Opinion· Interpret | Li Jin: Shouzheng Innovation Establish and improve systematic protection

Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as the "Two Offices") issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), and issued a notice requiring all regions and departments to conscientiously implement them in light of reality.

In order to deeply study and comprehend the spirit of the Opinions, implement them well, and promote the in-depth development of the protection of intangible cultural heritage, we have specially set up a special column on "Opinions" and invited relevant experts to interpret the contents of the Opinions to provide new ideas for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Sichuan.

Biography

Li Jin: Doctor of Anthropology, Professor of School of History and Culture, Sichuan University, Institute of Chinese Tibetology, Doctoral Supervisor. He serves as vice president and secretary general of the Southwest China Ethnic Studies Society, vice president of the Sichuan Ethnic Studies Association, vice chairman of the Sichuan Folk Writers Association, and deputy director of the Expert Committee of the Sichuan Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Association.

01

The target task is clear

Three characteristics point out the direction of work

The Opinions are a programmatic document for the protection of China's intangible cultural heritage in the coming period, with the following very clear characteristics.

The first is to answer how intangible cultural heritage can be systematically protected. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, General Secretary Xi Jinping mentioned for the first time the systematic protection of intangible cultural heritage. What does this mean? The "Opinions" gave a very clear answer -- it is necessary to establish three systems and build three systems. How will we evaluate the protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sichuan in the future? Well done or badly? These three systems and three systems need to be measured.

Second, the measures and tasks are very clear. Among the twenty articles, the main objectives and tasks are described at the beginning, the safeguard measures are given at the end, and the middle part is all work opinions, which are listed one by one, which is very clear. Therefore, sichuan's intangible cultural heritage work will be implemented step by step in accordance with the direction pointed out in the "Opinions", and the achievements will be seen.

The third is to solve the problem of how cultural heritage protection can give back to the whole society. This time, the document particularly emphasizes that it is necessary to link the protection work with a series of issues such as the people's livelihood, social development, and major national economic strategies, and therefore it is also a macro concern.

These three characteristics show the discussion of the "Opinions" on the direction, goal and path of Sichuan's intangible cultural heritage protection work in the future. It is a guide to the systematic protection of intangible cultural heritage in Sichuan.

02

Take the short board as a springboard

Give full play to the advantages of Sichuan's intangible cultural heritage work

For a long time, the protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sichuan has been the first echelon in China. We have rich intangible cultural heritage resources, have done a lot of work, and have a good basis for implementing the opinions. At the same time, there are also some shortcomings, such as civil protection, digital protection, the establishment of digital archives, as well as open to the public, the construction of the theoretical system, the construction of the intangible cultural heritage education curriculum system, etc., which are relatively weak links.

We also have traditional advantages, such as the integration of culture and tourism, intangible cultural heritage in the community and other work. The concept of community is closely related to practice, but in the past it was only piloted in Chengdu, and the whole province is not universal, so we should learn from experience, lead by example, and comprehensively promote this work.

According to the "Opinions", the protection of intangible cultural heritage is now the responsibility of the party committee and the government, and other departments at all levels and society coordinate to do things, so the requirements for the talent team will gradually increase. How to innovatively cultivate intangible cultural heritage talents? This is a key focus of the current work on intangible cultural heritage. For example, we can innovate and create a talent training system, open up national education, college education, and cadre education, and connect vocational and technical education with the training and research of inheritors.

The Opinions provide a very good guiding role for many aspects of work and are of great significance to the development of intangible cultural heritage protection.

03

Face four challenges head-on

Adhere to the protection of intangible cultural heritage and innovation

First of all, in addition to the construction of digitalization and the construction of education theory system, the most prominent challenge is how to achieve integrity and innovation in the protection of intangible cultural heritage. In the past, the work of intangible cultural heritage has always focused on protection as the center, which is also emphasized in the sixteen-character policy, rescue and protection is the center of the whole work, but how to systematically build three systems and three systems? What needs to be corrected and what needs to be innovated is a big challenge. For example, in the community, the original principle of protection is usually local protection, so that intangible cultural heritage can be protected in the cultural environment in which it is generated, formed and developed. But now that the population flow is increasing, the urbanization process is accelerating, the rural revitalization is also deepening, and the changes in various social material cultures and spiritual cultures are also very fast, how to protect the core values of the original intangible cultural heritage while making it conform to the development of this era? Therefore, integrity and innovation are eternal challenges, and they are the biggest challenges at this stage.

