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China is not the only country facing the challenge of protecting its ancient traditions and cultural heritage. Many other countries initiated efforts to preserve, revive, and reinvigorate their traditional culture several decades ago and China can benefit by learning from their experiences.
Zhou Qingshan, a researcher of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University, spoke about the efforts other countries have made to protect their heritage. "Legislation is an important approach to protecting cultural heritage in Japan," he said.
"Japan issued a special bill for protecting cultural heritage as early as in 1950, establishing a human treasure identification system to ensure intangible cultural heritage can be transmitted successfully," said Zhou. "In contrast to the rich experience of Japan, we still have a long way to improve the related laws and regulations."
Denmark is another example. Eric Messerschmidt, Chairman of the Danish Culture Institute, mentioned the use of creative and cultural events for preserving the traditional culture of Denmark. The Danish Cultural Institute is a non-governmental organization that promotes cultural exchanges between Denmark and China.
"Creativity helps foster flexibility, openness and the ability to adapt and see new ways of doings," said Messerschmidt. "Intangible cultural heritage must be regarded as a living tradition which can only be safeguarded by its constant reinvention."
One example he offered was the literature of Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.
Worldwide readers are acquainted with his stories, but until recently his work was in hibernation and treasured by only a few scholars and experts, instead of being a vivid part of contemporary Danish cultural life and practice.
"Thanks to the use of creative, cultural events, and multimedia, these stories are regaining their central position in the consciousness of Danish people and what is even more important: They've become part of the national brand or story," said Messerschmidt.
Education plays an important role in protecting tradition too. "In an increasingly globalized world with tremendous competition, Danes have realized that the only means to succeed lies with an education system that can provide us with a competitive advantage as a nation and as a region," he said.
As experts are now paying more attention to problems in living heritage protection, mass production of fine arts and craft works has been extensively criticized.
"Sticking to tradition should be the fundamental principle for heritage protection," said Tian Qing, Dean of the Music Institute at the Chinese National Academy of Arts.
Tian gave the example of carved lacquer. Carved lacquer is an ancient Chinese cultural heritage. According to traditional methods, each piece of lacquer ware should be brushed with varnish to form 80 to 100 layers in a period of six to eight months. After painting, workers begin to carve various designs into the lacquer. A piece of handcrafted lacquer ware usually takes a year to complete.
However, some small factories use plastic and integrated technology rather than natural paint and hand-carving to make fake lacquer ware today, which has seriously damaged the reputation of Chinese lacquer.
Tian also gave the example of Chinese operas which are now being melded with popular dramas to attract more viewers.
According to Chinese aesthetics, dramatists usually set the scene by means of abstract performance. For example, a horsewhip often shows that the performer is riding a horse in the story. But many artists try to modify traditional operas by using modern dramas and musicals as a reference.
"That's not the correct way, if the cultural tradition, the soul of intangible cultural heritage, is changed by modifications, then the so-called development is bound to fail," said Tian.
Ultimately, while people favor rapid development of the economy and technology, returning to tradition is necessary in order to better protect intangible cultural heritage. "Cultural heritage is a way of life that people inherit from their ancestors and transmit to their descendants. It's not something that can easily be modified, improved or disseminated with modern technology," he said.
Allowing these distinct and invaluable traditions to survive and flourish will be a major challenge for the Chinese people and government over the next few decades.
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