(East-West Question) Guan Hongliang: Why has ice and snow art become a "kaleidoscope" of mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations?
China News Agency, Harbin, February 13th: Guan Hongliang: Why has ice and snow art become a "kaleidoscope" of mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations?
China News Agency reporter Wang Lin
Taking the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as an opportunity, the ice and snow sculptures decorate the atmosphere of the Winter Olympics and show a different style.
In the process of origin, maturity and development, Chinese ice and snow art has gradually gone abroad and influenced the world.
In ice and snow sculpture competitions, ice and snow cultural exchanges, and mutual visits in ice and snow tourism, the ice and snow arts with their own merits have become a "kaleidoscope" of mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations.
China News Agency "East and West Questions" recently interviewed Guan Hongliang, a senior creator of the Ice and Snow Culture and Art Professional Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association and a researcher at the Sculpture Institute of the Heilongjiang Institute of Contemporary Art, to interpret Chinese ice and snow art from the perspective of ice and snow sculpture art and personal experience in overseas competitions The process of going global, comparing the similarities and differences of Chinese and Russian ice and snow sculpture art, and the possibility of turning "cold ice and snow" into a "hot fashion" for exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: What are the characteristics of the world's major winter festivals? What international elements are included in the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival?
Guan Hongliang:
Different regional humanities have derived different ice and snow cultures. The world's major winter festivals are the representative manifestations of ice and snow culture on a global scale.
The highlight of the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan is the "International Snow Contest", which competes snow sculpture skills; the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada lasts for 10 days, like a winter version of "Disney Carnival"; the Oslo Ski Festival in Norway is held on the first Saturday in March every year. It is a grand event for ski enthusiasts around the world.
Among them, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival can be called the longest ice and snow festival in the world, with only the opening ceremony and no closing ceremony, creating a super-long ice and snow season that lasts for 5 months.
In recent years, this festival has been upgraded from local to national and international. Hundreds of foreign guests from dozens of countries and regions are invited to participate, and international exchanges are organized around more than 400 winter activities such as culture, tourism, sports, and economics and trade. cooperate.
The previous Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.
Photo by Cao Ning issued by China News Agency
The previous Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.
Photo by Liu Changshan issued by China News Agency
China News Service reporter: How did Chinese ice and snow art form, and how did it go abroad and influence the world?
Guan Hongliang:
Natural ice and snow form humanistic art, which first requires a unique cold climate and ice and snow resources.
China's ice and snow activities originated in the north, and since ancient times have followed activities such as ice digging and fishing, ice and snow sports, and ice and lantern making.
Heilongjiang is considered to be the birthplace of Chinese ice and snow art and the modern ice and snow tourism industry. The ice and snow sculpture artists here can be described as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Since the "Ice City" Harbin held the first ice lantern garden party in Zhaolin Park in 1963, with the accumulation of ice and snow culture and the budding of commercial operations, ice sculptures and snow sculptures have continued to make breakthroughs in scale, style and lighting.
In 1985, the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival was held for the first time nationwide.
In 1999, Harbin Ice and Snow World was held for the first time, and ice and snow art began to go global.
Harbin ice and snow sculpture artist in the 1960s.
Photo courtesy of Harbin Ice Lantern Garden Party
The 4th Harbin Ice Lantern Fair in 1966.
Photo courtesy of Harbin Ice Lantern Garden Party
Since the 1980s, Harbin ice and snow sculpture artists have increasingly gone abroad for exchanges and exhibitions, and have successively appeared in Canada, the United States, South Korea, Japan and other countries.
Jilin, Xinjiang, Beijing, Shanghai and other places have also built ice and snow theme parks.
Tourists from all over the world came into China to enjoy the ice and snow, and Chinese sculptors were also invited to go abroad to build ice and snow landscapes.
China News Agency reporter: How do Chinese and Russian ice and snow sculpture art achieve mutual appreciation, mutual learning and mutual integration? What are the similarities and differences?
Guan Hongliang:
Parts of China and Russia are both in the middle and high latitudes, and the winters are severe, long and snowy.
China and Russia are friendly neighbors to each other, which has created a good environment for people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and promoted the close and harmonious exchanges between China and Russia in the field of ice and snow sculpture art.
The sculpture skills of the artists of the two countries are equally superb, but there are some differences in comparison.
China likes to build large-scale ice buildings, and pays attention to details in carving techniques, highlighting the beauty of craftsmanship; Russian ice buildings are small in size and focus on ideological and abstraction.
In winter, the local governments of China and Russia will invite each other's players to participate in the competition, appreciate, learn from and promote each other, and forge a deep friendship.
In the Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition, the Russian team's work "The Birth of the World" won the championship.