The second challenge is that the heavy protection task is not equal to the weak talent team. Sichuan has a wealth of intangible cultural heritage projects, and there are also many projects in the cultural industry cultural and creative cultural tourism integration, but how to grasp this degree? How can these resources be used rationally rather than misused? Therefore, a dedicated team for conservation and utilization is also needed. What does the classified protection team need to do? First, we must protect the intangible cultural heritage resources, and second, we must guide the use of work, so the requirements for the construction of the talent team are also very high, and it is necessary to start from the theoretical foundation, improve the structure of the talent team, and cultivate and manage all kinds of talents. Management cadres are a team, inheritors are also a team, and cultural industry, cultural and creative cultural tourism integration practitioners are also a team, which can help the intangible cultural heritage work to a higher level. In this way, the construction of this talent team is also a major difficulty, which is the main challenge we are facing.

The third challenge is how to integrate the protection of Sichuan's intangible cultural heritage into the national development strategy? For example, how to integrate the culture of the Red Army's Long March through the grassland into the Long March National Cultural Park, how to integrate the culture of the upper reaches of the Yellow River into the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and how to integrate the cultures of various ethnic groups in the Yangtze River Basin into the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt? Different regions need to be targeted with different ways and means of protection and utilization, and a lot of exploration is needed.

The last challenge is the issue of institutions. There has been a major breakthrough in the goal of intangible cultural heritage protection, how to adjust the system according to the breakthroughs proposed now? It is also a big difficulty.

04

The government is in the right direction

Use media to break down audience barriers

Now is the visual era, the new media era, pay great attention to publicity, dissemination. The protection of intangible cultural heritage is led by the party committee and the government, which is the will of the state, so how to disseminate it when carrying out various new media communication activities? What are the things that are disseminated? It is the area in which our Government should play a guiding role. Intangible cultural heritage has been accumulated over thousands of years, and in the process, many things need to be innovated in terms of categories and forms of expression compared with modern society, so the direction of mainstream media communication should be controlled by the government.

The government takes the lead, but also makes full use of self-media and streaming media to "live" the media. For example, intangible cultural heritage archives and databases, how to dynamically use these static data, while allowing the existing data to play a role in dissemination, this is also a very big job. Building a platform to make information come alive, from being only placed in the warehouse to being accessible to the people, and choosing what kind of way to spread it is a problem that must be solved.

In addition, it is still necessary to give full play to the role of inheritors and social forces in communication. If intangible cultural heritage wants to enter the people's lives, it is necessary to first understand the needs of the people, to consider the problem of differentiation and niche, and to rely on the communication method of self-media, so that it is possible to break the final barrier between intangible cultural heritage and the fingertips of the audience. Therefore, the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage should be carried out in a way that enters people's lives, rather than just expanding its influence as the goal of dissemination as before. To let the people feel that the intangible cultural heritage is around, can be seen at any time, and can be obtained at any time, which is an important direction for the future publicity of intangible cultural heritage.

05

Innovative classification protection

Supporting construction projects form a system

The "Opinions" mentioned a sound system, and the systematic protection of intangible cultural heritage needs to rely on a sound system. From the perspective of classification protection, it was previously classified according to the nature of the intangible cultural heritage itself, such as folk literature, performance category divided into traditional music, traditional dance, handicrafts including traditional skills, etc., all of which are guided by their categorical characteristics. But now we also need to pay attention to the classification of its inheritance forms, such as some folk music, literature, can only rely on oral transmission, and some are collectively transmitted by an entire community group. Therefore, only inheritance is not enough, but also needs to have a perfect system. First of all, classified protection, on this basis to improve the system, working institutions, funding input and corresponding projects, supporting settings in order to form a system, and these are also clearly stated in the "Opinions". Our intangible cultural heritage conservation efforts are complex, and more innovative perspectives and time will be needed in the future to become sound.