CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- “We don’t have adequate noodles to meet the demand. 200 jin of noodles sold out in less than one hour!” Chen Xiang, the inheritor of Hongyan hand-made noodles made of peas, was busy serving the customers at the 2023 Fengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Show held on Longcheng Paradise Walk on November 10.

The 2023 Fengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Show features more than ten intangible cultural heritage projects, such as Fengdu Wooden Puppetry, Weishan Paper-cutting, Liangshan Wind Music, Spicy Chicken, and Hongyan Hand-made Pea Noodles, attracting numerous visitors.

Intangible cultural heritage cements the unique intelligence and cultural essence of the Chinese nation and carries on our national spirits. More and more intangible cultural heritage have bloomed in radiant splendor, presenting vigorous development in Chongqing.

Pull together to promote intangible cultural heritage

The 2023 Fengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Show is hosted by the Cultural and Tourism Commission of Fengdu County. Such large-scale intangible cultural heritage exhibitions and performance activities will be held ten times a year and qualified inheritors of the intangible cultural heritage can sign up for the events, said He Tingying, Deputy Director of the Cultural and Tourism Commission of Fengdu County.

Why to host the Fengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Show?

Intangible cultural heritage needs and is needed by the market, said He Tingying. He added that intangible cultural heritage should be accessible rather than be placed on the shelf. The intangible cultural heritage exhibition and performance activities aim to provide platforms for cultural inheritors to communicate culture and ideas with the public as well as their peers.

Zhang Jing is the head of Fengdu County Yibai Puppet Art Troupe as well as the inheritor of Fengdu Wooden Puppetry. The intangible cultural heritage show offers us chances to showcase the charm of our cultural heritage and exchange ideas with other inheritors.

“It’s difficult to impart to inherit intangible cultural heritage. For one thing, most heritors are old and less well educated; for the other, the development of intangible cultural heritage supported by emotions may not be sustainable in the long run,” said Zhang Jing. At the intangible cultural heritage show, visitors can enjoy a wide range of wonderful wooden puppetry programs, communicate with and learn from the inheritors, and gain a deeper insight into intangible cultural heritage. “The interactive cultural activities not only enrich people’s life but also promote the development of intangible cultural heritage.”

To get teenagers interested in intangible cultural heritage

Successors are the prerequisite for the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and also the key to showing the lasting charm of intangible cultural heritage with rich characteristics and profound connotations. Several inheritors interviewed told us that, teenagers are showing increasing interest in intangible cultural heritage.

“I have 27 apprentices, which include college students from Chongqing University, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and other universities," said Yi Zongcheng, the master of Chongqing arts and crafts and the representative inheritor of Chongqing intangible cultural heritage – Hechuan Gorge Inkstone. His 400- square-meter Hechuan Gorge Inkstone Museum, located in Wenfeng Ancient Street, Hechuan District, has presented a great variety of inkstone products and attracted lots of college students inside and outside of Chongqing, said Yi. He also launched intangible cultural heritage experience projects for primary and secondary school students, offering them chances to learn about intangibles through fun activities.

Not long ago, more than 70 international students from Thailand's Mariway College (transliterated) and Thailand's Confucius Chinese Teaching Center visited Hechuan Gorge Inkstone Museum, where they listened to Yi Zongcheng's introduction to the history and artistic style of the Hechuan Gorge Inkstone and the history and culture of Hechuan, and appreciated the works of Hechuan Gorge Inkstone. They were deeply impressed by the charm of traditional Chinese culture. “After the visit, they experienced the carving of Hechuan Gorge Inkstone,” said Yi Zongcheng.

Besides, Yi Zongcheng’s museum was awarded “Chinese Traditional Culture Experience Base for International Students” by Chongqing College of International Business and Economics not long ago. In addition, the museum is also the "Hechuan Publicity Base". Yi Zongcheng said that he looked forward to the joint efforts made by all sectors of society to revitalize the ancient intangible cultural heritage and build a bridge between Chinese and foreign cultures.

Zhao Xiangyang, the sixth-generation inheritor of Dashi Bamboo Weaving in Dianjiang, is also pleased to find that the ancient intangible cultural heritage has been incorporated into our modern life, and an increasing number of young people are getting interested in intangible cultural heritage.

“One or two groups of students come to study and witness the charm of Bamboo Weaving every week,” said Zhao Xiangyang. This April, hundreds of students from Hankou University also visited Dianjiang to take design inspiration from Dashi Bamboo Weaving. (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)