On the morning of Jan. 22, Hu Yan, the Deputy Director General of Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, visited the Cultural Block of Shihu Garden with the Delegate to check out the progress in projects such as New Year Painting’s Reappearance in Spring Festival, Weishui Cultural Popularization Month, and construction of Intangible Heritage Gathering Area, accompanied by Li Yilong, a Grade-IV Investigator from Weifang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Film and Television, News and Publications.
The delegate visited Shihu Garden Cultural and Creative Center, Shihu Garden Arts Museum “New Year Painting’s Reappearance in Spring Festival” —— 2019 Weifang New Year Painting Experience & Exhibition for the Spring Festival, Shihu Garden Intangible Heritage Space, Qilu Intangible Heritage Incubation Base, Weifang Museum of Shihu Garden, and learned details about development in intangible heritage projects at the block.
In the Shihu Garden Arts Museum, the delegate under the leadership of Hu Yan was introduced the program of “New Year Painting’s Reappearance in Spring Festival” —— 2019 Weifang New Year Painting, Preface and Postscript Experience & Exhibition for the Spring Festival initiated by the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, started in October 2018 in Beijing, and firstly unveiled on Jan. 18, 2019 when the 1st Weifang Cultural Festival of New Year Costumes was held in the Cultural Block of Shihu Garden. Accompanying the program were a series of interactions of New Year painting on wood plates and printing, in order to draw closer the distance between New Year painting on wood plate, an aged intangible heritage project, and the modern people, to allow all speculators a chance to participate it. The program has been widely praised by all walks of life.
The exhibition included hundreds of New Year paintings on wood plates, calligraphy, prefaces and postscripts from Yangjiabu, Weifang. By those innovative forms, the connotation of New Year painting is explained, stories about China are shared, and the artistic influence of New Year painting on wood plate is further improved, to provide a brand-new artistic enjoyment for this intangible heritage to integrate into the new age and modern life. All speculators enjoyed themselves so much in front of the exhibits as to forget to go home
Afterwards, during the investigation of Shihua Garden Intangible Heritage Space, the delegate learned about the inheritance, protection and development of intangible cultural heritage in Weifang through reports from persons in charge, and highly praised and fully affirmed all efforts done and results achieved in inheritance, protection, innovation and development of intangible heritage.
Extended reading
The Cultural Block of Shihu Garden is a key project in culture industry with investment of RMB 1.5 billion. Occupying a total area of 150mu with building area of 236,000 square meters, it is initiated to protect the Shihu Garden of more than 500 years old, demonstrate the historical appearances of the old city, protect and inherit the intangible cultural heritage. In recent years, with the supports from Weifang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Film and Television, News and Publications, the Cultural Block of Shihu Garden is building itself into a complex for practicing and popularizing intangible heritage, a destination for cultural tourism and consumption, and a gathering zone for intangible heritage characterized by sustainable and fresh vitality. With intangible cultural heritage as the core, it supports functions such as exhibitions and shows, leisure and entertainment for the public, products exchange and trading, R&D of cultural creativity, and practicing, research and study of intangible heritage. At present, the Garden is promoting the progress of constructing a National Weishui Cultural and Ecological Protection Trial Pilot——Shihu Garden Intangible Heritage Space following the design idea of “details in people, objects and life” and on the principle of government leadership, culture + corporate cooperation, marketed operation, integration for win-win. It will be a famous area for cultural tourism, where intangible heritage is highly integrated with modern life, interacts with all of our people actively, associated and prosperous with industrial development, and makes innovation to the transformation of old and new motivations.
