2 places in our city were selected as "the hometown of Chinese folk culture and art" Huazhou shadow puppet Fuping stone carvings Innovation and development stand out

Weinan Daily reporter Yang Xiaoyan

On October 22, the reporter learned that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism determined the proposed naming list of "Chinese Folk Culture and Art Towns" for 2021-2023. Huazhou District of our city and Gongli Town of Fuping County were selected.

It is understood that the "hometown of Chinese folk culture and art" refers to a specific area with distinctive characteristics, popular with the masses and widely participated in, and has a greater impact on the whole country. Folk culture and art here cover intangible cultural heritage items such as traditional art, calligraphy, music, dance, drama, qu art, acrobatics, folklore, sports, and entertainment, as well as other forms of culture and art that have emerged in the contemporary era, such as photography, chorus, oil painting, etc. Nowadays, it has become an important public cultural brand project that promotes the prosperity and development of folk culture and art undertakings and enriches and enlivens the cultural life of the grass-roots masses.

Huazhou District has the reputation of "the hometown of Chinese shadow puppetry". In recent years, Huazhou District attaches great importance to the inheritance and development of shadow puppet art, establishes and improves the policy protection system, continues to increase capital investment, strengthens the protection of traditional shadow puppet artists, organizes and carries out colorful activities such as folk culture and art entering the campus, actively develops creative products, strengthens publicity and exchanges, and continuously enhances the influence and popularity of Huazhou shadow puppetry. Up to now, there are 7 shadow puppet culture media units and associations in Huazhou District, shadow puppet artists (covering performances and carving) are distributed in 10 town offices in the district, and more than 2,000 people are employed in the shadow puppet industry.

Fuping stone carvings have a history of more than 1,500 years, mainly distributed in the local palace, Lei Village, Yuling, Laomiao, Mihara and other areas along the mountain, of which the most famous stone carvings in the palace. Its origin can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, covering many types of works such as arches, pavilions, statues, guardrails, and Huabiao. It is made through the process of material selection, material harvesting, embryo extraction, carving, etc., with rich shapes and changeable patterns, with exquisite, realistic and vivid characteristics. In 2014, the Fuping stone carvings were included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.