In 1954, the mainland's first youth commando was founded in Beijing by 18 youth league members. The youth commandos were born to overcome difficulties and dangers, and played a great role in taking the lead in overcoming difficulties and learning advanced experience, and the successful experience began to be popularized throughout the country. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the first youth commando, four youth commandos from Huangpu District were selected for the "70 Years, 70 Youth Teams, 70 Struggle Stories" search activity. Let us follow in the footsteps of these young people and draw strength from the commando spirit to keep going.
Today, let's take a look at the story of the Yuyuan Huadeng Cultural and Creative Youth Commando↓
I am Chen Jie, the youth representative of the Yuyuan Hualantern Cultural and Creative Youth Commando, and we are the planning team of the most influential intangible cultural heritage art lantern festival in the country, the Yuyuan Lantern Festival. As a youth commando team led by "post-80s" young talents and "post-90s" young high-potentials, it is our original intention and mission to adhere to the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage art and tell Chinese stories well.
Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, Liu Bi, the nephew of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, brought the Lantern Festival lantern customs in the ancient culture of Yangzhou into Shanghai, and held a lantern festival in the form of the court, and since then the Lantern Festival lantern customs have risen in Shanghai.
More than 2,000 years later, the Shanghai Yu Garden Lantern Festival has gradually become a large-scale event integrating entertainment, commerce and cultural exchanges, as well as a platform to showcase traditional Chinese culture.
In 2024, the Yu Garden Lantern Festival has been held for 29 sessions, and in the past 30 years, it has always strived to innovate on the basis of inheriting traditions, injecting new vitality into traditional festivals, and becoming one of the oldest and most popular Chinese New Year lantern viewing festivals in China.
The year before, we used the Classic of Mountains and Seas as a blueprint for the first time, and the theme of "The Legend of Mountains and Seas" makes people feel as if they are in a fantasy mythological world. Here, the traditional old city culture and historical context have been inherited, and the red culture, Shanghai culture, and Jiangnan culture have been fully integrated, refreshing the understanding and experience of citizens and tourists on intangible cultural heritage lantern art.
This year, in order to continue to write the "Tale of Mountains and Seas", our youth commandos assembled early and began a painful, difficult and wonderful "lantern journey".
It's always painful to get started. How to build each lamp group into a carrier of cultural inheritance? Take the "One Night Fish and Dragon Dance" lantern group, which is composed of more than 400 swimming fish, and the fish lanterns have various shapes, ranging from 4 meters to 0.5 meters. Under strict process standards, even if it is an inconspicuous small fish, it must be like "obsessive-compulsive disorder", and strive to pursue the effect of shape, color and spirit.
The process is also difficult. The members of the design team of our youth commando team have to "soak" in the factory every day to provide on-site guidance. From their aesthetic point of view, the fish is often made into a piece, and our requirement is that the fishtail swaying like a skirt, with a sense of elegance and space. The factory master could not understand such a "new" demand at the beginning, but he did not give in to each other again and again, and after repeated communication and adjustment, in exchange for getting closer to the other party step by step.
The ending is wonderful again. When we finally complete a satisfactory sample with the help of 3D on the existing model, happiness is like that bright lantern, which shines all the way to the bottom of our hearts.
Of course, our work is far from over.
Before each lighting ceremony, the commandos have to protect the lantern groups and cultural performances, and train the staff, volunteers and security team to ensure that visitors can experience the charm of Chinese culture and history in a safe environment. In view of the large number of domestic and foreign tourists, the complex crowd and the heavy traffic characteristics of the Dayu Garden area, we also carefully design the optimal audience flow line, and strive to make every tourist have the best tour experience.
In order to bring a full range of immersive park experiences to visitors from all over the world, our youth commando team has designed interactive activities such as interaction between the lantern group and tourists, scanning code experience points, and NPC on-site interaction, so that citizens and tourists can feel the aesthetic expression of traditional Chinese culture while appreciating the lantern art.
The lights are amiable, and the mountains and seas are memorable.
During the 2023 Yu Garden Lantern Festival, Yu Garden Mall has received more than 4 million customers and more than 100 million online tours of the Yu Garden Lantern Festival, which has greatly boosted and promoted the recovery of consumer confidence in Shanghai and restored market sentiment.
Not only that, the high-quality brand planning and lantern production skills have enabled the Yuyuan Lantern Festival to successfully achieve brand breakthrough and cultural going to sea. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, the Yuyuan Lantern Festival went abroad for the first time, 21 containers, 15,000 nautical miles voyage, with the unremitting efforts of our youth commandos, Paris, France and Shanghai, China were lit up on the same day, and the Sino-French Lantern Festival was dreamily linked, and at the same time staged themed cultural interpretations, achieving a historic breakthrough in the international dissemination of intangible cultural heritage art lanterns.
During the Lantern Festival, more than 100 ambassadors and consuls in Shanghai gathered in Yu Garden to enjoy the lanterns, and the representatives of our youth commandos introduced the sacred beasts from the various auspicious meanings in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" to the guests one by one - the first cute pet of antiquity who "can solve worries"; There is a name like its cry "see the world is the world" of Dangkang...... For a time, the Curved Jiuqu Bridge became a big stage for telling Chinese stories to the world.
Every Chinese New Year, the Yu Garden Lantern Festival will be a soul-releasing lantern scene in the center of Shanghai, an immersive and heart-warming field. We also actively integrate various cultural and tourism brand institutions and projects in Shanghai to convey the expression of tone, warmth, literature and art and positive energy to citizens and tourists, so that people can feel the happiness and beauty of life while enjoying the lanterns.
In the Spring Festival of 2023, the Yuyuan Old Street area will be built into a cultural characteristic block of "Qiyu Shangbo". Looking up, you can see that the scales swim, as if lucky luck, these koi fish are from the collection of the Shanghai Museum. Cultural relics containing koi elements, such as the Qin Gao Cheng Carp Picture Axis, the Red Sea Flying Fish Pattern Round Box, and the Stone Boat Mingshu Golden Jade Fish Peimo, have been transformed into "Koi Leaders" with high social media exposure through the innovative modern interpretation of our Youth Commando. The special lantern group "Dazhan Hongtu", which we cooperated with Disney, was also widely acclaimed......
So we're proud. In the process of preparing and holding the Lantern Festival in Yu Garden, our youth commandos have always maintained a high degree of enthusiasm and responsibility, and have added a touch of bright color to this cultural feast with their youth and sweat.
So we still have to work hard. Through continuous innovation and breakthroughs, the Yuyuan Lantern Festival will become a benchmark for the national intangible cultural heritage lantern art, so that each lantern festival will have new highlights and surprises.
If you want to know me, please come to the Youth Commando.
Reporter / Liu Yi
Editor / Lulu Chen
Photo / Courtesy of the interviewee Youth League Committee
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