Protect, inherit and utilize folk art to shine with new brilliance

"Suide is one of the important birthplaces of loess culture, rich in intangible cultural heritage resources, which has bred and developed excellent folk art, showing the enthusiasm, simplicity and heroism of the people of northern Shaanxi. ”

"Qin and Han Famous States" has a long history, and "Famous States in the World" have gathered humanities. Suide is located in the southeast of Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, and the Wuding River runs through the county seat.

On September 14, 2021, Xi Jinping came to the Suide County Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall to observe the display of stone carvings, Suide Ping'an books, paper-cutting, folk songs, clay sculptures, etc., and affirmed the protection and inheritance of local traditional culture.

Stone carving, one chisel after another to freeze the national culture

Stone carving is the "root vein" art on which the Suide people live. Craftsmen use the hammer as a pen and stone as paper to integrate the national culture with the life and spirit of the people in northern Shaanxi, and are fixed in the exquisite stone carving art, which is passed down from generation to generation.

Bao Wuwen is the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage representative project of Suide stone carving, selected as a skilled craftsman of the "national brand", and also the first person to establish a stone carving factory in Suide.

"The general secretary is coming, and we are particularly excited." On that day, Bao Wuwen was responsible for displaying stone carving skills on the spot in the "Suide Stone Carving" section of the exhibition hall.

Suide stone carving art has a history of more than 2,000 years. From production tools such as stone knives and stone mills to stone carvings such as Kangtou stone lions and stone incense burners, to stone arches and thousand lions bridges that integrate stone carving craftsmanship, there are many kinds of crafts and different uses.

At the Suide County Cultural Center, rows of cute and humble Kangtou stone lions attract the attention of tourists.

"The Kangtou stone lion is the most peculiar form of suide folk stone lion worship." Bao Wuwen introduced that the Kangtou Stone Lion is a mascot handed down from the folk, and with its vivid demeanor, cute charm and rich humanistic values behind it, it has now become a widely loved and collected artwork.

As one of the most representative cultural symbols of Suide, stone carving has not been abandoned by the times, but has become more prosperous with the development of the times. In 2017, "Suide Stone Carving" was approved for registration as a geographical indication certification trademark, which laid a stable foundation for the promotion of Suide stone carving products. At the same time, Suide stone carving also plays an important role in promoting the inheritance and revitalization of traditional crafts, the integrated development of local culture and tourism, and helping to alleviate poverty.

"The general secretary said that folk art is a treasure left by the ancestors and poked into my heart." As the inheritor of stone carving, Bao Wuwen could not hide his excitement.

How can this skill be passed on to more people? "Suide County actively organized business personnel to go to the countryside, found a large number of outstanding folk culture inheritors, and carried out counseling and training." Yan Baoxia, director of the Non-Heritage Office of the Suide County Cultural Center, said that the local government also held training classes, trained a number of backbones of grass-roots cultural work, trained a group of folk artists, and played a positive role in the inheritance of folk art.

The stones are turned into "gold" and the carvings are beautiful. At present, there are more than 1,000 stone carving practitioners in Suide County. The development of the stone carving industry has led to the development of related formats such as stone mining industry, stone processing industry, transportation industry, stone carving construction industry in the surrounding areas, creating employment opportunities for more than 2,000 people and driving more than 600 poor households to increase their income.

Northern Shaanxi tells books, plays and sings to unite national feelings

Storytelling is a folk rap art unique to northern Shaanxi. Storytellers, dressed in cloth shirts, tied to allegros, carrying a three-stringed piano, or playing themselves or singing in groups of three or five, use unique dialect rhymes to tell the local customs and folk culture between raps, publicize the party's principles and policies, and enliven urban and rural cultural life.

"We must carry forward the northern Shaanxi storytelling." Li Kang, born in 1988, has been engaged in storytelling performance for more than 11 years, in his view, storytelling is the same as storytelling, not only to tell old stories well, but also to tell new meanings of new life, to tell new ideas to people's hearts.

On September 14 last year, Li Kang, a storyteller in northern Shaanxi, embraced three strings, leg bindings and flinging boards, and sheep's belly hand towels three lanes of blue. The voice is bright, and the drama is lively.

The aftersound wraps around the beam. Xi Jinping took the lead in applauding: "I especially like to listen to the three strings, which are very charming, and only when one side of the water and soil can play and sing this taste." ”

"The general secretary is very concerned about non-genetic inheritance, which strengthens our confidence!" Li Kang said, "We want to sing the northern Shaanxi storytelling all over the streets and alleys, so that more people can hear the original northern Shaanxi storytelling." ”

In order to let more people understand and like storytelling in northern Shaanxi, Li Kang not only integrated music theory knowledge with storytelling to enhance the quality and technique of performance, but also created a lot of content that closely followed the hot topics of the times, walked in the countryside and alleys, played and sang, and sent the party's principles and policies to the village group farmers through storytelling.

"In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, although the live performances have decreased a little, this has not affected my insistence on promoting and promoting northern Shaanxi storytelling." Li Kang said that he shifted part of the energy of offline performances to online live broadcasting and public account operations, and through the form of the Internet, let northern Shaanxi storytelling go further and wider.

The times are constantly evolving, and "inheritance" is not only aimed at inheriting skills themselves, but also embodied in the inheritance of the past and the future in the protection work, and young people are an important force in the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

To this end, Suide County has given priority to the assessment of young people as representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage projects, encouraging young people to use modern scientific and technological means to better protect and inherit intangible cultural heritage projects, continuously innovate and develop, and create more outstanding intangible cultural heritage products.

Folk art, passed on from generation to generation

From the interesting stone carvings to the storytelling of the afterglow, suide is impressive in its respect and inheritance of folk art.

For a long time, Suide County has taken non-genetic inheritance capacity building as the core and integrated into the people's modern life as the orientation, paid attention to the overall protection and living inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, and integrated non-genetic inheritance, protection, innovation and development into the daily life of thousands of households.

In recent years, Suide County has formulated and promulgated the management measures for representative items of intangible cultural heritage at the county level and the management measures for the identification and management of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage items at the county level; established a list of representative items of intangible cultural heritage at the national, provincial, municipal and county levels, declared representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage items at all levels in China, and announced and awarded 55 inheritance bases and training centers.

How to make intangible cultural heritage "alive"? Suide County uses a combination of "static" and "dynamic" methods to carry out intangible cultural heritage exhibitions.

"Suide County uses the Thousand Lions Bridge, the Stone Lion Museum, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, etc. as a 'static' display platform to organize people to visit, experience, and accept the influence of traditional and excellent culture; and to use intangible cultural heritage projects to enter the campus, into the community, into scenic spots, into the countryside and other activities as a 'dynamic' display platform, through the close contact between the representative inheritors of the intangible cultural heritage and the masses, share the fruits of intangible cultural heritage protection, and show the charm of traditional culture." Luo Shengjun, director of the Suide County Cultural Center, said.

Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the care and deployment of Xi Jinping, all localities have carried out in-depth protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, and excavated and rationally utilized intangible cultural heritage resources. At present, a national, provincial, municipal and county four-level intangible cultural heritage list system has been established, and more than 100,000 representative items of intangible cultural heritage have been identified.

"Folk art is a precious wealth of the Chinese nation, and it is of great significance to protect, inherit and make good use of these treasures left by the ancestors to continue the historical context and build a socialist cultural power." Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection in Suide County.

Chinese culture continues the spiritual blood of our country and nation, and these precious treasures should be well protected and utilized, and they must be passed on from generation to generation. (Deng Nan, Huang Yuqi, Bai Xin)