Source: Economic Daily
The elegant flying sky, the generals on the border, and the grape seeds brought back by Zhang Qian's envoy to the Western Regions...... The convergence and collision of these elements is the best gift to us from the Hexi Corridor.
There is no shortage of stories in the Hexi Corridor, and there is no shortage of storytellers.
We have a glimpse of the shadow of history and culture, in the cultural tourism scene of digital "immersive" experience, and in the beautiful poetry of the lonely smoke of the desert and the luminous glass of grape wine, we feel the feelings of perseverance, inheritance and innovation from generation to generation.
Revitalization of the Mogao Grottoes
The warm sun sprinkled on the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang deep in the Hexi Corridor. Ding Xiaohong, deputy director of the Institute of Digitization of Cultural Relics of the Dunhuang Academy, is preparing for the 2024 Digital Dunhuang Exhibition.
Using modern technology to break the shackles of time and space, to realize the crossing of the thousand-year-old mural world, 19 years ago when he first visited Mogao Grottoes, Ding Xiaohong was deeply shocked. Since 2005, he has participated in the completion of the digital collection of nearly 290 caves, and has experienced a new stage from the initial low-pixel digital camera acquisition and manual splicing, to the launch of "Digital Dunhuang" large-scale digital protection.
Wearing VR equipment in the "Digital Dunhuang Immersion Pavilion" in the Mogao Grottoes Scenic Area, you can intuitively see the whole picture of Cave 285 and the inscription of the vow on the north wall of the cave.
With more than 40 immortals such as "Lei Gong", they flew over the clouds and played heavenly music together, and in the story of "Five Hundred Robbers Become Buddhas", the thrilling war scenes made people "enter the play". What's more attractive is that tourists can also check in here for "real + virtual scene" video synthesis, leaving the "virtual experience" in reality.
"The immersive digital experience is all about 'activating' the cave and allowing visitors to interact with the cave content and participate in all aspects of the process. Ding Xiaohong said that the use of digital means to protect cultural heritage has a history of at least 30 years, the early digitization is based on traditional pictures, videos and websites in the form of flat display, then 3D stereoscopic display, and now it has entered the form of "immersive" and "participatory" interactive experience.
The "immersive" experience is a microcosm of the Dunhuang Academy's revitalization of digital resources and the commercial value of digital cultural resources.
Ding Xiaohong said that if the collected data is left untouched, it will only be a pile of data after 1,000 years. However, if it is continuously transformed and utilized, it can be applied to different fields to amplify the value of these data.
"In recent years, the income from technology transformation is about 80 million yuan, and the income from resource transformation is about 30 million yuan. Ding Xiaohong introduced.
Among them, technology transformation is to use the technical experience accumulated over the years to provide technical support for other cultural relics protection units, do some technical services in digital protection, and jointly apply for projects. This year, Ding Xiaohong and his team also undertook the digital conservation of the Maijishan Grottoes, Bingling Temple Grottoes in Gansu Province, the Zhangye Great Buddha Temple, and foreign aid projects in Yan'an, Xinjiang, and Myanmar.
The transformation of resources realizes the safe and efficient flow of cultural resources. On December 8, 2022, the digital cultural heritage open sharing platform "Digital Dunhuang Open Material Library", jointly created by the Dunhuang Academy and Tencent, was officially launched. More than 6,500 high-definition digital resource archives from Mogao Grottoes and other grotto sites and Dunhuang scripture cave documents are open to the world through the material library, creating a "one-stop" Dunhuang cultural sharing platform for professional scholars, culture lovers and art workers.
"'Activation' requires innovation, and through innovative forms and means, some jerky and niche resources must be transformed into forms and contents that the public likes to see. Ding Xiaohong said that how to revitalize digital resources, better serve the society, and let digital cultural resources play a greater social and commercial value is one of the key tasks of him and his team.
Let Dunhuang culture be understood, recognized and felt by more people, which is the action consciousness of every guardian of Dunhuang in different eras. For Ding Xiaohong, the shock when he first entered the Mogao Grottoes 19 years ago is still fresh in his memory, and the desolation of the desert and the temptation of the outside world are nothing but floating clouds.
Ding Xiaohong, a man from science and engineering, seemed unable to give a clear answer, he said that he felt that he couldn't give up, and no matter where he went on a business trip, as long as it was more than 10 days, he always wanted to come back. It is precisely because there are countless "Ding Xiaohong" who are immersed in the protection of Dunhuang culture that we can be wantonly immersed in the beautiful scene of the Mogao Grottoes through the millennium.
The meaning of the live version
"Who are you?"
"Coming from Xi'an. ”
"What do you have to do in the Western Regions?"
"Buy spices. ”
The interrogator dressed in a general's uniform used a brush to write down the names of tourists and the ancient names of their hometowns on the documents, stamped them with seals, and read them out: "Xi'an merchant Jia Moumou, through Jiayuguan, the first Xiongguan in the world, went to the Western Regions to purchase Persian spices, and legally cleared customs!"
One question and one answer, full of ceremony, deduced the Ming Dynasty guerrilla generals to inspect business and travel exchanges, and issued documents and vouchers for traveling abroad and foreign places. Tourists from all over the world will unconsciously enter the situation in the Q&A room, happy for the customs clearance, sorry for the visa refusal, and leave a different kind of memory for the journey.
