Editor’s note:
The strong country is me, and the struggle is like a song. In recent years, young people from overseas Chinese communities in Jiangsu have turned their most beautiful nostalgia into the greatest passion of “serving the country with one inch of heart”, closely linking their personal future with the destiny of the country and local development, and serving the needs of the country and the country with the strengths of overseas Chinese. With the “Qiaoqing Power” to help the construction of a “strong, rich, beautiful and high” new Jiangsu.
Born in a prosperous world, follow your dreams. In order to show the style of overseas Chinese youth and overseas students in our province, and through their perspectives to gain insight into the pulse of regional development and witness the youth of the times, the Jiangsu Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and the Junction News Client jointly launched the “Aspiration for Youth, Overseas Chinese Youth Ode to the Development of a Powerful Country” I” series of interviews. We invite 12 representatives of overseas Chinese youth and overseas students to talk about their achievements, express their voices, and draw their visions. They may come from the grassroots and the front line to cultivate a beautiful Jiangsu; or they will deeply cultivate the overseas Chinese community to jointly exhibit the charm of Jiangsu. They use the footprints of hard work and sincere language to describe the glory of the era when the overseas Chinese are committed to the party and build their dreams together, and play the youthful prelude of courage, perseverance, and relay struggle, inspiring and leading more young people from overseas Chinese to work hard, persevere, and forge ahead. A new journey, a new era of achievements.
Chapter 3 Non-governmental exchanges are my responsibility
Lu Wenchao, Deputy Dean of the School of Arts, Southeast University: Chinese traditional culture that is constantly “out of the circle” is a manifestation of cultural self-confidence
My name is Lu Wenchao, and I am currently the Deputy Dean and Associate Professor of the School of Arts of Southeast University. From 2012 to 2013, as a visiting scholar, I went to the Department of Sociology at Northwestern University to study. In July 2014, I came to teach at Southeast University. In the past few years of work and life, I deeply feel that with the increasing influence of Chinese traditional elements on the world fashion stage, more and more young people and traditional culture have formed a new national trend of two-way mutual advancement. The national tide represents our cultural self-confidence and cultural awareness. In the face of the Chinese traditional culture that is constantly “out of the circle”, only by taking into account the inheritance and innovation can we make the national wave continue to grow steadily.
Translate art works to strengthen cultural and artistic exchanges between China and foreign countries
Fei Xiaotong, a famous sociologist, once said meaningfully a 16-character motto: “Every beauty is beautiful, the beauty of the beauty is the beauty of the beauty, the beauty of the world is the same, and the world is harmonious.” The language is meaningful, full of profound philosophy and wisdom. In my opinion, only when Chinese and foreign civilizations communicate, learn from and learn from each other can culture and art become more dynamic and dynamic.
After graduating from Tsinghua University in 2014, I came to teach at the School of Art of Southeast University. In order to allow more students in the field of art to strengthen their understanding of overseas disciplines and better interpret the phenomenon of Chinese art, as a researcher of foreign art theory, I have translated “Art World“, “Creating Country Music: The Making of Authenticity” and “Everyday Genius” : Self-taught Art and Authentic Culture” and other academic works. At the same time, I also organize and participate in various academic activities. For example, five sessions of the Young Scholars Forum on Sociology of Art have been successfully held so far, as well as the Art and Society Workshop, and the International Art Sociology Workshop. I encourage all students and academic enthusiasts around me to come and listen, ask questions, and communicate.
(2019 Workshop on Sociology of Art, School of Arts, Southeast University)
In addition, we also invite overseas scholars, including professors from Northwestern University in the United States and Heidelberg University in Germany, to conduct academic exchanges. In their spare time when they came to Southeast University for academic exchanges, I also took them on a night tour of the Qinhuai River and visited the Imperial Examination Museum as a guide, in order to let them taste Chinese traditional culture more deeply. Affected by the epidemic, the current overseas exchange activities have changed from offline to online.
No matter what method is used, the exchanges between China and the West are becoming more and more frequent, and the content of exchanges is constantly enriching. Culture and art have no national boundaries. Through mutual communication, we can not only broaden our horizons, but also collide with sparks of ideas.
