Introduction: Even in modern Guangzhou, the Qiqiao Festival in Zhucun is still very lively. Let us find out about it together!
1. The current situation of Qiqiao culture in Zhucun, Guangzhou
Zhucun, also known as the hometown of nobles, is full of bright red clothes and glowing purple energy. This is an ancient village with a history of more than 800 years. It has a beautiful ecological environment. The village is surrounded by water, and the water surrounds the village. The village scenery is beautiful and natural. In Zhucun, you can feel the simple folk customs, the colorful traditional folk cultural activities, the dragon boat racing with unity and cooperation, the melodious Cantonese opera, the dancing lions, and what is more attractive is of course the begging culture. Festival. The custom of begging for clever things has been around for a long time in Zhu Village. It is said that it was brought over by the local ancestors when they migrated south. It has been passed down and developed from generation to generation in Zhu Village since then.
(1) Qiao Qiao Culture in Zhucun
According to the "Huaxian Chronicle" (four volumes of the Qing Dynasty's 16th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign), the description of the Qiao Qiao Festival is as follows: "On the seventh day, the gentry exposed the Qiqiao Festival. On the evening of the same day, my daughter Chen Huaguo was placed in a spider box on the empty doorstep. The next morning, I observed the density of the web, and used the colored thread to thread the needle through my hand to see if it was done. This was called 'begging for skill'. Wang Lun, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, also described the Chinese Valentine's Day feast in Guangzhou: "The embroidered Yao feathers are blooming, and the flowers are the barrier and the jade is the platform. The girl from Qingxi, Lan Qiao, comes to beg for a date."
In the past, the begging activities in Zhucun were very particular. The main subjects of the begging activities were unmarried girls, who were called "qiqiao"; some were women who were married outside, and they returned to their natal families. The ancestral temple is dedicated to Qiao Qiao; while the men in the village are mainly involved in heavy work such as playing music and building structures that women cannot do, and their work in begging for Qiao Qiao is auxiliary. In Zhucun, there are a large number of "Qiao Qiao Granny", "Q Qiao Mother" and "Q Qiao Daughters" who are addicted to begging. They are clever, good at weaving and embroidery. On the day of the Qiqiao Festival, hundreds of handicrafts are densely placed on each Qiniang stage, including beaded archways, various flowers, the four beauties, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, dragon boat racing, pastoral life... various velvet embroidery, bead embroidery , silk embroidery works are beautiful, interpreting various humanistic stories and historical legends, and also expressing beautiful ideals of life.
The charm of the cultural activity of begging for cleverness has also infected the "smart men" of Zhucun. From 1948 to 1953, the "Qiao Men" of Zhucun had made miniature handicrafts, and during the Qiao Qiao Festival, they launched the ingenious "Cowboy". They molded clay sculptures into cow bodies, used bananas to make cow horns, and made some crafts for worshiping the Cowherd, injecting more content and vitality into Zhucun's begging culture.
At present, Zhucun’s begging culture has spread to the entire Guangzhou area and has become Guangzhou’s begging culture festival, which has been successfully held three times since 2005. The activities of the Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival are rich in content, with the theme of "Inheriting History and Interpreting Modernity". There are traditional folk activities such as "Begging for Qiao", "Putting on Qiniang", "Worship Qiniang", etc., as well as the image of "Qiqiao Daughter" that embodies modern fashion. Competition”, Qiqiao Creative Competition, Qiqiao Works Exhibition, etc. Through unlimited creativity, people use various materials at hand to conceive and create various handmade works of art to express their expectations for a beautiful marriage and their pursuit of a happy life. At the same time, it integrates publicity and promotion, excavation, protection and cultural exchange to showcase the charm of local traditional culture. It also uses this traditional culture as a carrier to show the unique style and charm of modern Guangzhou people through inheritance and innovative interpretation.
(2) The development of the Zhucun Qiqiao Cultural Festival
Due to historical reasons, the large-scale Qiqiao Festival activities in Zhucun were stopped during the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War, but in this Despite the situation, there are still some women who "pretend to be Qiniangs" in private at home. It was not until 1998 that Zhucun was restored, and the Qiqiao Festival was held collectively in the ancestral hall, and everyone celebrated together. In the following years, the Zhucun Qiqiao Festival became bigger and bigger, with more scale and characteristics. After it was publicly promoted to the media in 2001, major media inside and outside the province rushed to cover it. In 2005, the Zhucun Qiqiao Festival was promoted to the "Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival" and received more attention and support from the government and all walks of life. The "Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival" gradually became a folk brand activity in Guangzhou.
In 2005, Zhucun built a Qixi Festival Cultural Square to facilitate the exchange and display of Qiqiao culture.