Photo courtesy of Harbin Ice and Snow World
China has formed an ice and snow sculpture industry chain, with a variety of carving tools and professional systems.
At present, Russia does not yet have a mature industrial chain. Many Russian players make their own sculpture tools, or borrow the opportunity to participate in China to buy them. We will also give away some to encourage each other.
In the past, Chinese and Russian contestants would exchange portfolios and other gifts as souvenirs.
China News Service reporter: Why is the art of ice and snow, each with its own merits, able to become a "kaleidoscope" of cultural exchanges between the East and the West?
Guan Hongliang:
Ice and snow are gifts from nature. Originally, they are the same pure white and crystal clear. It is because the people who receive this gift are different, so they can be transformed into various forms. Humanities, history, customs, fashion and other elements have been extended to a greater extent. The large aesthetic space has created different ice and snow arts.
Therefore, the ice and snow arts of different countries are like the "kaleidoscope" of human civilization.
Artists can use ice and snow sculptures as carriers to display the culture of their own country and nation.
For example, the award-winning work "Moonlight on the Lotus Pond" in the 31st China Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition in 2017 was designed by me and completed together with the ice and snow sculpture artist Su Shi.
We carved images of lotus pond, lotus flower, moon, swimming fish, and terrace with ice, showing the beautiful oriental charm.
2017 Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition winning work "Lotus Pond Moonlight".
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Due to cultural differences, we may not understand foreign works at first, but through communication and learning, we can understand the differences and charms of Eastern and Western civilizations, which is also the wonder of ice and snow art.
For example, the award-winning work "Spirit of the Sea" in the 2018 China Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition was designed by Su Shi, and completed by Su Shi, Guan Dajiang, Yu Chunfeng and me. It tells the myth of the sea in the image of a classical beauty, reflecting the East and the West. The combination of cultures.
The winning work of the 2018 Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition "Spirit of the Sea".
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
China News Service reporter: How to make "cold ice and snow" a "hot fashion" for exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations?
Guan Hongliang:
The purpose of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association is to "promote Chinese culture and promote international exchanges". As its branch, the Ice and Snow Culture and Art Professional Committee is committed to improving the level of China's ice and snow industry and expanding international exchanges and cooperation.
Therefore, it is our obligation and mission to make "cold ice and snow" a "hot fashion" for the exchange of Eastern and Western civilizations.
I have three suggestions for this.
First, the emotion of ice and snow is warm.
We must use ice and snow as a link to connect emotions, and focus on the emotional establishment of friends from all over the world in organizing activities, such as establishing an international organization of ice and snow sculpture art, holding regular exchange and mutual visits, etc. Second, the spirit of ice and snow is hot.
We should work together to challenge the common natural conditions and competitive goals, and stimulate the resonance of the fighting spirit, just like the Olympic spirit of "unity, fraternity, fair competition, and mutual understanding"; third, the ice and snow economy is hot.
The ice and snow trade, which extends from the fields of ice and snow art, ice and snow sports, and ice and snow tourism, is a good way for all countries to cooperate and win-win.
Chinese and Russian ice and snow sculpture artists took a group photo in front of the works.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
China News Service reporter: What works did you create this winter? How does ice and snow art fit into the atmosphere of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?
Guan Hongliang:
The much-anticipated Beijing Winter Olympics are being held. As ice and snow sculpture artists, we have the passion and the responsibility to "art" to help the Winter Olympics. I created ice and snow sculptures based on Bing Dun Dun and Xue Rong Rong.
In addition, Harbin Ice and Snow World has created ice and snow sculpture landscapes such as the five-ring maze and the flying winter dream.
These works not only become a beautiful landscape in winter, filling a city with the atmosphere of the Winter Olympics, but also because they are widely loved by the public, they have mobilized the people's enthusiasm for ice and snow, and helped achieve the goal of "300 million people participating in ice and snow sports".
At the same time, the Beijing Winter Olympics will allow more countries and more people in the world to pay attention to ice and snow sports and appreciate ice and snow art, providing a broader international stage for ice and snow sculptures.
Ice and snow art has added atmosphere and charm to the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the Beijing Winter Olympics has brought opportunities and motivation to ice and snow art.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Guan Hongliang, a native of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is currently a senior creative member of the Ice and Snow Culture and Art Professional Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, and a researcher of the Sculpture Institute of the Heilongjiang Institute of Contemporary Art.
He is a member of the Ice and Snow Sculpture Art Committee of the Artists Association of Heilongjiang Province, and a member of the expert judge pool of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Competition.
Guan Hongliang has participated in 15 domestic and international ice and snow sculpture competitions in the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival for more than 30 years, including 3 awards in domestic competitions and 7 awards in international competitions.
Among them, the snow sculpture "Treading the Waves" won the first prize of the Russian International Snow Sculpture Competition in 2020.