"May 5th, Qing Duanyang. Dragon boat, hanging sachet. Realgar painted a face makeup, delicious dumplings fragrance and fragrance." With this catchy folk song, ushered in the annual traditional Chinese festival -Dragon Boat Festival.
As China's first festival selected for the world's intangible cultural heritage, customs such as dragon boat racing, eating dumplings, and drinking realgar wine have become the symbols of the Dragon Boat Festival and contain the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the protection and inheritance of traditional Chinese culture. On the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival, let us listen to a few vivid stories and appreciate the profound revelation.
"If we don't keep it well, we are sinners and we will be ashamed of our descendants
Intangible cultural heritage has a very high status in Xi Jinping's mind. He has explained the meaning of Chinese excellent traditional culture on many occasions. "The excellent traditional Chinese culture created and continued by the Chinese nation over thousands of years of history is the root and soul of the Chinese nation." "Excellent traditional culture is the root of the inheritance and development of a country and a nation. If it is lost, it will cut off the spirit. "Lifeline"... He often praised the intangible cultural heritage projects rooted in the simple work of the people and inherited and protected to this day.
In the 1980s, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhengding County Party Committee in Hebei Province, was attracted by the rich ancient architectural complex and profound cultural heritage of Zhengding "Nine Floors, Four Pagodas, Eight Great Temples, and Twenty-four Gold Medal Buildings." On the west side of Longxing Temple in Zhengding County, seeing the famous monument "Ben Ming Changsheng Zhuyan Monument" written by calligrapher Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty covered with mud and lacking protection, he immediately found the competent leader and made serious criticism. Xi Jinping said: "If we don't keep it well, we will be sinners and we will be ashamed of future generations."
In Tongjiang, Heilongjiang, he watched the rap teaching of the Hezhe imam, a national intangible cultural heritage; in Guangzhou, Guangdong, he walked into the Cantonese Opera Art Museum and had a cordial conversation with Cantonese opera fans, encouraging them to pass on the Cantonese opera; In Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, he pointed out that we should pay attention to the protection and inheritance of ethnic minorities’ culture, support and support intangible cultural heritage such as Gesar (Sigar), and train the inheritors to pass on from generation to generation; Making Longjing tea and selling local cultural and creative products stalls, he stepped forward to observe and encourage them to pass on intangible cultural heritage such as traditional handicrafts...
On May 11, 2020, Xi Jinping came to Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi to investigate the protection of historical and cultural heritage. Xi Jinping walked into the cave and looked closely at the sculptures and murals, asking in detail about the history, art style, and cultural relics protection of the cave. He emphasized the importance of protecting Yungang Grottoes from the height of human civilization, "Yungang Grottoes embodies the characteristics of Chinese culture and the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. This is the treasure of human civilization, and we must adhere to the protection of the first, on the basis of protection Make good use of research."
Abandon the temporary economic interests and resolutely decide to support the protection of the site
The protection of cultural heritage sometimes faces a dilemma of choice, or even abandonment of economic interests. Among them, the test is the long-term vision of leadership.
In 1958, many cities across the country launched a "wall-demolition campaign". The ancient city walls and archways including Beijing and Nanjing were destroyed. The old and dilapidated Xi'an old city wall is also in danger of being demolished. Old cultural relic workers telegraphed to the State Council requesting intervention. In the end, with the support of Comrade Xi Zhongxun, Xi’an City Wall was identified as the first batch of cultural relics protection units in 1961. The story of Xi Zhongxun's protection of the Xi'an City Wall was also spread as a story. He once said: "To continue the history of the city, some historical symbols should be left behind, and what is not real is empty."
It is this family tradition's emphasis on cultural heritage that makes Xi Jinping think deeply about the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage.
In the 1980s and 1990s, cultural relic workers discovered a large number of stone tools made by ancient humans and associated mammalian fossils in Sanming City, Fujian, which doubled the value of Wanshouyan. However, this prehistoric site known as "Southern Zhoukoudian" also faced the fate of being destroyed. Since Wanshouyan rock contains an ore necessary for the steel-making process, it was purchased by Sanming Iron and Steel Works in the 1980s as a mining site. The villagers of Yanqian worried that the mining of the mine would affect the protection of the ruins, so they selected five retired teachers in the village to run around and appeal.
On January 1, 2000, Xi Jinping, then acting governor of Fujian Province, made important instructions. The protection of historical relics is the responsibility entrusted to everyone by national laws and is also an important part of implementing sustainable development strategies. The Wanshouyan Paleolithic cave has always been a non-renewable precious historical relic, not only for us, but also for future generations. No individual or unit can destroy the interests of the whole society and future generations in order to seek immediate or local interests.
He demanded, "The Sanming Municipal Government shall immediately take effective safety precautions to strengthen the protection of the cave ruins; coordinate and assist the Sanming Iron and Steel Plant to select new mining sites in other places as soon as possible, so as to protect cultural relics and develop production", At the same time, it was decided that the provincial finance should allocate 500,000 yuan for archaeological excavation and protection of the ruins.
The Sanming Iron and Steel Plant took the overall situation as the top priority, completely stopped the blasting and mining in Wanshouyan, selected a new mining site in another place, and used ore elsewhere, the cost per ton was 15 yuan higher.
"Ore is easy to find, and cultural relics are hard to find. At that time, the leaders could abandon the temporary economic interests and resolutely decided to support the protection of the ruins. It is impossible to make such a decision without amazing wisdom and long-term strategic vision." The teacher who once called for Wan Shouyan Wang Yuanlin sighed.
Allow people to share cultural heritage and benefit from the protection of cultural relics
The cultural heritage comes from the creation of the broad masses of people. The masses of people are the true masters of the cultural heritage. If cultural relics are locked in the warehouse, they will lose their due value if they are kept on guard. Xi Jinping emphasized that cultural relics should "live". He said: "We must systematically sort out traditional cultural resources, so that the cultural relics stored in the Forbidden Palace, the heritage displayed on the vast earth, and the words written in ancient books all live." He We also do our best to truly enable people to share cultural heritage and benefit from the protection of cultural relics.
According to the relevant person in charge of Hangzhou, after the free opening of the West Lake in 2002, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, made recommendations to the Hangzhou West Lake management department three times.
"Is the toilet open at night?" Xi Jinping found that the park by the West Lake is free, but the public toilet at night is closed and not open, which causes a lot of inconvenience to citizens and tourists. After listening to suggestions, all public toilets by the West Lake are free for 24 hours.
Xi Jinping later noticed that after the expansion of the West Lake waters, cruise ships often bumped when passing through the bridge hole on the New West Lake, which would be unsafe and also cause damage to the bridge hole and the hull. He suggested improvements. After investigation, the West Lake Scenic Area added rubber tires on the bow for protection.
After the free opening of the West Lake, many chairs were added in the scenic area for citizens and tourists to rest. At the beginning, the chairs were very close. Xi Jinping suggested that there should be a certain distance between the chairs.
"He considers that there are many lovers by the West Lake. If the distance between the chairs is too close, the lovers will feel uncomfortable." The relevant person in charge of Hangzhou revealed that the layout of the rest chairs has also been optimized in the West Lake Scenic Area.
Cultural heritage should benefit the general public. In this festival that has been passed on for more than 2,000 years, how to pass on excellent culture, leave history, and leave a common national memory is worthy of our deep thought. (Comprehensive People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, CCTV, etc.)
Qu Yuan