If you were to choose a scientist from history as the representative of Shanghai's city image, who would you choose? The answer given by the scholar has surprised many people - the zodiac. What is the significance of the Zodiac for Shanghai, and why should we commemorate the Zodiac today? The opening ceremony of the Huang Daobo Memorial Hall was officially opened on October 15 in the garden-like courtyard of the memorial hall, where the secrets of this Shanghai historical celebrity were also revealed.
The former Dongwan Village (ancient name "Wunijing") in Huajing Town is the hometown of Huang Daobo, an innovator of cotton spinning technology in the Yuan Dynasty. Chen Yongjian, mayor of Huajing Town, introduced that when he was a teenager, Huang Daobo took a sea boat to Yazhou, Hainan, lived in a foreign country for more than 30 years, and learned a series of cotton textile techniques from Li compatriots. After returning to her hometown, she learned from the weaving technology of Yazhou, combined with local traditional technology, reformed and innovated cotton textile tools and technologies, opened up a new era of China's handmade cotton textile industry, not only promoted the rise of the Yangtze River Delta economy, but also made positive contributions to the development of the Maritime Silk Road and the economic and cultural exchanges between countries and regions along the route.
Huang Daobo is respected by posterity as "Xianmian" and is the most distinctive cultural business card of Huajing. In 2003, the Xuhui District Cultural Bureau and the Huajing Town People's Government jointly funded the construction of the Zodiac Po Memorial Hall to showcase her lifelong contributions. Since the opening of the museum for 17 years, the buildings and surrounding environmental facilities in the museum have gradually aged, in order to better promote the zodiac culture and expand the influence of the zodiac memorial hall, Huajing Town has spent more than 9 months to re-exhibit and carry out the overall transformation of the external environment.
Fang Yun, a researcher at the Research Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance and Innovation of East China Normal University, introduced that the transformed Zodiac Po Memorial Hall has integrated more cotton textile elements, making the entire memorial hall have more textile science popularization functions in addition to ornamental functions. The first phase of the memorial hall promotes the practical significance and contemporary value of the zodiac spirit through three major sections: The Daughter of the Silk Road, Technological Innovation, and The Ancestor of The First Cotton. Huajing Town also invited Yang Dongbai, a professor and sculptor at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, to create a statue of Huang Daobo. After rigorous examination and several drafts, he strives to restore the most authentic image of the zodiac. After the renovation and restart of the Zodiac Memorial Hall, a series of traditional cultural activities and public lectures will be launched to invite the public to experience.
In recent years, the party committee and government of Huajing Town have actively committed themselves to the publicity, promotion and research of the zodiac culture brand, continuously excavated the spiritual and cultural connotations of the zodiac, and deeply explored the integration point of the zodiac history and culture and contemporary social and economic development. Tian Zhaoyuan, doctoral supervisor of the Folklore Research Institute of East China Normal University, believes that the zodiac culture is a valuable treasure house of Shanghai's cultural resources and should become an important driving force for Shanghai's cultural brand building to the world stage. In his view, Huang Daobo was a scientist, and her invention "Clothing the World" changed the fate of Shanghai. He suggested that the opportunity of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta could be used to jointly submit to UNESCO the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Pan Shouyong, director of the Library of Shanghai University, also believes that as a celebrity with special historical contributions to Shanghai, Huang Daobo's memorial hall should make an accurate functional positioning in the context of the rapid development of the city, lead the social trend, and make more positive and effective service work for the public.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Li Junna Text Editor: Li Junna Photo Editor: Zi Xi
Source: Author: Zhong Han