The increasingly “hot” national trend is a manifestation of cultural self-confidence
In daily communication, I found an interesting cultural phenomenon. In the past, we would worship Europe and the United States, and the “Hari” and “Hanhan” ethnic groups also appeared, and even in colloquial language, a person would use the word “foreign style” to describe a person wearing fashion. Nowadays, more and more young people believe that the use of Guochao products is a fashion. Henan Satellite TV focuses on excavating the core of traditional culture, and has created popular programs such as “Tang Palace Night Banquet” and “Dragon Gate King Kong”, which are deeply loved by the public.
What is behind the increasingly “hot” national tide? I think the “national tide is at the right time” is inseparable from the self-improvement of domestic products and the blessing of Chinese culture. Whether it is its own brand or an overseas brand that injects Chinese-style genes, now the national trend, which perfectly integrates the contemporary trend of Chinese culture, has become a fashionable link connecting the “Gen Z” young group with the excellent traditional Chinese culture. The heating up of market enthusiasm and the rise of domestic brands are, in the final analysis, the landing of Chinese people’s national feelings and cultural identity.
Guochao is a consumption trend, a fashion trend, and a cultural self-confidence trend. In order to continue to lead the new fashion, the national trend needs to continue to innovate and keep pace with the times. We should actively promote the integration of aesthetic education and the latest technology, so that more people can experience the excellent traditional Chinese culture in an immersive way. Only by firmly grasping the pulse of the development of the times and finding an expression for the transformation and development of excellent traditional culture in a modern context can we inject powerful and inexhaustible kinetic energy into strengthening cultural self-confidence and promoting the prosperity of Chinese culture.
(Culture and Society Workshop, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, 2013)
It is the duty of the art colleges of higher education institutions to play an important role as a fulcrum of culture
In these years of work, I have successively done research on contemporary British and American literature and art social thought, and research on interdisciplinary integration of aesthetic education in the context of the new liberal arts. In these studies, I deeply feel that the relationship between art and society is more close and complex than ever before, and it is necessary to look at specific artistic phenomena from a more diverse perspective. Looking at art history from the perspectives of sociology and communication, it is very interesting and necessary to study contemporary art. These are fields with great academic prospects. At the same time, I believe that “disciplines” should serve to solve “problems”, so in recent years, I have focused more research on the field of sociology of art.
Culture and economy have always been interdependent and interrelated. Today, in promoting high-quality development, I should pay more attention to the important pivotal role of culture. First of all, in the process of high-quality economic and social development, culture is an important part. With the continuous growth of people’s spiritual needs, the cultural and creative industries have achieved great development. Whether it is the activation of the traditional new country tide or the future-oriented metaverse, there are rich cultural factors that nourish people’s lives. Secondly, culture is a kind of “soft power”, which is permeable to high-quality economic and social development and involves all aspects of our lives. For example, culture can play an important role in the country’s comprehensive rural revitalization strategy. The participation of art forms such as art, design and animation in rural construction can effectively enhance the aesthetic style of the countryside, enrich the spiritual life of farmers, and provide an important fulcrum of “culture” for rural revitalization. In Pukou Bulao Village not far from my home, it is an important achievement in the construction of beautiful villages in recent years, and has the title of the most beautiful town in China. Walking in the village, neatly paved with stone bricks, beautiful and elegant houses, rolling mountains in the distance, lush forests and clear lakes, there is a unique scenery of paradise. In this regard, the art colleges of higher education institutions have a promising role to play as an important cultural fulcrum in economic development, and they are duty-bound.
The “14th Five-Year Plan” period is the initial stage of building socialist modernization in an all-round way, and it is also a key stage for Jiangsu to build a strong cultural province and a cultural highland. Starting a new journey of building socialist modernization in an all-round way and deepening the construction of a new Jiangsu that is “strong, rich, beautiful and high”, it is urgent to realize the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization, improve the civilization of the whole society, and promote the all-round development and modernization of human beings. I will use what I have learned to spare no effort to promote mutual learning and exchanges between Chinese and foreign civilizations, and explore more paths for promoting the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation. At the same time, I hope to contribute more to my efforts to develop a new realm of building a strong cultural province in Jiangsu.
Xinhua Daily Junction reporter Li Shuang / Wen Zeng Liying / proofreading
Image provided by respondents