Under the guidance of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, sponsored by Guangming Daily, and undertaken by Guangming.com, the 2023 "China Intangible Cultural Heritage Person of the Year" selection and publicity activity has recently determined the list of 100 candidates and announced them to the public. Ye Weizhang of Huangpi District was selected as the national representative inheritor of the legend of Mulan as a representative project of national intangible cultural heritage.
Since 2017, the selection and publicity activities of "China's Intangible Cultural Heritage Person of the Year" have been successfully held for 6 sessions. This event will comprehensively summarize the effectiveness and experience of the intangible cultural heritage protection work carried out in 2023 in accordance with local conditions and creativity, accurately focus on the important intangible cultural heritage inheritance practices of this year, and show the tireless perseverance and exploration of the majority of intangible cultural heritage people, so as to raise the attention of the whole society to the cause of intangible cultural heritage protection.
Ye Weizhang introduced the collection.
In Huangpi, Wuhan, Ye Weizhang, known as the "first person to collect Mulan culture in China", is the national representative inheritor of the "Legend of Mulan". At present, Ye Weizhang has more than 5,000 Magnolia-themed collections, and has successively set up museums (exhibition halls) in the Huangpi District Cultural Center, Mulan Flower Township Scenic Area, and Mulan Tianchi Scenic Area.
In Huangpi, the story of "The Legend of Mulan" is mainly divided into nine chapters, such as the birth of Mulan, the young Mulan, joining the army for his father, the battle outside the Saiwai, the triumph of meritorious service, the resignation and return to his hometown, the filial piety before the bed, the tragic love, and the old man's hometown. As a representative item of national intangible cultural heritage, the inheritance of "The Legend of Mulan" is not only different from the Hubei drum and other operas that mainly focus on speaking and singing, but also different from the Chinese paper-cutting that uses scissors or carving knives to cut patterns on paper.
Ye Weizhang, whose ancestral home is Huangpi, listened to his grandfather tell the story of "The Legend of Mulan" since he was a child, he said: "We must integrate the 'Legend of Mulan' into the entire Mulan cultural system, start from the tangible cultural and artistic works, and then trace back to the source to tell the story of the 'Legend of Mulan', and combine the Mulan story with historical celebrities, landscapes, customs and cultural creativity, so as to keep pace with the times, create new vitality, and benefit the real society." ”
The collection in the exhibition hall of the national intangible cultural heritage "The Legend of Mulan".
Over the past 30 years, Ye Weizhang's collection has gradually become a series, covering more than 5,000 pieces in more than 20 categories, including ancient books, paintings, porcelain, wood carvings, singing books, scripts, etc., including overseas collections from the United States, France, Japan and other countries, filling the gap in the display and publicity of "Mulan Culture". Ye Weizhang recalled: "Since I started collecting Mulan culture, I will browse websites such as China Collectibles Trading Network, Confucius Used Books Network, Artron Art Network and other websites every day, and I will also go to antique markets and used book markets around the country to look for them, and at the same time buy Mulan-related collections from collectors of different categories such as New Year paintings and newspapers. ”
Liu Shouhua, a lifelong achievement folk artist of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, professor and doctoral supervisor of Central China Normal University, once commented: "Ye Weizhang has fully protected and inherited the legend of Mulan, and opened up a new model of intangible cultural heritage protection. ”
Ye Weizhang's "The Legend of Mulan".
In 2023, Ye Weizhang will officially open his doors to accept apprentices at the Huangpi District Cultural Center, and the three disciples said that they will continue the cultural torch and tell the story of Mulan. Now they have sorted out the stories and collections of "The Legend of Mulan" through new media platforms, aiming to communicate, inherit and spread "Mulan culture". Empowered by literature, "The Legend of Mulan" has also further promoted the in-depth development of the integration of culture and tourism in Huangpi.