According to the China Arts and Crafts Association, one fifth of 365 artisans who have been honored with the title of “Master of Arts and Crafts in China” from 1979 to 2006 passed away over the past few decades, and the average age of surviving artisans is 58. The organization’s survey found more than half of China’s traditional arts and crafts are close to extinction due to, among other factors, a lack of practitioners.
China’s traditional arts and crafts are usually inherited through the following three ways: parents passing skills on to their children, apprenticeships and education.
Xu Zhuchu, a master in puppet design and carving, is the general art supervisor and curator of the Zhuchu Puppet Gallery of Zhanghou, Fujian Province. The sixth-generation offspring from a family with a long tradition of puppet carving has been striving to revive the family art. Xu is happy that his son is following in his footsteps, but the 71-year-old is worried that few young people will join in because the job doesn’t pay well.
Zheng Yikun, 73, is a famous lacquer painter in Fuzhou. His craftwork “Plate with the design of goldfish” is so lifelike that even cats are reluctant to walk away from it. Although Zheng spent a lot of his earnings to train apprentices and improve the technique, many of his young followers left because the lacquering process is difficult to learn and the products do not sell well.
Ever since digital design prevailed a decade ago, arts and crafts has been phased out of the curricula of professional schools. Many who already had degrees from professional schools switched to newly emerging sections in the industry.
In addition to folk operas and traditional arts and crafts, several other sections of intangible cultural heritage are usually met with similar embarrassment.
Negligent management
When going deep to search for the reason, you’ll find local officials’ attitude toward cultural heritage protection to be financially-based. “People have to earn their bread. Can cultural heritage help to achieve that? We do not have enough money to protect the cultural relics here, let alone the intangible cultural heritage, which is invisible and untouchable,” a local official complained when interviewed by China Comment (Banyuetan), a biweekly Chinese magazine in China.
He’s not alone. It’s not unusual to hear the same theory of enthroning economic growth from local officials, though the central government has agreed that recognizing and protecting cultural heritage is of strategic importance to secure the country’s cultural identity.
But some local officials are keen on “ICH Development.” They see it as a shortcut to an economic boost. The less developed areas usually have rich ICH resources, which is likely to be considered as tourist highlights to boost local travel industries. Local folk performances and customs are being moved into “Custom Villages” which have been built to entertain visitors with shows full of local flavors. Folk songs, dances and rituals that used to be performed and practiced during particular festivals and occasions are now available every day. This way, local governments are not protecting the cultural heritage, but taking advantage of them through over-commercialization.
Feng Jicai, the chairman of China Folk Literature and Art Society, is quite concerned about this issue and publicly denounced the short-sighted behavior. “The government plays a decisive role in folk cultural protection. Depending on the side they stand for, the government is likely to become the most successful protector or the most devastating destroyer. The government is the No 1 protector of intangible cultural heritage,” Feng insisted.
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