The organizing committee of the "2005 Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival" selected the Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival logo from many works. In November 2006, it applied to the State Trademark Office to register the "Qiqiao" cultural brand trademark and the "Qiqiao Culture" registered trademark. The main body consists of vertical silver needles and elegant red threads forming the abstract Chinese character "Qiao", using traditional needlework to embody the culture of ingenuity and begging for skills.
The main contents of the 2007 Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival include: opening ceremony, performing Qiniang, worshiping Qiniang, Qiniang opera, selection of the top ten harmonious families in Tianhe District, exhibition of Qiqiao cultural inheritance achievements, Qiqiao Culture Seminar, Qiqiao Daughter Image Contest and Closing Ceremony, Guangzhou Qiqiao Exhibition, etc. In recent years, the begging folk custom of Zhucun Village has actively applied for intangible cultural heritage, organized children to learn the art of begging, held begging competitions, and planned to build a craft exhibition hall...
In terms of inheritance and education, in 2004, begging for art skills Handicraft making is a compulsory course for Zhucun Primary School students and is included in the primary school curriculum. In 2005, Zhucun Primary School cooperated with the Zhuji Street Office to develop the teaching material "Our Begging for Skills" and it was officially used in the classroom in 2006. During the Qiqiao Cultural Festival in 2007, all primary school art teachers in Tianhe District came to Zhucun for training, and Tianhe District is also preparing to implement begging craft classes in primary schools throughout the district.
2. Some problems existing in the inheritance and development of Zhucun’s Qiqiao culture
Although the Guangzhou Qiqiao Culture Festival is a great success, the inheritance and development of Zhucun’s Qiqiao culture needs to be continued now and in the future. There are still many problems and disadvantages in development. To solve these problems, we need to further think and study how to better inherit and protect the traditional begging culture, and carry out innovative development on the basis of tradition.
(1) The culture of begging for skill is slowly being diluted among young people
The inheritance and development of Zhu Village’s folk culture of begging for skillful art still has a certain cultural centripetal force at present and in the future. But it needs to be continuously cultivated and strengthened. As a traditional cultural festival, the Qiqiao Festival has a certain sense of identity in the minds of most middle-aged and elderly people. They are willing to support the inheritance and development of the Qiqiao culture and actively participate in related activities. However, among the younger generation, many have little or no idea about begging culture and participate in the activities just to join in the fun. It can be seen that the culture of begging for skill is in danger of being gradually diluted and lost in its inheritance.
(2) Lack of guidance from professional non-governmental cultural organizations
The previous Zhucun Qiqiao Cultural Festival was purely promoted and organized by government departments. Although many achievements have been made, due to the lack of guidance from professional folk culture protection organizations, the Qiqiao Cultural Festival has also lost its original taste as folk culture, and the independent participation of the masses is not high. Holding this kind of folk cultural festival should be a festival for the broad masses, and should be held by the private sector. The government should provide relevant support and help. At the same time, a very important point is the need for professional non-governmental organizations to organize the event and inherit and protect traditional culture. Provide professional advice and guidance.
(3) Lack of long-term effective protection mechanisms and methods
Simply holding a large-scale begging cultural festival cannot solve the problem of inheritance and development of begging culture. What causes a large number of people to identify with the Qiqiao culture is the scale of the cultural festival, but few people care about its essence and connotation. The inheritance and protection of Guangzhou's begging culture lacks long-term effective protection mechanisms and methods. Relevant government departments did not pay attention to the begging culture after the cultural festival, let alone a long-term effective protection mechanism.
(4) The innovative development of Qiqiao culture needs to be integrated with the market
In the current market economy where culture and economy penetrate each other, the socio-economic environment for the inheritance of traditional culture is the same as in the past. Compared with the huge changes that have taken place, in an era where the cultural industry is the theme and trend, it is difficult to achieve innovative development of Zhucun's begging culture by simply relying on the inheritance and methods of traditional folk culture in the past. Therefore, exploring the innovative development of Qiqiao culture must be combined with the market economy, and the idea of ??industrial development should be used to promote the inheritance and development of Qiqiao culture. Through the marketization and industrial development of folk culture, its cultural connotations can be fully demonstrated and transformed into economic benefits, which in turn can support the inheritance and protection of folk cultural heritage.
3. Thoughts on the innovative development of Qiqiao culture in Zhucun, Guangzhou
In recent years, in order to protect this folk festival, the Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival Organizing Committee and the people of Zhucun have wanted to A unique folk culture festival has become a cultural brand of Guangzhou. The government has also proposed a two-pronged measure to further strengthen the inheritance and development of Qiqiao culture. The first is to declare Qiqiao culture as an intangible cultural heritage, and the second is to promote the industrialization of Qiqiao culture and establish the interaction between intangible cultural heritage and economic development through the development of cultural industries. Mechanism to transform the advantages of intangible cultural heritage into economic benefits, which in turn can support the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage and at the same time promote the development of the local economy.
