People's Daily reporter Wang Bo
Foreign tourists pose for photos in front of Chinese lanterns. Courtesy of Lantern Group
From the national intangible cultural heritage with a thousand-year history to the "Disney from China", today, the Zigong Lantern Festival has been held in more than 80 countries and regions, accounting for 92% of the overseas lantern show market share. How does Zigong, Sichuan, a small city in southern Sichuan, use a lamp to drive the infinite vitality of the industry and help China's intangible cultural heritage go global?
The 30th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival. Photo by People's Daily Online Wang Fan
Adhere to ingenuity, build a chain and expand sales
"The Zigong Lantern Festival began in the Tang and Song dynasties, flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and flourished in contemporary times." Zhang Fanglai, deputy research librarian of the China Lantern Museum, introduced that there are more than 1,000 registered lantern business enterprises in Zigong City, with more than 50,000 employees, and more than 50,000 seasonal employees, with an annual output value of nearly 6 billion yuan. "There are only more than 3 million people in Zigong, that is to say, almost every household has an inextricable relationship with the lantern industry."
Behind the dazzling data is Zigong's unremitting efforts to inherit the lantern culture and build an industrial chain. Zhang Fang said that in the early years, the lantern festival was not only for festival entertainment, but also to show the masses the achievements of production and construction. "All walks of life make lamps according to the characteristics of their own industries, and then participate in the lantern festival 'competition'. For example, the supply and marketing cooperatives make porcelain tableware such as wine glasses, bowls and spoons that are usually sold into porcelain lamps, and the common dragon-shaped porcelain lamp is one of them, which we call 'everything can become a lamp'. ”
To achieve "everything can become a lamp", innovation is indispensable, and the persistence of traditional craftsmen is indispensable. A 5.5-meter-tall peacock, sometimes looking up at the moon, sometimes bowing its head and groaning, under the interaction of light and acrylic feathers, the original white as snow feathers also appear colorful and vivid. At this year's 30th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival, the single lamp group "Spirit of the Sparrow" is undoubtedly one of the "stars". To achieve a realistic effect, 58-year-old craftsman Lau Chun-choi and his team cut the acrylic flakes with handmade scissors into hair-thin peacock feathers. "Only one tail feather needs to be cut more than 3,000 cuts, and more than 1,500,000 shears are needed to complete the shearing of more than 500 tail feathers, and if you add the short feathers and down of other parts of the peacock, a total of more than 10,000,000 cuts."
Liu Juncai and his cut "Spirit of the Sparrow" feathers. Photo by People's Daily reporter Wang Bo
This is the ingenuity of Zigong lanterns, and it is also the inheritance and promotion of the aesthetic spirit. The persistence of ingenuity makes our lanterns more shining. Zhang Fang said.
Nowadays, the division of labor in the design, production, exhibition and other links of Zigong lanterns is becoming more and more refined, and each link has given birth to a professional team, and the industrial potential has been continuously gathered. "The raw materials needed for lanterns can basically be met locally, and the supply is sufficient." Yi Chenghao, executive deputy general manager of Zigong Longteng Culture and Art Co., Ltd., told reporters that thousands of local lantern-related enterprises have complete division of labor and play their own roles.
"In fact, we have also faced some problems and difficulties in the development of the industry." Some people in the industry admit that for skilled workers, there is a phenomenon of high-priced "poaching" among enterprises, and for workers who have just started, the cost is low. "Problems like this are not conducive to the long-term development of the industry."
In order to solve the problems in development, in recent years, Zigong City has taken multiple measures to guide the healthy development of the lantern industry: the establishment of industry associations, the formulation of self-discipline conventions, the establishment of professional titles, and the issuance of salary guidance prices for employees...... The disorderly competition between enterprises has been reduced, the business atmosphere has been better, and the road to the sea has become smoother.
November 2023, China Lantern Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Zigong Municipal Party Committee
Innovation empowers Chinese lanterns to the world
5 high-cube lanterns in the United States, 4 high-cube simulated dinosaurs in Thailand, and 2 high-cube lanterns in Italy...... On the management board of the production workshop, orders are dense, and many of them come from abroad. Yi Chenghao said that the company specializes in the design and manufacture of lanterns, using technological advantages and adapting to the needs of foreign markets, and its business scope has expanded to night landscaping, simulation dinosaurs and other directions.
"Colored lanterns are generally placed outdoors and are a relatively fragile product. Therefore, we apply the resin process to the lantern products, that is, to make a layer of FRP on the surface of the lantern. Yi Chenghao introduced that such an innovative process can increase the "life cycle" of lantern products from 1 to 3 months to 3 to 5 years. "This has added new competitiveness to our expansion into foreign markets!"
Unlike Yi Chenghao, who sells lantern products overseas, Huang Mingshu mainly participates in lantern festivals overseas. "Different countries have different technology and safety standards, and different cultures, which is quite a challenge for us." As a skilled worker with more than 30 years of experience, Huang Mingshu still feels "not easy" every time he holds an overseas exhibition.
"Take this exhibition in France, for example. More than 80 of us workers took about 3 months to assemble and produce the lamp group locally. Huang Mingshu said frankly that now that there are more scientific and technological things, they have more work. But no matter how difficult it is, I still want to make the lantern festival safe and amazing, this is a must!"
In order to make the lantern festival scene experience more realistic, Huang Mingshu's Zigong Lantern Cultural Industry Group has established a national-level "i-lantern laboratory" and a "lantern metaverse R&D center", and integrated the group's lantern physical application scenario construction, university AR, 3D virtual technology research and development and telecom company's hardware infrastructure advantages, empowered the lantern industry, and realized the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of traditional lanterns. Nowadays, holographic projection, laser water screen film and other technologies have been widely used in overseas lantern festivals.
As enterprises actively go overseas, difficulties and problems are also revealed. In view of the many legal disputes and financing difficulties faced by lantern enterprises, in recent years, Zigong City has accurately provided foreign-related legal services to enterprises, continued to make efforts to protect intellectual property rights, and innovatively launched exclusive credit products such as "Lantern Culture Management Quick Loan" and "Lantern e-Loan", and issued a total of 2.622 billion yuan of loans to lantern enterprises.
According to the data, in 2023 alone, Zigong will hold 90 overseas lantern projects, achieving cultural exports of 50.48 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%.
The scene of the Chinese Lantern Festival in Montauban, France. Courtesy of Lantern Group
Spread Chinese culture and promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations
During this year's Chinese New Year, a Chinese lantern festival called "Fantasy World, Fantasy Journey" came to an end in Montauban, France, with lanterns from the Far East attracting more than 300,000 visitors over the course of several months.
"Now, the fan base of Sichuan elements such as giant pandas and lanterns in France is getting bigger and bigger." This year is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, and in the view of Li Zhongwen, vice president and general manager of the international business department of Zigong Lantern Cultural Industry Group Co., Ltd., Zigong lanterns make the wonderful cultural exchanges between the two countries more colorful.
Different from his current self-confidence, at the beginning of going to sea, Li Zhongwen often fell into thinking: "Is the lantern with a unique oriental culture suitable for foreign countries?" Will there be cultural differences? Now, with more than 20 years of experience in organizing exhibitions abroad, he has summed it up: "There must be differences, but there are also commonalities. ”
"In the early days, we often made giant pandas, as well as lantern groups such as 'Classic of Mountains and Seas', 'Three Kingdoms' and 'Journey to the West' for exhibitions. However, except for the 'giant panda', other lantern groups with unique Chinese cultural characteristics are difficult for foreigners to understand. Li Zhongwen said frankly that in order to adapt to the international market, they began to try to combine with some internationally renowned IPs, such as Snoopy, Doraemon, Peter Rabbit, etc. It turns out that such a light group will be more popular abroad. Nowadays, we have different themes in different city lantern festivals, and lantern festivals have formed brands in many overseas places. ”
"Although our cultures are different, we have a common understanding of beautiful things!" Li Zhongwen feels that the practice of using Chinese lantern art to express local culture can make more foreign audiences focus on the design and craftsmanship details of traditional Chinese lanterns from the appearance of the lanterns. "Now, foreign tourists are starting to pay attention and be amazed by our lantern-making skills."
With attention, there is more communication. Nowadays, as overseas lantern festivals become more and more popular with locals, Chinese food and Sichuan opera are also going to sea with the lantern festival. "We use the lantern festival to promote cultural products with Chinese characteristics to the world, so that foreign audiences can feel the charm of more culture."
During the Chinese Lantern Festival held in Montauban, there was one event that left Li Zhongwen deeply memorable. Ms. Alanca, a French audience, sent them more than 10 emails before and after, out of her love for pandas and lanterns, she wanted to put panda lanterns at her wedding. "We finally agreed to the 'fan' request." After much deliberation, Li Zhongwen decided to lend the lantern group to Jean Alanka to help her realize her wish.
As of the beginning of this year, the Zigong Lantern Festival has traveled to the five continents of the world and the north and south of the motherland, and has been exhibited in more than 80 countries and regions, attracting more than 500 million people to watch the lanterns, and also gaining countless "fans" like Alranka.
In 2023, Zigong will successfully create a national foreign cultural trade base, and Zigong lanterns will usher in more development opportunities. Under the bright lanterns, a harmonious picture of the United States and the United States, exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations is unfolding around the world.