Protecting the past for the present

More intangible cultural heritage items are expected to become more prominent in modern life after a policy called for their protection through production.

In a notice issued in March, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that it has designated 99 national demonstration sites for the production-based protection of intangible cultural heritage items during the 2023-25 period.

The sites are companies that have engaged in the commercialization of traditional arts and crafts across the country, including cloisonne production in Beijing, stone carving in Hebei province, traditional Chinese residential house construction in Shanxi province and the production of ethnic musical instruments in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

This approach helps protect intangible cultural heritage through the promotion of traditional techniques and skills, combined with modern production methods. It aims to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of traditional craftsmanship, enabling it to better adapt to modern society and market demands.

The notice states that the demonstration sites will receive support from the ministry in their business cultivation, talent training, resource matchmaking, project services and brand promotion. Those sites that offer good socioeconomic benefits and are highly regarded by inheritors and local communities will be publicized as models by the ministry.

The ministry has also asked provincial-level cultural and tourism administrative departments to strengthen their policy guidance and create an environment that is conducive for the demonstration sites to carry out production-based protection.

"It will certainly help us deal with many existing problems," said Wang Jingjing, deputy general manager of Beijing Gongmei Group, whose cloisonne production facility was chosen as a demonstration site.

"The policy will also help us significantly improve the quality of our cloisonne crafts," Wang said, adding that the production of such cultural items has been mostly confined to inheritors' workshops and is based on traditional quality standards, as opposed to the higher standards required by the modern market.

In addition, Wang said she expects the policy will help the Beijing company better explore the integration of cloisonne with other crafts, such as filigree and lacquer arts.

She also said she's looking forward to receiving policy support that will help the company complement the industrial chain and better engage in the production of intangible cultural heritage items in its own facilities in Beijing.

"A good number of relatively heavy pieces of equipment required for production have been moved out of Beijing, so we had to have our production relocated in some cases, and hopefully the policy will enable us to deliver such products as diplomatic gifts without leaving Beijing," Wang said.

Plan takes shape

The introduction of demonstration sites is a continuation of efforts made to better protect intangible cultural heritage items.

A group of ministries and national-level administrations, including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Rural Revitalization Administration, initially announced a five-year protection plan in 2021. The following year, the group rolled out a national-level blueprint aimed at improving protection and the methods used to pass on traditional craftsmanship.

The 2021 plan specified six main tasks that included strengthening the survey, recording and research of intangible cultural heritage, enhancing the protection of heritage projects, improving the identification and management of inheritors, strengthening the overall protection of heritage regions and having them contribute to the nation's socioeconomic development.

The 2022 blueprint was aimed at identifying connection points between traditional culture and modern life and then promoting high-quality development, sustainable protection and the use of traditional craftsmanship.

According to the blueprint, a national mechanism to preserve traditional craftsmanship will be established by 2025. Tailored policies supporting different types of craftsmanship, as well as professional management and creative ideas, will be adopted in the process.

As a follow-up measure, the production-based protection is an important approach to the conservation of intangible cultural heritage, and has been primarily applied in the fields of traditional arts and crafts, the ministry's notice said.

The selection of the demonstration sites is meant to help increase the number of intangible cultural heritage projects, encourage inheritors and stimulate innovation, according to the ministry.

The move is also aimed to promote the organic combination of traditional craftsmanship and modern technology, enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises and facilitate the creative transformation and innovation of intangible cultural heritage, ultimately improving inheritance and achieving high-quality development.

In the notice, the ministry urges the demonstration sites to balance their relationship between conservation and rational utilization, prioritize project protection, continuously strengthen conservation efforts and comprehensively master and utilize core and key traditional crafts while exploring the use of modern production techniques and management methods to improve production efficiency.

At the same time, the notice calls for enhancing the development of inheritor teams, giving full play to the important role of senior successors in intangible cultural heritage education, exchanges, promotions and technical research.

The sites are also urged to play a leading role in studying key technologies and standards to assist in industry development, and upgrade and deliver more outstanding products that meet people's needs and exhibit the charms of traditional cultures.

Pioneering method

Chen Anying, a professor at Tsinghua University's Academy of Arts and Design, said China's production-based protection of intangible cultural heritage items has been a pioneer worldwide.

Since the Ministry of Culture and Tourism named the first 41 demonstration sites in 2011, a series of intangible cultural heritage items have been better integrated with the market and local tourism experiences, thus enjoying better development, Chen noted.

From the perspective of cultural heritage protection, cultural creations can maintain their vitality and leave a richer legacy for future generations only when intangible cultural heritage is integrated into contemporary production and life, he said.

From an industrial perspective, cultural products have further integrated with industries and are better contributing to China's economic development. As a high-quality living cultural resource rich in local and ethnic characteristics, intangible cultural heritage can play an important role in promoting regional cultures and economic prosperity and enhancing the happiness and sense of gain of the people, Chen added.

Yuan Li, a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, said production-based protection allows for the orderly inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.

"That is, as long as you produce it, it can be passed down," Yuan said, adding that the approach is most suitable for some traditional crafts, including the traditional Chinese medicine processing techniques.

Yet, Yuan cautioned that not all forms of production-based protection are beneficial for the dynamic inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.

"Intangible cultural heritage emphasizes traditional handicrafts. If you replace manual labor with machines to expand reproduction, it will not only fail to promote intangible cultural heritage but may also disrupt its orderly transmission," he explained.

Therefore, when selecting bases focused on protective production, it is crucial to ensure that the production sites clearly explain where their funds will be used, Yuan said.

He also said that more attention should be paid to small workshops, which he said are protecting many traditional crafts and are thus worth more support.

In the notice, the ministry has proposed a work mechanism that will review the demonstration sites every three years.

Provincial culture and tourism administrations should keep abreast of intangible cultural heritage protection, talent cultivation, production and operations of demonstration sites within their jurisdiction, and take immediate measures to rectify issues such as consumer rights infringement, quality problems, safety incidents and intellectual property rights violations.

The ministry itself will conduct random checks and carry out a new round of accreditation of such demonstration sites.

yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn