Home » In the past ten years, technology has helped intangible cultural heritage move into a new digital era

In the past ten years, technology has helped intangible cultural heritage move into a new digital era

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In the past ten years, technology has helped intangible cultural heritage move into a new digital era

(Original title: In the past decade, technology has helped intangible cultural heritage move into a new digital era)

The third-generation descendant of the national intangible cultural heritage “Mianren Lang”, the popular player of “The Strongest Brain”, the tyrant of Peking University… “Post-95” UP master Jia Ziyu has multiple identities. During this year’s Winter Olympics, the interactive video of Prince Albert II of Monaco “applying for another ice piercing” made him popular again. By spreading the skills of dough making on multiple online platforms, Lang Jiaziyu now has more than 2 million fans, which not only made the traditional noodle kneader popular, but also made himself a traffic “IP”.

Today is the 17th “Cultural and Natural Heritage Day” in my country. Today, more and more traditional handicraftsmen, inheritors of the new generation and their representative cultures use the power of Internet technology to move from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, moving towards a more dazzling digital age in a more diverse form.

“Generation Z” walks out of non-genetic inheritance

From text, pictures, audio, to short videos, VR, AI, over the past 10 years, the continuous upgrading of technology has also brought about earth-shaking changes in the new social methods represented by the Internet and mobile phones. The “Generation Z” who grew up with the development of the Internet has naturally become the aborigines in digital media.

According to a report released by iResearch, in 2021, among Chinese entertainment skills social users, users under the age of 35 will account for 74.7%, of which those under the age of 30 will account for 45.9%. Compared with the trendy games and mobile games that young people are keen on, it is not easy to make traditional and unpopular intangible cultural heritage out of the circle on the Internet.

When Weibo and WeChat first became popular, Lang Jiaziyu was one of the users. At that time, most of them shared some daily life and works of their own noodle kneaders. After getting praises, they satisfied their little vanity. “After I went to university, because my undergraduate degree was news and I had a certain grasp of short videos, I would also make some videos to release, and I would get some feedback. At that time, the number of fans was only a few thousand, and the issue of commercialization was not considered.” Lang. Jia Ziyu said that the turning point happened in 2019 after he participated in the show “The Strongest Brain”, the number of fans soared to more than 200,000, and advertisers began to come to the door. And this decision to appear on variety shows is also an attempt by Lang Jiaziyu to expand private domain traffic.

(The work created by Lang Jiaziyu in 2019: Shanhaijing “Vulcan Zhurong”. Photo courtesy of the interviewee, issued by the Central Radio Network)

“The effect of the program exceeded expectations. At that time, I also began to consider how to carry out large-scale commercial cooperation and stabilize the output of content.” Lang Jiaziyu told reporters that he had also contacted the MCN agency, but he felt that it was not ideal, and he chose to open it in 2020. Own studio, and settled on major platforms. “Many platforms themselves attach great importance to traditional culture, and will provide support in terms of operation and traffic. My task is to continue to update good works.” For his “fire”, Lang Jiaziyu felt that it was a lucky thing, because he was in a hurry. Good times.

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Public data shows that by the end of 2021, the total number of traditional culture fans on Bilibili will reach 136 million; the number of videos related to national intangible cultural heritage projects on Douyin has exceeded 140 million; the creators of intangible cultural heritage content on Kuaishou have exceeded 15 million. Covering 96% of the national intangible cultural heritage representative projects.

Digitization opens up new ideas for spreading inheritance

How to realize the commercialization of intangible cultural heritage projects with both social and economic value is not only a matter for the inheritors to practice, but also a direction actively explored by the cultural and tourism authorities.

(Patriotic Dragon of Yichang Dragon Boat Series Digital Collections. Photo courtesy of Yichang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, issued by CNR)

On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival this year, inspired by the Dragon Boat Festival symbols such as “Zongzi” and “Dragon Boat”, 12 digital collections incorporating Yichang’s characteristic cultural elements were launched online, with prices ranging from RMB 38 to RMB 68. On June 1, the set of digital collections was launched for only one day, and the total number of participants reached 52,277. It went on sale at 15:00 on June 2, and within 3 minutes, a total of 24,000 copies were all sold out. The relevant person in charge of Yichang Culture and Tourism Bureau said that the Dragon Boat Festival is the first festival in my country to be included in the “Representative List of Human Intangible Cultural Heritage”. The collection uses the language of digital art to renew traditional Chinese festivals. While promoting the Dragon Boat Festival culture, it also increases the city’s popularity to a certain extent. “We also hope to attract more young people to pay attention to traditional culture in this way, and lead a broader development path for the real economy to explore the digital world.”

The popularity of “intangible cultural heritage + digital collections” set off by the Dragon Boat Festival has allowed more and more people to see the charm of traditional culture and its economic value. In fact, as early as the beginning of this year, digital collections have already begun to test the waters in the intangible cultural heritage circle.