(1) The potential value of developing Qiqiao culture
1. Integrate Qiqiao culture into relevant physical carriers, such as ceramics, clothing, etc.
The Qiqiao culture contains many beautiful legends and implies the yearning for a good marriage and a happy life, so its cultural connotation can be used to develop related products. Ceramics are daily necessities or decorations with a long history and cultural connotation, while clothing is a common and diverse daily necessities. They can both be used as effective carriers of cultural content. Moreover, both of these products have a large market. If you integrate the image of exquisite and small begging crafts and begging culture into them, and take advantage of consumers' psychology of begging for a good marriage and a happy life, and sell the products in various forms, it will inevitably Attracting a certain consumer group to make purchases, thereby transforming cultural value into economic value, and at the same time spreading the culture of begging for tricks.
2. Develop the tourism market of Zhucun’s begging culture
In Zhucun, you can feel the simple folk customs, the vivid and colorful traditional folk cultural activities, the dragon boat racing and singing in unity and cooperation The melodious Cantonese opera, the dancing lions, and the more attractive thing is of course the Qiqiao Cultural Festival. Zhucun's begging culture has a long history, and all kinds of crafts and rituals are well preserved. These are rare cultural tourism resources, but Zhucun currently has no plans for the infrastructure construction of Qiqiao culture, the promotion of Qiqiao Festival, and the development of Qiqiao culture and cultural tourism resources. The begging culture is a rare cultural tourism resource, which is related to its cultural connotation of yearning for a good marriage and a happy life, the mythical story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and the exquisite handicrafts that tourists can make and experience in person. Moreover, the Qiqiao culture has not yet truly developed in scale and characteristics nationwide, so Zhucun can try its best to give full play to its own advantages, rationally develop the tourism market of Qiqiao culture through various channels, and reinterpret the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
(2) Develop the cultural and environmental value of Zhucun Qiqiao handicrafts
Connect the handicrafts of the Qiqiao Festival with some related cultural connotations and environmental protection, and use the theme of environmental protection Taking the environmental protection characteristics of handicrafts and the cultural content of ingenuity and resource conservation in Zhucun's begging culture as a breakthrough, we seek a path that is conducive to the inheritance of begging skills, and after forming a certain influence, we can develop begging cultural products, so as to achieve the goal of begging. Another world of culture. Most of the begging crafts are made by the villagers themselves. Many of the crafts are made from various reusable materials such as discarded plastics, paper, and grains. Therefore, actively and effectively utilize this: on the one hand, it can greatly reduce the production cost of handmade products, making these exquisite and unique handmade products have higher market return profits and potential competitiveness in the cultural product market. The mass production of handmade products and the capital and human resources required to continuously improve the styles, aesthetics, and culture of handmade products according to consumer demand are highly attractive; on the other hand, with the help of recycled resources in the production of Qiqiao handicrafts, costs can be saved , inheriting the concept of Qiqiao culture can arouse the attention and recognition of more consumers of cultural products. It is more convincing than other forms of advertising and is conducive to developing potential cultural product markets. At the same time, it is in line with the current resource-saving and environmentally friendly policies. In line with environmentally friendly production methods.
(3) Building the brand of Zhucun’s begging culture
To build the brand of Zhucun’s begging culture, registering the trademark of Zhucun’s begging culture is the first step for the industrial development of Zhucun’s begging culture and moving towards the cultural market. starting point.
The Qiqiao cultural trademark is an intellectual property and intangible asset that can take the lead in brand effect and brand economic value in the fierce competition in the cultural consumption market in the future, and transform it into huge economic benefits.
In the process of promoting the Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival, we actively create the cultural brand effect of the Qiqiao cultural trademark, and at the same time use market means to develop the potential value of the Qiqiao culture. After this brand has potential cultural and economic value, it actively seeks partners and transfers the right to use the trademark to relevant enterprises. On the one hand, it can solve the problem of Zhucun's own limited resources (especially funds and effective folk culture industrialization management experience). foundation), the bottleneck of independent production experience is weak; on the other hand, it can make full use of various social resources to maximize the experience scale of this folk culture industrialization, and have stronger competitiveness in the cultural market. At the same time, trademarks can be applied to various corresponding industries, especially in the field of production and production of begging handicrafts with a strong begging culture. At the same time, it breaks the time and space limitations of being only auctioned and sold in Zhucun during the begging festival, and actively Seek cooperative merchants to enter a wider market through exhibitions and sales, so that the production and production of handicrafts can truly embark on an industrialized management approach. In addition, the connotation and denotation of trademarks can be fully utilized to convert Qiqiao cultural resources into economic resources to a greater extent, so as to better exert the charm of Qiqiao culture and attract a large number of consumers of cultural products.