"A three-meter-high, 1500,<>-year-old sculpture of the Bodhisattva of the Northern Qi Dynasty has been standing under the base of the southern city wall for decades. We hurriedly sent him to the cultural relics hospital for restoration, and after it was displayed, his face changed for the better, so cultural relics need dignity! ”

On November 11, the first "Tao China Lecture Hall" was held at the Beijing National Cultural Palace, and Shan Jixiang, president of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Society and director of the Academic Committee of the Palace Museum, said affectionately at the lecture.

The "Tao China Lecture Hall" invites top experts, scholars and cultural celebrities at home and abroad to hold public lectures to further enhance the dissemination and appeal of China's excellent traditional culture and tell the story of the Chinese national community. This article is an excerpt from Mr. Shan Jixiang's speech at the first lecture hall.

The Power of Culture: Bringing Cultural Heritage Resources to Life (Part I)

The report of the 8th National Congress of the Communist Party of China mentions at least eight scientific paths for high-quality development. Among them, as far as the protection of cultural heritage is concerned, there are two things that I am most concerned about:

First, firmly establish the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and live in harmony with nature.

Second, inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, meet people's growing spiritual and cultural needs, and enrich people's spiritual world.

In fact, human beings pay attention to the protection of the cultural heritage of man and nature, and the journey is not long.

After the Second World War, people began to pay attention to the cultural and natural heritage resources of their own countries that were of outstanding universal value. When they are threatened, they will mobilize the whole country, and even turn to the international community to save them.

At the end of the 20s of the 50th century, Egypt and its neighbors wanted to build a large dam, called the Aswan Dam, which would flood the historic Nubian ruins.

Unable to solve the problem, the Egyptian government turned to the international community for help, and UNESCO mobilized more than 50 countries to participate in the conservation effort. In the end, the engineers and technicians numbered and broke down these ancient ruins, lifted them to the height of the corresponding terrain, and the highest rose more than 100 meters. The Abu Simbel Temple was continued, the Nubian ruins were preserved, and the Aswan Dam was built.

Over the course of decades of conservation efforts, the international community has established an increasingly firm belief that cultural heritage is not unique to one country or nation, but the common heritage of mankind. This led to the birth of the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

World Heritage Conservation in China

In 1985, China acceded to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. At that time, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries had many world heritage sites, and we did not have them, and we did not even know the concept of this concept, until 1987, when there were the first batch of world heritage sites - the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Xi'an, the ruins of Zhoukoudian in Beijing, the Forbidden City, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, and Mount Tai. Although there are only 6 items, they have had a significant impact on our original concept of cultural heritage protection.

In the past, the cultural relics department protected Mount Tai, and the items included in the protection were only those ancient buildings, cliff carvings, etc., and later when the world heritage was declared, we realized that these cliff carvings were inseparable from the mountains behind them, and the content of these cliff carvings was inseparable from the entire Taishan culture, so the whole mountain was declared, and there was no such practice in the international community at that time.

After the successful application of Mount Tai for World Heritage Status, the history of world heritage protection was rewritten. In the past, there were only two types of World Heritage sites, one was cultural heritage and the other was natural heritage. After entering Mount Tai, there is a third category, called "cultural and natural heritage", which emphasizes the protection of the landscape created by man and nature. Later, Lushan, Qingcheng Mountain, Emei Mountain, Wutai Mountain, Wuyi Mountain, Songshan Mountain, Huangshan Mountain and other famous mountains and rivers were successfully declared as World Heritage Sites. These experiences have changed our understanding of heritage conservation and have led to the nomination of many cities as World Heritage Sites.

Protection of Beijing's central axis

Beijing's Central Axis will be declared a World Heritage Site next year. Beijing's central axis has a history of more than 42 years, although it has undergone great changes over the years, but 38 of the <> ancient buildings on the central axis have been preserved, and the large-scale flat, open and symmetrical pattern on both sides is basically still there, and the central axis dominates the cityscape and skyline.

The largest group of buildings on the central axis is the former Forbidden City and today's Palace Museum. In 1994, when I was the head of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, there were more than 52 households and more than 465 units in the narrow strip between the <>-meter-wide Guanzi River and the city wall around the Forbidden City. There are <> pipelines that discharge sewage into the river, and the water quality of the river is very poor.

We shouted a slogan: "Give a magnificent Forbidden City to the 21st century in its entirety." ”

We made up our minds to carry out remediation, and after three years of hard work, we finally made the river rippling after three years of hard work, such as household surveys, the formulation of relocation plans, sewage interception, and relocation of units and residents. Today, regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, morning, noon and evening, many cameras and cameras are aimed at the corner towers, city walls, and rivers, and the beautiful scenery of the Forbidden City is transmitted to the world every day.

