How do you see the opportunities and challenges behind this window?
The reporter interviewed Professor Du Zhengxian, the former director of the Hangzhou Museum, the first batch of provincial special experts, the head of the Archaeology Department of Zhejiang University of Great Cities, and the famous archaeologist, and asked him to overlook the "window" and analyze the "window of humanities" for everyone.
I. The Hangzhou Municipal Party Congress proposes to strive to build a window of humanities, what kind of development context and historical significance does cultural work contain behind this new goal?
Culture is the soul of a city and the foundation of a city. The Hangzhou Municipal Party Congress proposed to create a "window of humanities", which in my opinion is very necessary, and can be seen as a signal for Hangzhou to strengthen cultural self-confidence and strive to create a new peak in Zhejiang's cultural development.
Hangzhou's strength comes from its very deep historical heritage. From the cross-lake bridge culture that sailed out of the eight-thousand-year-old boat, to the Qiantang River culture that rushed eastward, to the long-standing Song Yun culture... Hangzhou's culture is endless, and there have been several peaks of prosperity and development. Hangzhou has three world cultural heritage sites, is one of the first batch of national historical and cultural cities, one of the seven ancient capitals of China, these historical and cultural heritage, is difficult to compare with other cities. Here, you can read the deep and thick cultural heritage of Zhejiang.
Hangzhou's strength also comes from the city's spiritual temperament. Over the years, Hangzhou has been out of the circle with the image of a "warm city", the "most beautiful phenomenon" has become the norm, and the "zebra crossing courtesy" has opened up the wind, which is not only a rare cultural landscape, but also an important element that constitutes the soft power of urban competition.
Therefore, I think that Hangzhou is now proposing to create a "window of humanity", which can be described as appropriate and opportune.
Second, to create a "window of humanity", what are Hangzhou's practical advantages and foundations?
Since graduating from university in the 1980s, I have been engaged in archaeological excavations and research in Hangzhou, and the archaeological work related to Lin'an City in the Southern Song Dynasty has won the annual top ten new archaeological discoveries in China five times.
For Hangzhou now, the country's increasing emphasis on the value of Song Yun's culture is the most favorable weather vane for creating a "window of humanities". Song Yun is passed down from generation to generation, and what should be passed on should be a high-quality Song cultural element that has positive value for today's era and can enhance our spiritual realm and quality of life.
As the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou was originally a highland of China's "elegant culture", and the cultural heritage and spiritual temperament inherited from the Song Dynasty were not only the aesthetics of life, but also included culture, thought, system, science and technology, art and other aspects. This accumulation and inheritance through hundreds of years is the key to Zhejiang's creation of a cultural highland and the "flow" of the millennium Song Rhyme in the new era.
At the same time, from the actual situation of my work, hangzhou people's demand for culture is also getting stronger and stronger, which is a very warm soil for us to "open the window to welcome guests", but it also brings many challenges. How to improve Hangzhou's public cultural service system? How to build the Song Yun Cultural Heritage Exhibition Center? How to strengthen the competitiveness of cultural industries? I think there are still a lot of white space in Hangzhou that can be sprinkled with ink.
Displaying and disseminating culture is an important measure to strengthen cultural self-confidence. At the cultural work conference of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee held in August last year, it was proposed to "create a number of landmark buildings that highlight the Song Yun culture and have the style of Zhejiang, and promote the Song Yun culture to be expressed, displayed, and ruined, visible, perceptible, and inheritable", and this point is very accurate. Hangzhou's Song Yun cultural heritage display must have a physical carrier.
However, at present, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the display of existing cultural achievements in Hangzhou, and many cultural relics are still sleeping in the warehouses of archaeological institutes, museums and other research institutions. Relying only on the protection and display project of the ruins of Deoksugung Palace is far from enough, in terms of archaeological excavations, the construction of the Southern Song Dynasty Imperial City into a national archaeological site park is of great significance to Hangzhou; the Nanxingqiao Freight Station, the cultural accumulation under this is very rich, and the remains are extremely interesting; in addition, the development potential of Meicheng, the capital of Yanzhou, is also very large, such as its engraved and printed ruins, which require us to fully pay attention to and excavate.
Cultural work not only undertakes the important task of unifying thinking and consolidating consensus for the construction of a demonstration zone for common prosperity, but also is an important part of achieving common prosperity. We need to spread Song Yun culture to the general public through various forms of display and utilization, so as to help Hangzhou build an international "Song Yun culture" landmark city with high standards and accelerate the construction of Hangzhou's world famous city.
In the Song Dynasty, many foreigners went to Zhejiang to study and brought Chinese culture back to their countries. So today, how can Hangzhou reflect its international nature in enhancing its cultural dissemination?
Cultural exchanges are educational, but also economic and trade, such as Hangzhou's silk tea and porcelain has always enjoyed a high reputation. But in the final analysis, it is based on recognition and understanding of the core of culture.
In particular, the report of this party congress mentioned that international cultural exchanges are more active, and urban style needs to be "more infectious, affinity and attractive".
In my opinion, to achieve these three forces is a systematic project and a process of tempering by time.
Appeal and affinity come from the affinity for the human environment and resources. Hangzhou has a World Heritage community composed of the West Lake, Liangzhu and the Grand Canal, and it is necessary to give full play to its linkage effect and further strengthen its seamless connection through the allocation and optimization of various cultural and tourism resources.
In the social field, we can pay attention to the Song Yun night economy, because the nightlife of the Southern Song Dynasty was very rich, so can we also build a southern Song Dynasty city that never sleeps through digital transformation? Let our citizens and tourists participate more in the appreciation and experience of the culture of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the future, Hangzhou can also improve the public cultural service system by comprehensively building the Song Yun Cultural Heritage Exhibition Center, so that this cultural affinity can go to all of China and the world.
The attraction stems from the cultural wall breaking and industrial linkage, in this regard, Hangzhou has a lot of scarce advantageous resources. For example, Hangzhou has held 17 consecutive China International Animation Festivals, and the output value of Hangzhou's animation industry in 2021 alone will reach 32.8 billion yuan, and the Zhijiang Cultural Industry Belt behind it runs through the six major areas along the Qiantang River, which is a cultural fulcrum with both natural resources, historical heritage and innovative atmosphere. It can effectively open up the resources of literature, film and television, animation, games and other resources in the industrial belt and build a linkage platform, but in the future, I would like to see whether this cultural industry belt can form a wider interaction and connection with the Song Yun cultural belt and the World Heritage community, and build a high-value and diversified cultural industry ecological chain.
With the industry, there will be talents, and with talents, there will be a possibility of cultural transmission. Now Zhejiang Metropolitan University has run the first archaeology major in Zhejiang Province, we have been recruiting talents at home and abroad since last year, and the first batch of archaeology students will be enrolled in September this year, and these young people will provide a more youthful perspective and more international possibilities for Hangzhou to build a "window of humanities".