Linping, Hangzhou, and Yangliuqing, Tianjin are thousands of miles apart, but they are connected by the blood of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The “artery” flowing for thousands of years not only brings beautiful scenery, but also breeds different splendid cultures. Recently, the second stop of the “Love the Grand Canal Millennium Ancient Town” large-scale media integration campaign came to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, to embark on a journey across thousands of miles of intangible cultural heritage.
How to adapt intangible cultural heritage to the development of the new era? From north to south, regions along the canal have explored new paths, allowing ancient culture to shine with new light.
Innovation brings vitality. A large number of cultural and creative products are displayed in the Yangliuqing Folk Custom Museum. Mobile phone shells, bookmarks… Chinese classics, Jinmen business cards, are presented to the world in such a new way. More than 300 types of cultural and creative products have achieved a perfect integration of tradition and modernity, classic and fashion.
The construction of a small town empowers the development of intangible cultural heritage in Yangliuqing, while Linping highlights the charm of intangible cultural heritage through diverse cultural carriers.
The Linping section of the Grand Canal is listed as the world cultural heritage of the Grand Canal of China, with a total length of about 40 kilometers. There are numerous cultural and historic sites along the line, breeding intangible cultural heritage such as Marshal’s temple fairs, silk weaving techniques, and so on. For the ancient town of the Grand Canal, activating intangible cultural heritage is not only about inheritance, promotion, and innovation, but also about activating consumption and striving for common prosperity. Linping has deeply integrated traditional intangible cultural heritage and modern urban life through venue construction, event hosting, and talent cultivation, injecting fresh strength into the millennium old town.
In the context of the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, Linping has successively carried out cultural gene decoding work, 24 solar terms tour series brand activities, evaluation work on the survival of intangible cultural heritage projects and representative inheritor inheritance activities, and improved the construction of intangible cultural heritage database. The 3000 square meter intangible cultural heritage museum located in Yujia Mountain Heritage Park will be constructed within 2022 and planned to be completed in 2024.
With the development of the Grand Canal’s tourism resources, Linping has also further promoted the activation and development of the Grand Canal’s intangible cultural heritage, providing a broader space for the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage through the development of intangible cultural heritage themed boutique tourism lines, planning of non heritage markets, cultivating night performances of intangible cultural heritage, and developing non heritage cultural creations.
“A hundred paintings of Danqing with thousands of scenes meet on the New Year’s Wall.” Since the first New Year picture gallery appeared in Yangliuqing Town during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Yangliuqing wood engraving New Year pictures have a history of over 500 years. Yangliuqingmu New Year pictures resonate with the prosperity of the canal. Economic development, commercial prosperity, and developed transportation have made Yangliuqingmu New Year pictures deeply influenced by diverse cultures. With the benefit of the Grand Canal, Yangliu Youth Paintings are sold throughout the country and are widely known.
Similar to Yangliuqingmu New Year pictures, the shadow play on the Linping section of the Grand Canal is a folk art originating from the north. Its emergence also benefited from the flowing canals. Compared to Tianjin, Linping in the south is also soft and strong, with both the warmth of the south and the pride of the north. “When the Southern Song Dynasty established the capital of Hangzhou, shadow puppetry was also brought here.” Chai Xiaoying, the leader of the Daipi Theater Troupe in Hexi, recounted the history of shadow puppetry in the village.
In addition to “traveling by dry road”, the spread of shadow play also includes “sailing by water”. The bustling commercial and tourist exchanges at the Canal Wharf have provided favorable conditions for the dissemination of shadow play art. The ships traveling on the Canal have become an important carrier for shadow play to travel south and north.
Whether it is Tianjin Xiqing or Linping, it is a microcosm of the culture along the Grand Canal. The innovative spirit of the new era has revived ancient culture.
(Editor in charge: Ye Binde, Kang Mengqi)
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