Let more artifacts "speak"

On September 29, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the 23rd collective study of the Politburo of the Central Committee that through in-depth study of history, it is necessary to strengthen the dissemination of archaeological results and historical research results, educate and guide the vast number of cadres and masses, especially young people, to understand the historical context of the origin and development of Chinese civilization, understand the brilliant achievements of Chinese civilization, understand the major contributions of Chinese civilization to human civilization, and continuously enhance national cohesion and national pride.

In recent years, we are pleased to see that more and more cultural heritage, which was originally unknown, is being "alive" in an increasingly rich, vivid and novel way, and shining a new era in interesting stories. 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, and in the past year alone, there have been many topical news emerging. From the "Tang Palace Night Banquet" overnight "hegemonic screen", to the whole people watching sanxingdui archaeology live broadcast, the "post-95" video blogger "restored" the sanxingdui gold mask by hand, and then to the first archaeological space exploration cultural program "China Archaeological Conference" planned and produced by the Central Radio and Television Corporation, the National Bureau of Cultural Relics and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences... At the beginning of spring in 2022, "Only This Green" borrowed the CCTV Spring Festival Gala to "go out of the circle" and once again became a phenomenon-level topic.

Let the audience perceive the "life" of cultural relics

The related topics of these popular programs are rising in popularity on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat public account, and B station, and with the popularity of cultural and blog programs, archaeology that was relatively unpopular in the past has become increasingly active, becoming "close to the people" and bringing its own traffic, accumulating an increasingly large fan base on social media platforms where young people gather.

If the audience pays close attention to the planning of these cultural and bo programs that do not lose the attention of popular dramas, they will find the eye-catching path behind the popularity of cultural relics. The first is the attention of the drainage, that is, to invite public figures as narrators, and some well-known actors as "guardians of national treasures" to tell the stories behind cultural relics, borrowing the social heat of traffic narrators to increase the exposure and awareness of cultural relics. The second is the innovation of the form of the program, such as the creation of "Tang Palace Night Banquet" inspired by the Sui Dynasty music and dance figurines excavated from the tomb of Zhang Sheng in Anyang, Henan in 1959, which exists in the Henan Museum; the creation of "Only This Green" is inspired by the already well-known "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", which shows the elegance of cultural relics with the beauty of dance, and displays cultural relics with cross-border means, so that ancient cultural relics and contemporary audiences have emotional identification and resonance. The third is to combine cultural relics with "tide play", for example, some museums try to make a "blind box" with the prototype of cultural relics in the collection, integrating the historical value, cultural value, aesthetic value and market value of cultural relics, after a series of creative planning and careful packaging, cultural relics are no longer just the display items on the museum shelf or warehouse, but have become the "tide play" that can be admired and collected by ordinary people.

The display of cultural relics needs to leverage scientific and technological innovation

In November 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection of Cultural Relics and Scientific and Technological Innovation", which is the first time that the five-year plan for the development of cultural relics has been upgraded from a departmental plan to a national-level special plan. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection of Cultural Relics and Scientific and Technological Innovation" for the first time wrote "scientific and technological innovation" into the file name, and required "the integration of multimedia resources, the strengthening of content construction, the innovation of expression methods, the expansion of communication channels, and the promotion of the all-media dissemination of important cultural relics". As a memory symbol of China's excellent traditional culture, cultural relics have received more and more attention in the new era. How to use modern communication technology to innovate the display, accurate interpretation and integration of archaeological achievements, and maximize the realization of social education functions, has become another important proposition for cultural relics in the "14th Five-Year Plan" period to "come alive".

The emergence of "online museums" is an important exploration of scientific and technological innovation in the all-media dissemination of cultural relics. The VR scenes produced by many "online museums", the detailed introduction of exhibits, and the display of cultural relics details are no less than the experience of watching the exhibition offline.

Creativity can be bold and cannot be separated from solid technical support. The high-quality development path of radio and television technology "5G+4K/8K+AI" is bound to support more "reductive" and "experiential" archaeological programs, use technical means to "activate" historical scenes, create more "sight + hear + touch" multi-dimensional integration of three-dimensional stages, and strengthen interactive experiences.

The use of scientific and technological means to reach the archaeological site, three-dimensional presentation of the whole picture of the project, restoration and even reconstruction of historical scenes has become the standard of many programs. Taking the "China Archaeological Conference" and "National Treasures Exhibition season" as an example, the program debuted the first stage to present the exploration of archaeological space, using "AI + VR" naked-eye 3D studio technology, 360-degree light network and undulating ground screen interplay, creating an infinite extension of five-dimensional time and space, creating a human experience in it.

Increase the intersection of cultural relics and life

The innovation of form is inseparable from the support of technology, and more importantly, it is inseparable from the vivid grasp of the connotation of cultural relics. Whether it is technological innovation or cross-border interpretation in immersive experiences, we must not blindly focus on novel forms, but also work fun and interactivity.

The creative transformation of cultural and creative products is a useful exploration to strengthen interest. "Museum + Catering", "Museum + Beauty", "Museum + Costume", "Museum + Finance", "Museum + Game", "Museum + Tourism" Have appeared, such as the "Gushu Mengwa" series of WeChat emojis launched by sanxingdui Museum, the cold bronze mask transformed into a cute cute baby that speaks the Sichuan dialect, triggering netizens to download; the Hunan Provincial Museum takes the "Junxing Food" Tanuki pattern lacquer food plate IP as the theme, and exports history and culture with the topic of "eating well and drinking well" food... All of them have created more intersections between cultural relics and modern life, and have received rave reviews. Some museums have introduced "dynamic cultural creation" to improve interactivity. For example, the "Lost Treasures" series of archaeological blind boxes launched by the Henan Museum, which hides fragments of "miniature cultural relics" such as bronzes, jades, ceramics, and murals into the soil, so that people can "archaeology" at home, and have endless fun. Seeing that this series is very popular, the Henan Museum has launched a series of "scattered treasures" series of cultural relics excavation and cultural relics restoration blind boxes, using the concept of "dynamic cultural creation" to restore a series of cultural relics restoration experiences from excavation and cleaning to splicing, bonding, and repair.

There is no sitting preaching, and there is no knowledge point that must be memorized by rote, these innovative means of communication allow cultural relics to jump out of the grand narrative and enter daily life, which is more in line with the appreciation habits and aesthetic tastes of the younger generation. The intersection of cultural relics and science and technology has narrowed the time and space distance between the story of thousands of years ago and modern people, allowing the audience to perceive Chinese civilization in a three-dimensional way in the historical dimension; the intersection of cultural relics and life has made more people moved by the "intimacy" of cultural relics, so that the originally unknown story behind cultural relics can naturally be integrated into people's knowledge system, so as to more truly perceive the historical meaning of "cultural identity".

April 7, 2022 "China Culture News"

Special reports were published on the 8th edition

"Let more cultural relics "speak""

Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue