Cultural Development

2017-03-17

Cultural Heritage &Historical Sites

Fujian has rich and diverse cultural heritage. Those showcasing the splendid prehistoric civilizations include the 185,000-year old Wanshou Rock Paleolithic site, the 5,000-7,000 years old Keqiutou Neolithic site, and the 4,000-5,500 years old Tanshishan culture. There are two World Heritage Sites, Wuyi Mountains and Fujian Tulou (earthen buildings). And the Maritime Silk Road, Gulang Islet, Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, Fujian and Zhejiang wooden arch bridges, and red brick buildings in South Fujian have been put on the World Cultural Heritage Tentative List. In addition, there are 137 national cultural relic protection units, four national cultural and historical cities, 42 national cultural and historical towns or villages, and 299 traditional Chinese villages. A total of 93 museums and memorial halls housing about 440,000 relics are administered properly.

Operas & Dramas

Fujian is the home of various time-honored operas. Inherited from past generations are Puxian Opera and Liyuan Opera, known as the living fossils of Nanxi (Southern Opera) dating back to the Song and Yuan dynasties, as well as Siping Opera, Daqiang (high-tone) Opera, Chaozhou Opera, Pingjiang Opera, Bamboo Horse Opera, Fuzhou Opera, Gaojia Opera, Beilu Opera, West Fujian Han Opera, Meilin Opera, Xiaoqiang (low-tone) Opera, Dacheng Opera, Sanjue (three-role) Opera which were popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are also operas developed in the modern times such as Gezai Opera, Shange Opera and Nanci Opera. People can also enjoy operas originating outside of Fujian including Peking Opera, Shaoxin Opera, Qiyang Opera, and Huangmei Opera, as well as diverse puppet shows and shadow plays like marionette, hand puppets, iron-wired puppets, wooden rods manipulated puppets, and leather-silhouette show. Nineteen types of operas are registered on the list of China’s intangible cultural heritage. Many modern Fujian opera works are renowned nationwide including After Reunion, Chuncao Braves the Courtroom, Unexpected Promotions, Sorrow of Xinting, Mr. Dong and Miss Li, Demotion, Wild North Wind, and Protect the Baby.

Calligraphy & Fine Arts

The long history of calligraphy in Fujian has cultivated a host of masters including Cai Xiang, Huang Daozhou, Zhang Ruitu, Yi Bingshou, Li Shutong, Lin Zexu, You Shou, Yu Yu, Luo Dan, Pan Zilan, Shen Jinshou and Liang Piyun. Since the reform and opening up, significant progress has been made in Fujian’s calligraphy. With aesthetic concept and language expression unique to people in the South, Fujian calligraphers, taking the lead of calligraphic demonstration in China, create many refreshing, magnificent and fluid works, and make a profound impact on the development of Chinese calligraphy.

Fujian’s fine arts also occupy an important position in the history of the Chinese fine arts. The province is home to renowned painters, old and new, such as Hua Yan, Huang Shen and Shangguan Zhou in ancient times and contemporary Lin Shu, Zheng Naiguang and Li Geng. Fujian is one of the first provinces in China that established academy for Western arts. Since reform and opening up, by carrying on traditions and making innovations, great development has been made in Fujian’s fine arts. Lacquer paintings, traditional Chinese paintings, oil paintings, woodcut paintings, sculptures, watercolor paintings and gouache paintings created by Fujian artists draw wide attention in national art exhibitions. Lacquer paintings, in particular, are highly recognized in China. Over the years, Fujian’s fine arts have developed a unique style to embody wisdom, benevolence, delicacy, flexibility and elegance.

Folk Arts

Fujian’s diverse cultures have fostered colorful folk arts. There are 130 items on the list of national intangible cultural heritage. Inscribed on the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage includes Nanyin, Mazu belief, Zhangpu and Zherong paper-cut, Chinese traditional architectural craftsmanship for timber-framed structures (techniques for residential buildings in South Fujian), traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges, watertight-bulkheaded technology of Chinese junks, and Fujian puppetry practitioners training program. Fujian has become the first province in China that has intangible heritage on UNESCO’s lists of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. Fujian’s eight types of carving including Shoushan stone carving, wood carving, tree root carving, jade carving and stone shadow carving are renowned both at home and abroad. Dehua ceramic sculpture, Xiamen lacquer thread craftsmanship, Fuzhou bodiless lacquerware and bark sculpture all enjoy time-honored reputation.