Wei Lizhong, the inheritor of the woodblock watermarking skills of the national intangible cultural heritage Ten Bamboo Studios, has been active in the arena of intangible cultural heritage dissemination and inheritance in recent years, and is willing to try new things. Recently, his “Twenty-Four Solar Terms” series of woodblock watermark works have quickly attracted the attention of a new group of people after they were launched on the digital platform. In the beginning, Wei Lizhong had almost no understanding of digital collections.

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(Lixia of Wei Lizhong’s “Twenty-Four Solar Terms” series of woodblock watermark works. Photo courtesy of the interviewee, issued by CNR)

“At the beginning of March, a friend from the cultural circle came over for the first time and asked to send scanned copies of a few works, saying that they could sell for money, but I still didn’t believe it. After negotiating with several Tibetan companies, I signed a power of attorney, I decided to give it a try. After half a month, I realized that pictures can really be sold for money.” Wei Lizhong said that non-genetic inheritors must first support themselves, which is a very realistic thing. In recent years, live streaming has opened up a new sales channel, but how to gather a relatively fixed group of consumers is difficult for the older generation of inheritors. “The Shuzang platform has actually solved this problem very well. The inheritor has good works, and the platform has technical and operational personnel. An inheritor must not have only one work. After digital packaging of classic works accumulated over decades, the original It can still be placed in museums, and digital products can be sold in targeted quantities.”

In Wei Lizhong’s view, the advancement of technology allows us to have more perspectives, appreciate a work anytime and anywhere, and experience traditional culture. Through modeling, a work can be admired in 360 degrees, and even the process of forming it can be seen more comprehensively than in a museum. “If you want your child to know about a certain intangible cultural heritage, you don’t need to visit the site. A 3D picture on your phone can give your child an intuitive understanding of it. The first step in inheriting a cultural heritage is to know it first. Digital collections are a great format.”

High-quality content “singing” is still needed to “set up the stage” of technology

The digitization of intangible cultural heritage is still essentially a special derivative of content IP, and the key to determining whether this derivative can generate value is still the attractiveness of the product content itself.

In addition to running his own studio, Lang Jiaziyu will also help the inheritors of other intangible cultural heritage projects around him to develop some creative handicrafts when the opportunity is right, and recommend them to cooperative enterprises. “What kind of works can be liked by everyone is a challenge for the inheritors. For example, it is necessary to find hot spots, sensitivity, and video quality is also very important.” Lang Jiaziyu has his own ideas on how to do the next content. But his father would often tell him that there is no problem with innovation, but the traditional classics must not be thrown away.

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Reproducing the classic woodblock watermark works is what Wei Lizhong has been doing all these years. How to use ancient technology to express today’s beautiful life is what he will work hard to do next. “Woodblock watermarking is actually a printing technique. This technique has been preserved to this day. If it is used to print books, it is not very suitable. But we can use this technique to create works that meet the aesthetics of contemporary young people, such as the famous West Lake. The scenery of ‘Broken Bridge and Remnant Snow’, the world-famous Qiantang River surges.” Wei Lizhong said that the purpose of heritage protection is to tell the next generation how the predecessors came here, and to give them some reference as to how they can go in the future.

How can the long-term value of intangible cultural heritage be excavated in the future? Many non-profit organizations are also continuing to explore new ways on the front line. The reporter learned that the genius mother project has established dream workshops in many places across the country to collect, record and organize various local intangible cultural heritage traditional handicrafts. With the legacy of handicrafts and more than 50 patterns, many designers have created more than 150 new products through the second pattern, bringing millions of income to rural female craftsmen. In the next step, a “digital pattern library” will be established.

(The phoenix pattern, the traditional pattern of batik in Guizhou, has been extracted by the Genius Mother Public Welfare Project. Photo courtesy of the interviewee, issued by the Central Radio Network)

According to Zhao Guangfeng, deputy director of the project department funded by the China Women’s Development Foundation, establishing a “digital pattern library” may be a way to improve the market conversion rate for many handicraft-related intangible cultural heritage projects. At present, the Women’s Foundation Genius Mother Charity Project has collected and systematically sorted out a number of intangible cultural heritage techniques and traditional patterns including batik, Li brocade, leather carving, embroidery, etc., to better realize the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage. In the future, classic patterns will be labelled and entered into the index library, which will bring more convenience to designers in the secondary creation of products. For craftsmen, this digital innovation can bring orders many times more than a simple traditional handicraft, and the income will be multiplied. “For example, a butterfly embroidery work, after the butterfly pattern is extracted, it can be presented in a variety of newly designed products such as clothing and accessories. In the future, the AR and VR of intangible cultural heritage patterns will be realized. Carry out a three-dimensional display, so that the public can participate in the dissemination of our intangible cultural heritage in a simpler and more fun way.”

Wang Li

Source of this article: Editor-in-charge of CCTV: Wang Li_NB26155

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