“From the beginning of this century to the present, China’s culture circle and the government have worked together to rescue and protect folk culture in an unprecedented way. On such a deep and solid foundation, what should the academic community do next?”
On October 16, the third International Conference on Chinese Wood-Block New Year Pictures was held at Tianjin University. Feng Jicai, a famous writer, cultural scholar and Dean of the Institute, proposed to establish a scientific theoretical system for each important folk cultural heritage.
TJU’s Party Secretary Li Jiajun delivered the welcoming speech at the opening ceremony of the morning seminar, and first addressed the guests at home and abroad. He said that with engineering as its preeminent disciplines, TJU also actively explores the fields of humanities and social science development. “The successful cultural and artistic activities held by the Institute have received positive responses from all sectors of society, and the Chinese Wood-Block New Year Picture Study Center has become an important research center of New Year pictures at home and abroad.”
Additionally, representatives from the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), China Folk Literature and Art Association, Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage at Ministry of Culture and Tourism informed with their speeches during the ceremony. Wang Like, President of Shandong University of Arts, presented Feng with a huge ancient wood-block New Year picture. Five New Year picture collection organizations and collectors from Wuqiang, Taohuawu and Pingyang also brought several collections as gifts to enrich the New Year picture collection in the Institute of Tianjin University.
Feng Jicai, Dean of the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art at TJU makes a statement.
In his opening ceremony address, Professor Feng introduced the fact that the academic community has carried out comprehensive rescue, collection, record and collation of folk culture; the government has established a national list of folk cultural heritage and a protection system led by the inheritors, and legislated for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in the past two decades. The government is the keeper of the cultural heritage, and the academic community is the scientific support. The two sides have their own division of labor and coordinate with each other to make joint efforts to ensure the survival and inheritance of traditional culture during the transition period. However, although the background of “intangible cultural heritage” has been clarified, we still lack understanding from each other. “We can’t really say we have it unless we have a scientific system that comprehends it clearly. If you can’t understand it scientifically, you can’t really protect it. There is no such system right now, so this is the mission that history and the times have given us.” said Feng. He added that the folk cultural heritage should be included into the academic research category. Only after scientific analysis can it be systematic and academically accurate. This is also an important basis for its promotion.
Performers from Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre perform The Peony Pavilion.
Chen Shulin, Researcher of Beijing Art Research Institute and a famous expert of folk music, sings the Yangliuqing folk tune Painted Fans.
Organizations present Professor Feng Jicai with New Year pictures.
Wang Like, President of Shandong University of Arts, presents Feng with a huge ancient wood-block New Year picture.
“The older generation of scholars at home and abroad have taken the lead in the study of New Year paintings,” Feng said. “Our generation should build a broader theoretical system of a New Year picture from a multi-disciplinary perspective, with New Year picture aesthetics, New Year picture culturology and New Year picture theory as our academic goals.”
Professor Feng shows the distinguished guests around.
After the opening ceremony, scholars from China, Russia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, South Korea, France had a heated academic discussion on the ontology, cultural value, artistic value of New Year pictures, and released their research findings. A number of inheritors and leaders of New Year picture museums around the country also arrive in Tianjin to attend the meeting.
The Academic Committee of Chinese Wood-Block New Year Picture Study Center was formally established during the conference, and 14 important New Year picture scholars from home and abroad were appointed as members. The conference also exhibited a number of unique products and treasures collected by Professor Feng. The Study Center also released The New Year Picture Production Skills, Draft Drawing and The Beauty of New Year Pictures. All works in Draft Drawing and The Beauty of New Year Pictures are collected by Professor Feng.
In 2011 and 2015, the International Conference on Chinese Wood-Block New Year Pictures were successfully held at the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art, which has exerted a wide influence on the academic circle nationally and internationally. The conference itself has also become an academic event for the study of Chinese wood-block New Year pictures.
By: Deng Xiaoxuan
Editors: Harlan Haverback, Sun Xiaofang
