To know the “status quo of the reservation and inheritance of Anhui-area Intangible Cultural Heritage” and to forward as much as the common understandings zooming in to national confidence of the true values from our diversified culture and traditions across China, the AXHU-run 2024 Summer Program squad completed the MOE *SanXiaXiang-linked scheme launched at Linquan County, Fuyang, Anhui province.
*SanXiaXiang: The summer program of social practices for student volunteers from the universities, junior colleges or polytechnics—serving the local residents by disseminating the general knowledge in culture, science and technology, and hygiene in rural area.
Locally, Linquan, “China Acrobatic Performance Hometown,” enjoys a very long history of rich folk customs (or the surviving evidence) to proclaim the startling culture elements created by locals from generation to generation, which is becoming reputed worldwide for its own landmark performing arts, such as acrobatics, dance, opera, and the like.
A Little Town to Meet Chinese Intangible Culture
On the morning of Jul 2, 2024, the squad came to the Linquan’s Changguan town, also nicknamed as “Acrobatics Hamlet,” where they visited the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guildhall complex, which demonstrably reveals the Chinese aesthetics and the hidden legends in the light of the conventional archaic architecture styles.
At the Yucai Memorial Hall, the members commemorated ZHANG Yunhua’s great deeds (1898—1931), who was born and raised up in Changguan, one of the heroic communist soldiers dedicated to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
Moreover, having a “time-space travel” experience in-person at the Chinese Zodiac Museum, they quietly appreciated the appeal and glamour donning with the Chinese ancient relics and cultural objects lying in the gilded showcases.
Alongside the scenes and sites, the curator passionately recounted some of the moving stories for the visiting members, mostly suggesting the intricate transformation of local people’s new ideas toward the all-important welfare filled with high-quality spiritual pursuits, which have always been catalyzing the community changers generating its internal powerful evolution, especially for promoting far-flung influences in the Acrobatics field.
Local People’s Passion and Commitments
ZhouGe-TaiGe (Chinese:肘阁抬阁) is a centuries-old formation of interactive and immersive art, which combines acrobatics, music, garments, vocal performance, dancing and painting, and which joins the 2nd portfolio of the state-level Chinese Intangible Culture Catalogue (in the category of folk arts).
It is unique for culturally celebrating the import events, such as the Spring Festival, temple fair, or other recreational gatherings for good harvest, marked in the Chinese lunar calendar, and is extremely popular in Linquan as well as its neighbouring areas.
Also, they were interviewing DING Yuxiang, a senior performer serving as the fourth-generation successor of ZhouGe-TaiGe, to learn more about the subject, nitty-gritty, and approaches to the next phase of development, such as practical training, management, mass communications, multimedia products, innovation directions.
Master DING, 78, has over 50-year engagement of the ancient art, who began to learn acrobatic performing at the age of 16.
“Given its thriving population and social recognition for centuries, this old art form today is confronted with many unprecedented challenges anchored on the modern multimedia outlets,” he said.
“We should overcome many barriers and difficulties on the way to the overall rural revitalization—particularly for the younger talents shortage regarding the traditional culture market sluggish in the Internet-dominated times—to bring our iconic treasures of Chinese intangible culture by regions to life, to historically reserve the high-profile originality, diversity and accessibility, to revivify its impact of ‘culture takeout’ as usual, and to dutifully pass on the ‘Torch’ to the next generations.”
To Be Prime Time Endorser
On Jul 2, afternoon, at the invitation of a celebrity villager named LIU Wenchang in Linquan’ Yangqiao township, who was considered as the outstanding Disciple of ZhouGe-TaiGe, who culminated in the 3rd National Intangible Cultural Heritage project, the young AXHUers marveled at his surprise acting yet in the lifelong pursuit of the best acrobatic show for audience.
After stepping into his parlor, they caught a sight of many honorary certificates and trophies in file cabinets..., the 73-year-old beside these meaningful “reminders” lounged away with his own aerobatics-bound stories, dating back to his early childhood.
At the age of 10 or so, he started out with his apprenticeship at a local ZhouGe-TaiGe troupe, who nowadays has been widely accepted as a “Big Master” instead, and has already been preparing a massive number of younger performers and fans in this domain.
Benefiting from both the governmental support services and the troupers’ energetic efforts themselves pursuing the innovations in sci-tech epoch, Yangqiao ZhouGe-TaiGe Troupe has successfully completed many tour show activities across Anhui province, and has honorably received a slew of official greetings and awarding at the provincial level.
Entertaining these guests with a heuristic role-play experience, Liu himself first demonstrated patiently each of the ZhouGe-TaiGe-needed concepts and exquisite skill set while acting and performing in the scenarios.
And then, it seemingly became kind of “first-year orientation on Move-In Day” for his newly-recruited apprentices from AXHU, who were wholeheartedly challenging the tricky attempts this and that, wobbling on the artistic skills but basically completing their enthralling foray on day one.
But their step-by-step attitude and high-spirited concentration are recognized by Master Liu, positively.
Through this social practices at Linquan in 2024 summer, the AXHU undergraduate researchers have a real sense of the profound truth of the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage, which make them more conscious of the importance and significance of commitments to inheriting and promoting our greatest culture and relics.
By doing so, many others at higher education institutions of China will be devoted to the various dimensions of cultural communications in the new era, and eventually realize the rejuvenation of Chinese national culture in the near future.
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