Intangible Cultural Heritage Studies | The Artistic Genes of Hipsters

The artistic dna of hipsters

Author: Chen Hanxing

Chaoshan mountains and rivers Are Sook, folk and music, since ancient times, has been the soil for drama, music, and dance; Chaoshan culture and art represented by Chaozhou opera, Chaozhou music, English song and dance, paper-cutting, etc., has a natural correspondence with the ecology and mentality of The Chaoshan people, so for hundreds of years, the customs, lifestyles and living habits corresponding to Chaoshan have become a symbol that constitutes the "homeland of life" of modern Chaoshan people. These loops of Chaoqu opera, English songs and gongs and drums in the alleys of the community have a profound sense of history and a sense of intimate locality; those songs are soft and gentle, the drums are clear and full of the atmosphere of the bell spirit; those fresh and elegant, delicate and elegant paper-cuttings between the square inches, making people feel quiet and pleasant, the interest is elegant and lofty, will induce the audience to taste the pure breath of traditional Chinese culture, between the entertainment appreciation, breeding a pious and elegant mentality, it is this kind of pious and elegant mentality for a long time, Only so that generations of hipsters gradually have self-esteem, self-respect, frankness, calmness, elegance, concentration and other excellent temperament. In short, the Hipsters have a very special artistic gene of elegance and tranquility, and Chaozhou opera, Chaozhou music, English song and dance, paper-cutting, etc. have also become a very unique, profound heritage, and a grand view of Chaoshan culture and art. It can be said that the hipsters are a general ethnic group with artistic genes.

Chaozhou opera originated from song and yuan southern opera, Chaozhou music derived from Tang and Song court music, English song and dance originated from ancient dance and paper-cutting from the central plains culture of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, corresponding to the artistic genes of the hipsters, have been historically preserved in this magical land on the coast of the South China Sea, with indescribable sociality, mass and extensiveness, and the love of the chao people for chao opera, Chaozhou music, English song and dance, paper-cutting, etc. is like the deep affection and dedication to this hot land. Since ancient times, this artistic gene has been flowing and flowing in the cultural blood of the hipsters...

It is precisely these excellent traditional cultures represented by Chao opera, Chao music, English song and dance, paper cutting, etc. The strong adsorption force, this thick historical and cultural atmosphere, these hipsters passed down from generation to generation of artistic genes, clearly confirm that Chaoshan is a land with connotation, temperature, hope and artistic life.

Take Teochew music, for example.

"Chaozhou music" is the general name of folk music in Chaoshan area, which retains the music culture genes of the Chinese nation and is known as "Huaxia Zhengsheng". The "ersi score" of Chaozhou string poetry is one of the ancient Chinese musical scores, and to this day it has always been a topic of concern and research for music experts and scholars at home and abroad. Chaozhou music can be roughly divided into gong and drum music, flute set ancient music, string poetry music, fine music, temple music and Chinese tune music. The harmony, harmony, courtesy, peace, inner sense of order and team spirit of unity and cooperation contained in Chaozhou music have influenced generations of hipsters, which is where its enduring vitality and inheritance lie.

Chaozhou music is closely related to the history of the ancestors and culture of Chaozhou, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the Central Plains culture has penetrated into the current Chaoshan region, and the Central Plains music culture has also flowed into the tide. The Tang and Song dynasties were the formative periods of Chaozhou music, and the Ming and Qing dynasties were the evolution and development periods of Chaozhou music.

Han Yu worked as an assassin in Chaozhou for eight months, and he did a lot of good things in education, eliminating harm to the people. He also left us several empirical evidences on the circulation of Chaozhou music in the Tang Dynasty. Among his many sacrifice texts, such as "Crocodile Text", "Sacrifice to Stop Rain", "Sacrifice Boundary Stone Text", "Sacrifice to the Great Lake Divine Text", etc., the texts about Chaozhou music include "blowing pipe drums, you xiang jiezhi", "You with the sound of sound, to thank the gods", "bowing to wash, playing the sound" and so on. From this, we can know that the circulation of Chaozhou music in the Tang Dynasty was closely related to religious sacrifice activities, and the blowing of the pipe drum was martial music, and the sound of playing music was wen music, and wen music should be what we call temple music today. These texts are the only and precious ones, which prove that after Han Yuchao, he was exposed to Chaozhou music and had a certain impression, which is helpful for us to understand the circulation of Chaozhou music in the Tang Dynasty.