Newspapers & Periodicals

The newspaper and periodical industry in Fujian has been developing in a steady manner. In 2016, we published 46 kinds of newspapers and 176 kinds of periodicals including eight on comprehensive topics, 55 on social sciences, 72 on natural sciences, 29 on culture and education, and 12 on literature and arts. In recent years, transformation and upgrading have been made in this sector through integrating traditional and new media, so as to expand the influence of the mainstream media. In addition to further improving the quality of Fujian Daily, Fujian Daily Newspaper Group also works to expand business of advertising, publishing and printing. Fujian Daily is awarded the title of China’s Top 100 Newspapers and Top 30 Mainstream Newspapers at Provincial or above Level. Straits News is the 10th best metropolitan evening newspapers in China, and China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands. Xiamen Daily stands at the fifth of Top 100 Mainstream Newspapers of Sub-provincial Cities. In addition, several newspapers have been selected as Top 100 Mainstream Newspapers of Prefectural Cities, Top 20 Mainstream Newspapers of County-level Cities, or Top 50 Metropolitan Newspapers. Articles for Leaders was awarded the title of China’s Top 100 Social Sciences Periodicals, and Selection of Novelettes won the title of Influential Periodicals in the 60 Years of New China.

Radio, Film & Television

At present, we have 76 radio and television broadcasting institutions and 135 programs. In 2015, we broadcast 253,700-hour radio programs and 74,000-hour TV programs. Programs of the Southeast TV Channel (under Fujian Media Group) such as Straits News and Talk in China have registered with high ratings, taking up certain market share.

Over the past years, Fujian’s film industry has been a booming business. Animation category has harvested fruitful results. For example, Monkey King: Hero Is Back raked in RMB 900 million in total. TV drama Veterans, documentary Navy Academy, love story Love on Gallerv Bridge (which is also the winner of Best Director of Golden Rooster Award), and The Sky in Hakka Earth Building won China’s Best Works Award. The Confucius Village, a documentary film, won the titles of Angel Peace Award and Best Feature Documentary in 2016 Monaco International Film Festival.

Publishing

We have 10 book publishers and five audio and video publishers in the province. There are 22 major publications listed in the “13th Five-Year Plan”. The brand effect of Fujian’s books exerts nationwide influence, winning such titles as Best Works Award, Chinese Government Award for Publishing, and Chinese Best Publications Award. Up and Out of Poverty, with over 1.2 million printed copies, is one of the major publications designated by the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television for “studying and implementing the essence of President Xi Jinping’s important speeches”. The book is also successively reprinted in traditional Chinese, English and French. Fujian Xinhua Distribution Group subordinate to Straits Publishing & Distributing Group won the title of “Advanced Enterprise for Reform of Cultural System”.

Copyright Protection

We are devoting more efforts to copyright protection. For example, Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co., Ltd. and Dehua County government respectively won the WIPO Creativity Award and WIPO-NCAC Award for Copyright Protection jointly sponsored by China’s National Copyright Administration and World Intellectual Property Organization; we organized the third Cross-Straits Copyrights (Creation) Industries Expo Fair with a complete success; Haixia National Copyright Exchange was incorporated; the exhibition of copyright protection for Dehua porcelain was held at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva; a research paper on how copyright protection enhances the porcelain industry in Dehua was published; and an online registration is required for copyrighted works with the 2016 number topping 47,000, one of the largest nationwide.

New Media

We now have 117 news websites, of which seven are first-category major news websites and one is second-category commercial website. Fujian News Data Center has been set up to provide access to the websites of any county or district in the province, creating a omni-media framework including news, comment, social networking, video, Wechat, Weibo and apps. Fujian Daily established an omni-media mode based on “One Website plus One Client”. The mode focuses on Southeast Website, New Fujian mobile app, Fujian Mobile Newspaper, the Weibo official account and Wechat official account of Fujian Daily, coupled with 14 websites, four news apps, 48 Weibo official accounts and 59 Wechat official accounts. Fujian Radio & Television Network, established by Fujian Media Group, has introduced the mobile phone application of “Haibo TV” to cover every audio and video program produced by the group. At present, the group has six websites, two news clients, 49 Weibo official accounts and 67 Wechat official accounts.

 

[ Web editor:Wu Jianhan, Robin Wang    Source:www.brics2017.org ]