Narrator Cheng Xinxiang: Director of the Xiang Embroidery Production Department of Hunan Provincial Xiang Embroidery Research Institute, a deputy to the National People's Congress, a senior arts and crafts artist, and a representative inheritor of xiang embroidery at the provincial level of the national intangible cultural heritage representative project
In March 2018, as a deputy to the National People's Congress, I walked into the Great Hall of the People for the first time. The first time I stepped into the Hunan Hall, I saw three huge Xiang embroidery works standing in the hall, and I couldn't help but burst into tears. These three works are "Chairman Mao and the Fifty-Six Nationalities", "Yueyang Lou" and "Zhangjiajie", which are the exhibits embroidered by me, my teachers and companions for 14 months for the Hunan Hall of the Great Hall of the People, and I never thought I would see them again in this life.
In the past ten years since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the state has attached unprecedented importance to the inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage, and has paid great attention to and strongly supported non-genetic inheritors. Because of this, I, an embroidery craftsman, had the opportunity to be elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress and enter the sacred Great Hall of the People. At that time, I excitedly introduced these Xiang embroidery works to the npc deputies in my fellow countries, and the pressure and tension of being a deputy at the beginning were all left behind. Hearing everyone's admiration, my heart was full of pride and pride, and at that moment, I had a deeper understanding of the cultural self-confidence proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping. At the same time, I may have made up my mind to bring my students' creative works into the halls of the country.
When I was just elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress, I was under a lot of pressure. Because my job is usually mainly to deal with needles and threads, I am a little overwhelmed by such a major mission. But beyond the pressure, I also felt a heavy responsibility. In order to better perform the duties of deputies at the two sessions, give voice to intangible cultural heritage and traditional culture, and help more intangible cultural heritage people solve the practical problems they face, I have worked hard to overcome psychological obstacles, pay close attention to political study and policy study, seriously study conference materials, prepare speeches, and practice Mandarin. Although I have not practiced Mandarin very well until now, I have long overcome the original nervousness, whether it is speaking at the meeting or giving interviews to the media, I have seized every opportunity to speak for traditional culture, and I can speak a little more.
Every year when I go to Beijing to participate in the conference, I will also wear the latest Xiang embroidery clothing, wear Xiang embroidery cultural and creative jewelry, carry and use Xiang embroidery notebooks, mobile power supplies, etc., to introduce the innovative development of Xiang embroidery into modern life to the delegates and media.
In the past five years, I have submitted to the National People's Congress 18 proposals, including "Suggestions on Accelerating the Creative Transformation and Innovative Development of Intangible Cultural Heritage", "Suggestions on Encouraging and Supporting College Students to "Intangible Cultural Heritage + Innovation and Entrepreneurship", and "Suggestions on Strengthening the Protection and Inheritance of Xiangxi Miao Medicine". Behind each proposal represents a group of people, some people are large, some people are small, but no matter how big or small, it is the voice of the people and the expectations of the masses. Fortunately, there have been echoes in these cases, among which the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has issued a special letter reply to the proposal "On Strengthening the Work of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Inheriting and Developing China's Excellent Traditional Culture" put forward by me, and has introduced in detail the relevant work measures.
What pleases me most in the past ten years is that more and more young people are beginning to contact, understand, fall in love with, and engage in intangible cultural heritage.
10 years ago, the dozens of "post-90s" students I brought were still in the initial stage of Xiang embroidery skills, and now, they have gradually grown into a new force in the industry, 97% of the students have obtained the title of intermediate arts and crafts artist and assistant arts and crafts artist, and their works have won national, provincial and ministerial awards many times. I also got what I wanted, and I co-created the Xiang embroidery works "Shuxia Saving Red Sun", "Yazhu" and "Qingyan" that entered Zhongnanhai.
In the past ten years, the work of intangible cultural heritage into the campus has been carried out in an orderly manner throughout the country and has achieved positive results. Combined with the actual work and the investigation and visits, I have twice submitted suggestions to the National People's Congress on the work of intangible cultural heritage into the campus, and put forward more specific suggestions and measures for the difficulties and problems encountered by the vast number of non-genetic inheritance groups in the implementation and promotion of the practice of intangible cultural heritage, which have aroused great resonance among the non-genetic inheritance population and have also received positive responses from relevant departments. At present, the construction of intangible cultural heritage research bases is blooming everywhere, and the Xiang embroidery research institute in Hunan Province, where I am located, has also specially compiled experiential teaching materials suitable for primary and secondary schools, and many universities have opened intangible cultural heritage related majors and courses, and we who are non-genetic inheritors are often invited to teach in schools. Seeing that the intangible cultural heritage campus is respected by children, seeing that young people continue to walk into the intangible cultural heritage study places, learn and experience intangible cultural heritage projects, and strive to be small inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, I know that this is the vitality of the development of non-genetic inheritance.
A few days ago, the Lantern Festival, in the front of our Xiang Embroidery Research Institute 960 Art PARK, held a non-heritage Lantern Festival, the scene of Xiang embroidery jewelry and "95" heirs of the Xiang embroidery knowledge sharing attracted a lot of people to watch. The lively scene made me deeply feel that in the past ten years, under the great attention and support of the state, the intangible cultural heritage, including Xiang embroidery, has truly been inherited and developed, entered the lives of the people, and is loved and demanded by everyone.
Born in such a good era, enjoying the favorable policies that the predecessors did not have, I will take the revitalization of the Xiang embroidery cause and the promotion of non-genetic inheritance as my lifelong cause and goal of struggle, and write the responsibility and responsibility of non-genetic inheritors in the new era with the "embroidery spirit".
Editor-in-charge: Jia Tingyi