Foreword

Foreword

Intangible cultural heritage serves as a living testimony as well as an important manifestation of the development of human civilization. At the present stage when human beings experience modernization and social transition on a global scale, the protection of the precious heritage has become the general aspiration of the countries worldwide.

As one of the important members in this world, the Chinese nation boasts a rich legacy of intangible cultural heritage that she has created and has prided herself in. And the heritage vividly embodies the diversity of human culture and the affinitive dialogue between the civilizations of the world and China. Guangdong Province, which was called Lingnan in ancient times, gradually nurtures its own unique Lingnan culture with historicity, local flavor and profundity in the development and historical evolution of the Chinese nation and through the merging and constant creation of and by different local Minorities. Thus it has left a rich legacy of intangible cultural heritage which constitutes one important part of the intangible cultural heritage of China.

The intangible cultural heritage, in its unique form of dynamic inheritance, makes the contemporaries well feel the flow of our ancestors’ blood, the beating of their hearts, the rhythm of their emotions and the dynamism of their spirit. Because of this, the great variety of the intangible cultural heritage in our province more vividly, more directly and more fully embodies the multiple features of the multi-ethnicity and multi-subraces in Lingnan culture. It manifests the open approach thinking characterized by the inclusiveness of the people in Guangdong Province, and the social ideals, the spiritual faith, the value system, the moral consciousness and the psychological pursuit of generations upon generations of people in Guangdong Province. At the same time, it exhibits in multiple aspects and multiple layers the cultural creation, the cultural wisdom and the cultural charm typical of generations upon generations of people in Guangdong Province. It constitutes the precious cultural wealth and the abundant cultural resources nurtured and passed on by our ancestors. Furthermore, it serves as the important cultural basis and spirit resource for comprehensively implementing the scientific concept of development and constructing a big cultural province and a harmonious Guangdong Province.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, with China’s access to Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and with China’s successive release of Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Our Country and of Notice of the State Council on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Guangdong Province instantly initiated the protection of the intangible cultural heritage in accordance with the spirit and requirements of the above documents on the basis of the preservation program of the national and folk culture. Under the leadership of the CPC Guangdong Province Provincial Committee and Guangdong Province Provincial Government and headed by the relevant cultural administration departments, we have formulated the inter-bureau joint conference system on the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province, taking the responsibility to coordinate the preservation program of the intangible cultural heritage in the whole province. What’s more, we have also correspondingly formulated the expert consulting mechanism system and the inspection and supervision system concerning the protection of intangible cultural heritage and conducted the general investigation of the intangible cultural heritage throughout the province.

With China’s rapid social and economic development, its increasing expansion of opening-up to the outside world and the acceleration of its modernization, unprecedentedly great changes have taken place in the cultural ecology in Guangdong Province. For example, Guangdong Province suffers from different degrees of destruction of the soil and the environment on which intangible cultural heritage exists. As a result, the inheritance and development of the heritage faces various threats and quite a great amount of it is in imminent danger. Being aware of this severe situation and the great challenges, starting from 2005, Guangdong Province began to enlist intangible cultural heritage at the provincial, the municipal and the county levels as a protection measure. It especially organized the appraisal program in making a list of provincial level intangible cultural heritage and selected from it a list for the application of state-level intangible cultural heritage as a recommendation program. In over one year’s time, Guangdong Province organized a patch of experts to twice make a careful appraisal and recommendation of the 297 applications for provincial level intangible cultural heritage by 21 municipalities and other relevant units throughout the province. After the examination by the inter-bureau joint conference member units, the applications were submitted to the People’s Government of Guangdong Province for approval.

On May 10, 2006 and June 18, 2007, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province successively approved and made public the first list of 78 province-level intangible cultural heritage and the second list of 104 province-level intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province. These intangible cultural heritage cover 10 categories such as folk literature, traditional music, traditional dance, traditional opera, folk performing arts, traditional sports, acrobatics, fine arts, traditional artistry, traditional medicine and folk customs. Among them, altogether 99 progrems were approved and promulgated by the State Council and they were successively listed as the first batch and the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage. These are the great achievements attained at the initial stage of the protection of the intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province and they symbolize that Guangdong Province has already formulated an integrated and overall mechanism concerning the protection of the intangible cultural heritage.(https://www.daowen.com)

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture, the Chinese Academy of Arts and the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center painstakingly compiled Picture Album of the First Batch of Statelevel Intangible Cultural Heritage. The publication of this important classical work serves as an excellent example to us. In order to fully exhibit the diversity and abundance of the intangible cultural heritage characterized by Guangdong Province’s multi-ethnicity and multi-subraces and to give a timely account of the remarkable success in the protection of the intangible cultural heritage in every municipality and county all over Guangdong Province, and under the leadership of the Cultural Bureau of Guangdong Province with the support of the people from all walks of life in the whole province, we compiled within over half a year’s time the present Picture Album of the Intangible Cultural Heritages in Guangdong Province (I). In compiling this Picture Album, we abided by the principle of authenticity and objectivity and attempted to embody its academic, informative and documentary nature. The volume, with a simple but effective statement and over 900 pictures, introduces elaborately each intangible cultural heritage item that has been selected to be the state-level or provincial level intangible cultural heritage item with a description of its transmitted area, its historical origin, its specific manifestation, its cultural value and its imminent state. It has also made a brief introduction to the inheritor of each designated item. In addition, it also includes an appendix to the list of the intangible cultural heritage items at the municipal level and the county level in the whole province.

It is believed that this Picture Album will greatly inspire people’s interest in and attention to the intangible cultural heritage items and enhance their full understanding and protective awareness of them so as to further improve the protection of the intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province.

The Editing Committee of the Picture Album

of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Guangdong Province

September10,2009