BMW accelerates drive to safeguard nation's heritage

BMW China Culture Journey 2016 introduced innovative initiatives to safeguard, study and promote China's intangible cultural heritage, with the support and resources of one of the country's leading arts academies.

Tsinghua BMW Innovation Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding was jointly established by the German luxury automaker and the Tsinghua Academy of Arts and Design on June 30.

The center was built to serve the craftspeople, known as "inheritors" who possess the unique skills necessary to continue producing China's items of intangible cultural heritage, or ICH. It will also explore ways in which their singular skills can be passed on for the purpose of safeguarding, developing, and supporting the revitalization of traditional art techniques.

At the opening ceremony of the center, BMW also announced it would make available its resources to inheritors instead of giving them financial donations, thereby helping them become more independent and innovative.

"BMW's innovative initiatives are guided by the principle of 'teaching people to fish instead of giving them fish', with a transition from funding support to resource support by consolidating social resources," said Jochen Goller, senior vice-president of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd and honorary advisor to the center.

He continued: "This is expected to help ICH inheritors get the resources and channels for 'ICH revitalization' and acquire the capability of 'self-hemopoiesis', and help integrate ICH into modern life."

He noted that through this approach, support for ICH inheritors will be more collaborative, effective, and sustainable.

The center's first sponsored activity will be the ICH Creative Design Workshop, which will invite some 30 ICH inheritors to exchange views with the BMW Lifestyle team and experts at the Tsinghua Academy of Arts and Design.

The inheritors will design and develop conceptual works based on core ICH techniques, features or elements, and their works will be appraised for awards.

This activity, as part of BMW's commitment to corporate social responsibility, aims to enhance ICH inheritors' research and development capabilities and showcase the possibility of integrating traditional art techniques into modern life.

"Safeguarding traditional Chinese culture and ICH is among our major efforts to fulfill BMW's CSR commitment," Goller stressed.

BMW China Culture Journey was initiated in 2007 to explore and preserve China's local culture with the aim of encouraging its development. The CSR project has supported 90 ICH projects in China that are in urgent need of safeguarding, with donations totaling over 16 million yuan ($2.41 million).

This year marks both the decennial of BMW China Culture Journey and the centenary of BMW Group.

Innovative platforms

The first director of the innovation center is Chen Anying, dean of the art history department at the Tsinghua Academy of Arts and Design.

Chen said revitalization and inheritance are the fundamental challenges of ICH, and the center will work with inheritors and people from all walks of life to explore new ways and models for aligning traditional techniques with modern life.

Yang Meihong, vice-president of public relations and corporate social responsibility at BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, said, "The challenges are not only in inheriting, but also in revitalizing. They [ICH items] should actually be in people's lives, rather than just inanimate objects in museums.

The first activity to be sponsored by the innovation center will be ICH Creative Design Workshop.

She expressed confidence that "Chinese ICH will definitely step onto the world stage through our non-profitable platforms."

Discovery and Revitalization are the two public platforms to be developed for ICH safeguarding.

Driven by the power of the BMW brand, the platforms will bring together a variety of stakeholders with different expertise and resources, including ICH experts, designers, entrepreneurs, investors, BMW dealers and car owners, as well as members of the media.

The Revitalization, based on the center, will carry out a series of activities for ICH inheritors including professional support and product incubation, and explore innovative models of ICH revitalization and safeguarding.

BMW China Culture Journey transform into the platform of Discovery, which aims to discover the ICH projects with revitalization potential.

Goller said: "We fulfill BMW's CSR program of ICH safeguarding in China with the appeal of our brands and our ability to consolidate resources.

"Ever since BMW entered China, we have been committed to supporting its sustainable development with a comprehensive CSR strategy. It stresses on using BMW's core competence to deal with local social challenges."

More than 20 ICH inheritors participated in the opening ceremony of the center. He Man, a national-level inheritor of silverware and bronzeware making and gilding techniques from Qinghai, presented the center with a forged copper piece Dragon Boat, symbolizing how the industrial arts contribute to and function in everyday life.

Among the attendees at the ceremony was Ma Shengde, inspector of the department of intangible cultural heritage of the Ministry of Culture.

"It is our hope that BMW's innovative efforts towards social responsibility will set up a replicable model for other institutions and companies," said Ma.

haoyan@chinadaily.com.cn

A short history of cultural protection

Kicked off in 2007, with the aim of safeguarding and promoting China's intangible cultural heritage.

Visited 21 provinces and municipalities.

Explored more than 250 intangible cultural heritage items.

Included in the series of activities for China's national "Cultural Heritage Day" for 7 consecutive years.

Donated 16.3 million yuan to 90 intangible heritage projects and research subjects in urgent need of safeguarding.

(China Daily 07/04/2016 page19)