For thousands of years, the flowing Grand Canal is like a river of life, giving birth to a unique canal culture, and the people along the canal live by the river, live on the water, and work and live on the canal for generations, forming a special production, life and festival customs along the canal.
Since ancient times, Beichen District of Tianjin has developed transportation, prosperous commerce, economic prosperity and development, and quaint rural customs and folk customs, gradually forming a unique canal culture and producing rich intangible cultural heritage.
M Moser's shuttlecock debuted at the Olympic venues in '08
In Tianmu Town, Beichen District, almost everyone can kick shuttlecock regardless of gender, age or age, and spread from their own practice to the neighborhood, and kicked shuttlecock into the "fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects".
At the Tianmu Village Cultural Station in Beichen District, Tianjin, there is always a team of teenagers practicing shuttlecock kicking every night - ordinary shuttlecocks, which can wrap around their legs, fly up and down, and flip freely, which is dazzling - this is the Tianmu Village shuttlecock team in training.
Founded in 1996, the folk team has cultivated a national shuttlecock champion, and in 2008, the Tianmu Village shuttlecock team was invited to perform in the interval of the Olympic Games, which was the only folk sports team to perform in the Olympic stadium that year.
Mu's shuttlecock originated in the Qing Dynasty in the third year of Guangxu, Mu Ruikuan's grandfather Mu Chengliang learned the shuttlecock kicking skills from several old gentlemen in the Shi family compound, and continued to practice after returning to the village, and passed on the skills to his son Mu Xiangyao and grandson Mu Ruikuan.
Grandparents and grandchildren are obsessed with shuttlecock kicking, and often gather shuttlecock friends, or pass on the art, or learn from each other. Not far from Tianmu Village, is the North Canal, Mu Ruikuan takes a shuttlecock every morning to practice in a flat and open place by the canal, which soon attracts a large number of enthusiasts, and shuttlecock kicking has slowly become a popular sport by the canal.
In 1996, Mu Ruikuan set up the Tianmu Village shuttlecock team, after that, to learn to kick shuttlecock, both six or seven years old children and the elderly, Tianmu Village, riverside, everywhere can see people kicking shuttlecock, from Mu Ruikuan retired to before his death, he taught nearly 1,000 people.
In 2016, Mu Ruikuan, who was 76 years old, still went to guide the shuttlecock team every night during his illness, and after he was seriously ill, he asked his eldest son Mu Huailiang to "take over the shuttlecock team and pass on the shuttlecock skills".
Mu Huailiang was taken by his father to kick shuttlecock since he was a child, and he once set a good record of kicking for 1 hour and 47 minutes without landing, and in 2000, he participated in the shuttlecock competition of the National Agricultural Games and won the second place in the individual prescribed movements.
After the death of his father, Mu Huailiang became the coach of the shuttlecock team, although the business was busy, but every night except Saturday every week, he always had to spare two hours to guide the team, and there were no special circumstances.
A few years ago, the Beichen District Shuttlecock Sports Association was established, and Mu Huailiang served as the president of the association, and jointly held a shuttlecock training class with Tianmu Primary School, insisting on the shuttlecock inheritance "starting from the baby".
M Moser shuttlecock has been inherited for more than 100 years, from its own practice to the popularization of the whole village and then to the establishment of the shuttlecock association, with more than 200 members, more than 10,000 people participating in the practice, and in recent years, it has actively participated in various national games and shuttlecock competitions, and has won the first prize many times.
In May 2017, M Moser shuttlecock was approved by the municipal government as the fourth batch of intangible cultural heritage of Tianjin, and in May 2021, it was announced that it was included in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative items (extended projects), and Mu Huailiang and his younger brother Mu Huaijie are the fourth generation inheritors.
Mu Huailiang is also working hard, and the mantle passed down from his ancestors makes him have more emotions and reluctance to shuttlecock. "I hope that all Chinese people will know about Muser shuttlecock and bring this traditional skill to the world."
Beichen folk paintings
In several exhibition halls of the Beichen District Cultural Center, there are colorful peasant paintings, in the colorful pictures, immature and simple, full of aura, vividly showing the unique simplicity, frankness, enthusiasm and humor of Beichen people, but also showing the changes of China and the characteristics of the times.
As the fifth-generation inheritor of Beichen peasant paintings, He Xiaobao, a famous painter and descendant of peasant paintings, has a deep affection for Beichen peasant paintings. In his eyes, peasant painting is a kind of "heart image" art, and the creation comes from life, "For example, a simple scene such as a peasant walking across a bridge, he wants to record it, or he sees the various changes around him since the reform and opening up, so he picks up the brush and intuitively depicts his inner thoughts." ”
Beichen is located at the northern end of Tianjin, between Beijing and Tianjin, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through the north and south. Relying on the canal, Beichen has developed transportation and commerce since ancient times, and has the reputation of a royal granary.
In the sixties and seventies of the last century, with the development of society and the improvement of people's living standards, the farmers of Beichen used the brushes in their hands to record all these beautiful things, which is the origin of peasant paintings, "Many people used to cut paper and embroidery, when they replaced the scissors with brushes, and used the pen as a needle to integrate traditional folk art into the painting, Beichen peasant painting came into being." He Xiaobao introduced that the government's cultural department discovered the existence of this special group, so it organized them to train in cultural centers and cultural stations, and professional art cadres provided guidance, and trained a large number of peasant painters.
"Hymn to the Canal" He Xiaobao
"Canal Style" Lu Lianjiang
From the 70s to the 90s of the last century, Beichen peasant paintings have been selected for the National Peasant Painting Exhibition for many times, and have been exhibited at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing twice, which marks that Beichen peasant paintings have entered a mature stage. In addition, Beichen peasant paintings have also been exhibited in Sweden, Norway, the United States, South Korea, Italy and other countries for many times, more than 100 works have been collected by national museums at home and abroad, and more than 10,000 works have been collected by art museums and individuals at home and abroad.
"Beichen peasant painting was once popular abroad, because it had commonalities with Western naïve paintings, and some people called it 'Picasso painting of the East'." He Xiaobao said.
"Spring Returns to the Earth" He Xiaobao's work
In November 2019, Beichen folk painting was listed as the fifth batch of district-level intangible cultural heritage representative projects in Beichen District. At present, there are more than 200 peasant painters in Beichen District who participate in the creation and carry out various peasant painting exhibitions all year round.
In order to further inherit and develop Beichen peasant paintings, Beichen has successively established the Beichen Peasant Painting Volunteer Service Team, the Peasant Painting Creation Training Base in Dazhangzhuang Town, the Peasant Painting Creation Base in Shuangkou Town, the Qingguangyuan Peasant Painting Base, and the Peasant Painting Exhibition Hall in the Beichen Cultural Center. At the same time, a peasant painting training course was held with primary school art teachers as the backbone.
Use the most clumsy brushstrokes to outline the most beautiful countryside. Rooted in the fertile soil of the suburbs of Tianjin, Beichen peasant paintings have now bloomed into a gorgeous flower of folk art.
(Jinyun News reporter Lao Yunfei)