In 2000, when I became the director of the Beijing Municipal Planning Commission, Beijing was a big construction site, building more than all European countries combined every year, in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. At that time, one of the things I was most worried about was that the large-scale buildings would invade the central axis and invade the core landscape of the Temple of Heaven in the Forbidden City. As a result, two important planning measures were taken, one of which was to move the large-scale construction project outside the Fourth Ring Road; Another measure was to draw a wide construction control zone around the landscape of the Temple of Heaven in the Forbidden City on both sides of the central axis, initially announcing 25 protected areas, which were later expanded to 33. It is precisely because of these protected areas that it is possible to declare the central axis of Beijing as a World Heritage Site today.

Use popular books to tell the story of China's cultural heritage protection

A few years ago, the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council Information Office awarded me a certificate of "Messenger of Cultural Exchange for Telling Chinese Stories Well". It's a lot of pressure on me, I don't know how to tell stories, I'm a professional, and storytelling requires the public to be able to accept it.

I started trying to write some popular reading. In the past three years, I have spent more time reading, and I have written 3 books about what I have accumulated. Among them, there is a small book that I recommend to everyone, called "The Voice of the Forbidden City".

For many years, I have walked in the Forbidden City in the morning, noon and evening, spring, summer, autumn and winter, and I would hear a lot of sounds when it was quiet, and after a long time, I would think: How did these sounds come about? What is the historical background? In the end, I collected 46 sounds and described each sound in about 3000,7 words. But the sound is mainly about listening, so I spent seven and a half days reading and recording what I wrote. Finally, I designed a QR code on the cover of the book, and I can scan it to hear these 46 voices and the recording of my reading.

Don't buy this book, take out your phone and scan it when you see it, and you can take it home. Publishers don't like it, but it can facilitate dissemination.

The "Past and Present" of "National Treasure"

When the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" was first released, we thought that middle-aged and elderly people might like it, because the pace is very slow, but I didn't expect that the people I like to watch the most are actually young people, why? People come to museums to see the exhibits come to life, but how exactly are they discovered, excavated, restored, preserved, and displayed? For the first time, the film shows the daily work of the museum staff and reveals the stories behind the artifacts.

The cultural and museum exploration program "National Treasure" is also not easy to come by. When CCTV first asked us to shoot this show, we always refused because it was a variety show. In our inherent impression, variety shows are bouncing, slapstick, hugging and hugging, which is too far away from the work of our museum people.

Later, the chief director, Mr. Yu Lei, came to me and said that we could create a "cultural variety show" program, where their actors played "past lives", and we museum people played "this life", showing how we protect, display and promote these cultural heritages. I thought it made sense, so I recommended 8 museums to participate in it at that time.

"National Treasure" was an instant hit and had high ratings. In the second season, I invited any museum to participate, and I didn't hesitate to come to any museum.

Tell the story of each cultural heritage site

The cultural program "New Forbidden City" brings 11900,<> kinds of cultural and creative products developed by the Palace Museum to the public, and also drives museums across the country to actively develop cultural and creative products.

I participated in the filming of the cultural and museum exploration interactive reality show "City of Museums". Every time I go to a museum, I have to work as a new employee in a specific department, such as in an art museum, as an employee in the engineering department, repairing ancient buildings, repairing colored sculptures, repairing doors and windows, and introducing the engineering department.

At the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall, I went to the exhibition department as a staff member, and together with Mr. Xu Beihong's son, Professor Xu Qingping, and his grandson, Mr. Xu Ji, I studied how to improve the quality of the exhibition and the level of outreach. At that time, I had the opportunity to hold an exhibition in Chongqing, so I learned how to package and escort oil paintings, drawings and other works Xi, and transported them to the site smoothly and safely.

At the National Museum of Zoology, I worked as an assistant in the herbarium department, where the master taught me to clean and care for the specimens, I learned to dust whale specimens, clean leopard specimens, and introduce the work of the herbarium.

At the Yandu Ruins Museum of the Western Zhou Dynasty, I worked as an employee in the archaeology department, learning how Xi to use the Luoyang shovel to explore the strata, extract unearthed cultural relics, and introduce some common sense of archaeological work.

In the past three years, I have photographed 3 cultural heritage sites, mainly through walking, communicating and participating in the story of each cultural heritage site.

Beijing's central axis is to be declared a world heritage, and the Beijing Municipal Department of Radio and Television has launched an online audio-visual program "Debut! Beijing Central Axis", to help the Beijing Central Axis to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. At the beginning, the director arranged for me to enter a "time train". Shuttle through the Yuan, Ming, Qing and other dynasties, meet different historical figures, and listen to their stories about the central axis: one moment the Yongle Emperor came up, one moment Marco Polo came up, one moment Mr. Lu Xun came up... As the scenery outside the car window continues to change, so do historical figures.

(To be continued)

Executive Producer | Wang Xiangyu

Finishing | Gao Yang

Editor-in-charge | Sun Lieju

Audit | Lan Xi Feng

Crafting | Hu Qi