【Commentary】In the Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese cultural festival in 2023, the most popular is the dragon boat races that frequently "go out of the circle" in various places, among which various hurricane-style dragon boats in Guangdong are the most popular, and dragon boat rowing has become the hottest tourism hottest point in various places during the Dragon Boat Festival, driving the strong recovery of the cultural and tourism industry during the 2023 Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
Why can the dragon boat race become the most attractive folk activity during the Dragon Boat Festival? How can the revitalization of traditional culture contribute to the development of tourism? Professor Sun Jiuxia, Deputy Dean of the School of Tourism of Sun Yat-sen University, recently gave us an exclusive interview with China News Service.
Sun Jiuxia, Deputy Dean of the School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University
What is really out of the circle this year should be our dragon boat race in Guangdong, in the Guangdong dragon boat race, and even in the dragon boat race in Guangzhou, I think it is the dragon head. Very few first-tier cities can have such cultural activities. Because other first-tier cities are all modernized and urbanized, they have lost a lot of traditional culture, so I think the first to come out of the circle is this dragon boat culture in the Greater Bay Area. The most important thing about the dragon boat culture in the Greater Bay Area, or the one with the most potential for tourism development, is its living foundation. That is, the media does not publicize it, and the government group does not organize it, they all have to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, they all have to race dragon boats, and they all have to eat dragon boat meals. I think it's a very important and attractive place, which makes it very easy and natural when it comes out of the circle.
Sun Jiuxia, Deputy Dean of the School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University
It seems that the people who watch the dragon boat are the tenants, and then the landlord should be rowing, and they will have such a joking name, which shows that this is also a culture in Guangdong. In the past, when we gazed and were gazed at in tourism, we often said that tourists have the right to gaze, and tourists went to see it, and it was the local ordinary people who participated in the performance, just a performer, but this place is actually different. This means that the charm of our traditional culture can still shine in Chinese-style modernization.
Sun Jiuxia, Deputy Dean of the School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University
The highest level of planning should be a natural flow from life, and there is no need to plan, that is the highest level of planning, not deliberate planning and deliberate performance.
Sun Jiuxia, Deputy Dean of the School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University
Your grandparents, grandparents, and mom and dad will make things like this, even if they are urbanized, they are not melted away after they are urbanized. It turns out that for example, I am picking up dragon boats in Xiaohechong, I am now picking dragon boats in the Pearl River, I used to live in a small "handshake building", and I now live in Liede Village (city center), then I also want to pick up dragon boats, I have to pick up, this is what I have to do. And then after the picking, I may also have to go through that kind of traditional ceremony, for example, I also want to have a traditional ceremony, I also want to invite the dragon boat out, and I will also get together after me, and I will also eat the dragon boat meal together, that is, it is a ritual, ritualization is a very important means to fight against modernity, I think it is weak, it is a fundamental.
Sun Jiuxia, Deputy Dean of the School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University
It's not just a dragon boat, the dragon boat is just one side of it, revealing a face. Let's think of the flower market, soup and herbal tea of Guangzhou people. In the past two years, the reason why traditional culture has been out of the circle has been repeatedly is because it is alive, and what is alive not only belongs to the elderly, but also to the young, and it belongs to everyone. For example, Chaoshan Ying singing and dancing is also out of the circle, during the Spring Festival. It is also alive, whether it is on CCTV or not, whether it is on social media or not, whether it is on or where, it has to live, whether you can see it or not, it has to live. The power of culture, like deep and shallow currents, has always been endless. It won't perform because tourists come to see me, and if you don't watch me, I won't perform, that's called a performance, that's not culture. Therefore, the culture excavated from such living soil is viable.
Sun Jiuxia, vice president and professor of the School of Tourism, Sun Yat-sen University
One of the very good things about Guangdong's culture is that it is not xenophobic, and Cantonese people are not xenophobic. Cantonese people can use very non-standard Mandarin to speak Mandarin to you, you can't understand Mandarin, such a local culture, can tourists immerse themselves in it, people can live here very relaxed, this is also the tone of your place, very important, this should also be the core competitiveness of the Greater Bay Area. Why is the dragon boat race so hot in the Greater Bay Area, that is to say, I embrace modernity, and I don't let go of tradition, so why don't the north or other first-tier cities in the metropolis like this like this, I think this is actually the core competitiveness of the Greater Bay Area.
Reporter Wang Qingran, Xu Qingqing, Chen Chuhong reported from Guangzhou
Editor in charge: [Lu Yan]