Li Sen, who has long hair and fluttering hair, a clean head, wears a dragon pattern flower arm suit in summer and armor in winter, plays the role of the commissioner of Jiayuguan. The place where Li Sen is located is the starting point of the western end of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty, Jiayuguan Guancheng Cultural Tourism Scenic Spot. The Great Wall wall, moats, forts, and beacon towers together constitute a strict military defense system, which is known as "the first Xiongguan in the world".
In 2001, 21-year-old Li Sen ended his life of traveling south and north, returned to Jiayuguan, and became a tourist souvenir salesman under the city. In the past 10 years, the life under the city has made Li Sen, who has realized the life of a soldier on the border, grow a beard, disguise himself as a guerrilla general, and issue "care" to tourists.
Li Sen is not just a "martial artist", his knowledge reserve and a strong brush are amazing: memorize more than 1,000 ancient place names, can quickly translate modern place names into ancient place names, and combined with the history and culture of Jiayuguan to create the ancient Western Silk Road hand-drawn map, the ancient Western Regions 36 countries seal, Jiayuguan military defense hand-painted map of three cultural and creative products with national intellectual property certification.
Li Sen's "erudite" and humorous style makes visitors feel full of experience, and also makes him feel that he is not only a salesperson, but also the guardian of the city. His speech was full of love for Chinese history and culture and Jiayuguan Guancheng, and he also wanted to make cultural and creative products such as the hand-painted full map of the Great Wall in the past dynasties, the westward map of Xuanzang, and the champion Hou Xizheng Road.
In recent years, Jiayuguan Scenic Area has invested more than 100 yuan to develop more than 10 items and more than 30 cultural and creative products in combination with the culture of the Great Wall and the Silk Road, and the product sales revenue has reached 3.81 million yuan. Last year, the Jiayuguan Great Wall Museum received 400,100 visitors.
"The mouth does not stop, the brain does not stop, the hands do not stop, obviously I feel that my ability is insufficient, my physical strength and energy cannot keep up, and I am not active enough in dealing with people and things, and I have to improve from all aspects. Entering the winter, Li Sen, who had been busy for half a year, entered the rest period, and began to prepare for the promotion of the cultural and tourism department to other provinces, "If you like it, you can't help it!"
Where words can't go, words can, where footprints can't go, love can. Behind Li Sen, in the desolation of the desert, plants such as camel thorns and saxons are blooming with vitality.
More than audio-visual
"Grape wine glow-in-the-dark glass, if you want to drink the pipa, urge immediately. "The unique charm of the Hexi Corridor also lies in the immersive experience on the tip of the tongue.
Looking back in time, Zhang Qian, who was traveling in the "digging" of this great passage across the Eurasian continent, would not have imagined that after more than 2,000 years of time, the grape seeds he brought back would take root and sprout in the Hexi Corridor.
"We started to grow grapes in 1998, made the first bottle of wine in 2000, and then successfully developed ice wine in 2003, filling the gap in domestic ice wine. In the cellar of the winery of Gansu Qilian Wine Industry Co., Ltd., Wang Zhibin, the director of the factory, pointed to the mural of Zhang Qian's envoy to the Western Regions to introduce to visitors.
After graduating from Gansu Agricultural University in 2004 with a major in food science and engineering, Wang Zhibin went to the depths of the desert in the Hexi Corridor.
Wang Zhibin, who has been with wine for 20 years, said with a smile that every time he saw the mural of Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, he felt full of fighting spirit.
The grapes used to make ice wine must be kept on the branches for a period of time in an environment of minus 8 degrees Celsius, and after freezing, they are picked and pressed with ice, and brewed without any sugar source - in the process of market-oriented transformation, Wang Zhibin and his colleagues have only one wish from the adjustment of grape varieties to the improvement of planting technology and brewing technology, and then to enter the market of small bottles of wine and tourism products.
Back in the 90s of the last century, forestry workers from the Bailongjiang Forestry Administration responded to the call of the state to build vineyards in the desert Gobi, and developed the first bottle of wine two years later, which opened the prelude to the development of the wine industry in the Hexi Corridor.
"This year, we received about 6,000 tourists, and the economic income brought by various forms such as buybacks was about 2 million yuan. Wang Zhibin said that the integration of culture and tourism has brought greater development prospects for enterprises, and also made him feel that the burden of inheriting wine culture on his shoulders is heavier.
"Grape wine luminous glass, Zhang Qiantong to the Western Regions, culture endows the wine industry of the Hexi Corridor with a profound heritage, and creating a grape brand with Gansu characteristics is the goal of our new generation of wine people. Last year, students from Northwest A&F University expressed such feelings after visiting Wang Zhibin's company.
It is also Wang Zhibin's simple wish to let more people immerse themselves in the story of Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, taste delicious wine, and understand the culture of the Silk Road.
Walking into the Hexi Corridor, "immersed" in the experience brought to us by Ding Xiaohong, Li Sen and Wang Zhibin, we truly experienced the breadth and profundity of China's excellent traditional culture, and felt the tension and charm of Chinese narrative.
There are countless of them in the Hexi Corridor, and their story is not yet over...... (Source of this article: Economic Daily Author: Zhao Mei)