From Folk Culture to Great Cultural Heritage of China

Recently there has been increasing concern for traditional culture and calls toprotect cultural heritage in China. This paper analyzes the process in which appealsthat were made in 2002 by a group of experts for the protection of folk culture werereflected in and absorbed by a national project to protect the“ Great Cultural Heritageof China.”In 2004, Feng Ji-cai, a famous writer and painter in China, aired the criticism thatfolk culture has been ignored despite the fact that it is the true Chinese culture. Healso declared that folk culture should be appreciated before it disappears completely.Feng criticized both mainstream traditional culture such as Confucianism, as well asthe‘ new socialist advanced culture’of the socialist government. A new project wasinitiated based on his insistence; it became the largest project in China to examineand protect folk culture, with the aim of creating interest in folk culture among thegeneral public.However, once the concern for folk culture was promoted by privateorganizations, it was also quickly absorbed into the ‘intangible cultural heritageprotection’project of the government. The most far-reaching influence on thisproject was the news in 2004 that Korea had applied for the registration ofKangneung Danojae as a ‘Masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage ofhumanity.’This news inspired a sense of crisis - while China neglected its traditionalculture and folklore, it was being taken away by a foreign country. Public opinionurged that China should preserve its traditional culture and that major traditionalfestival days such as Chunjie (the Chinese New Year’s Day) should be visiblyhonored. As a result, traditional festivals were designated as part of China’sintangible cultural heritage, and gained nation-wide recognition as holidays.UNESCO’s selection in 2001 of the ‘Masterpiece of the oral and intangibleheritage of humanity’inspired the Chinese government to pay attention to intangiblecultural heritage as a new resource to publicize the ‘great culture of China.’Oneresult was that its name was changed from ‘folk culture’to ‘intangible culturalheritage,’and the government made intangible cultural heritage protection project itscore cultural strategy. At present, intangible cultural heritage is important not onlybecause it is a precious grass-roots culture, but also because it contributes to nationalunity and stability; hence, cultural heritage is now seen as a resource to promote thegreatness of Chinese culture and make it known around the world. Criticism ofexisting mainstream traditional culture has disappeared, and the concern forintangible cultural heritage has been thoroughly integrated into a national narrative.In addition, it has become a core educational resource for the inculcation ofpatriotism. However, the ambiguity of the intangible cultural heritage is creating achasm within the nationalistic project, through the development of controversies. Itwill be our task to study the future development of the process as well as variousvoices in the‘ revival of traditional culture in China.’