The "blowing pipe drum" mentioned in Han Yu's records has been greatly developed in the long years after Han Yu, forming the Chaozhou gong and drum music that occupies an important position in Chaozhou music.

Today, everyone has recognized that Chaozhou music has a long history, is one of the traditional music cultures of the Chinese nation, and is also the cultural heritage of mankind.

In the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative lists published in 2006, the above-mentioned Chao opera, Chaozhou music, English song and dance, and paper cutting were also listed among them.

As of December 2021, 14 projects in Shantou have been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list, 39 projects have been included in the provincial intangible cultural heritage list of Guangdong Province, and 102 projects have been included in the Shantou municipal intangible cultural heritage list. If we cannot see the outstanding creativity of the Chaoshan people and the tenacious "artistic genes" contained in it from this dazzling art gallery, from the countless vibrant folk classic cultures, and from the various ingenious skills and exhibits, and the tenacious "artistic genes" of the hereditary body of the Chaoshan people contained in it, then we cannot understand why we can gain full cultural self-confidence from these intangible cultural heritage.

The tenacious "artistic gene" of the hereditary body of the hipsters is embodied in the artistic tradition of intangible heritage. For example, the comedy tradition of Chaozhou opera lies in the intelligent and witty artistic genes of the Chaozhou ethnic group; for example, the confucian and leisurely tradition of Chaozhou music lies in the quiet and elegant artistic genes of the Chaozhou ethnic group; for example, the tradition of British song and dance is rough and elegant, and its source lies in the artistic genes of the Chaoshan ethnic group; for example, the tradition of Chaoshan paper-cutting prayer and beautification lies in the artistic genes of the Chaoshan ethnic group of piety and beauty.

The artistic gene flows through the hipsters, and the artistic tradition surrounds us. Our inheritance and protection of these intangible cultural heritage items is to pay attention to and love the artistic genes of the hipsters, and to pay tribute to and carry forward the traditions of the past.

The inheritance of artistic traditions, the artistic gene plays a key role. Chaoshan to call the seaside Zoulu, a thousand years of humanities, brilliant dazzling, for example, to Shantou Dahao, Chaozhou Yixi and Jieyang Fort as an example, these are three townships with a strong musical atmosphere, as early as the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, here are all over the "idle" music club, love chao music masses after the idle meal, three or five groups meet in the music club, playing and singing, enjoy themselves, unique country music so that many young students get a lot of learning opportunities, they love folk music since childhood, immersed in the world of music, Like a child full of thirst for knowledge, greedily sucking the essence of folk music and indulging in it, this is the happiest boyhood for children. It is particularly worth pointing out that when these children like art, the whole township is full of love, human feelings and humanity, and the villagers and villagers will be full of feelings for all the landscapes, skies and the earth, which is the great power of art. From Shantou Dahao, Chaozhou Yixi to Jieyang Fort, to Chaoshan cities and towns, almost everywhere has rarely preserved a piece of Chaole "wetland" that shows its original state, so that groups of "birds" who are attached to the original Chaole are always surrounded by "wetlands". Folk artists throughout Chaoshan have been passed down from generation to generation, and since ancient times, they have been living in a natural, simple and empty spiritual homeland between the ancient and elegant feelings- this is the artistic gene inherited by the Chaoshan people for thousands of years, and it is this artistic gene that has made chaozhou music and chaoshan culture and art traditions and cultural pulses such as chaozhou opera, English song and dance, and paper-cutting have been passed down to this day.

The handover and derivation of Central Plains culture and marine culture makes Chaoshan have an atmosphere of Linghai culture that originates from Zoulu and is different from Zoulu, with unique Linghai and old states; the Chaoshan culture derived from Linghai culture enables every Chaoshan culture to have a spiritual home of their own, eternal and warm. Therefore, the formation and development of the artistic genes of the hipsters is not accidental, it is a regional cultural phenomenon and a historical cultural accumulation. The hipsters who have a spiritual homeland and artistic genes are happy, which is the cradle of the splendid life of the hipsters and the hotbed of the brilliant creation of the hipsters.

February 8, 2022

The source | Shantou Cultural Center