Internet, digital technologies inject renewed vitality into intangible cultural heritage

Huang Yangwei, a 24-year-old man in south China’s Hainan Province, works on a Li brocade product together with his grandmother. The Li brocade, a traditional craft of the Li ethnic group in Hainan, is a national intangible cultural heritage item. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

Internet and digital technologies have enabled inheritors of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in China to attract more public attention towards ICH-related products as well as boosting their consumption, permitting these inheritors to win respect from people for their wisdom and craftsmanship, in addition to showcasing the charms of Chinese cultural heritage, providing more options for protecting and inheriting ICH and propelling the innovative development of ICH-related products.

Yao Huifen, an inheritor of Suzhou embroidery, an item on the national ICH list, opened an account on the popular short-video sharing platform Douyin, also known as Tik Tok overseas, in October 2020 in order to show off her expertise in the traditional craft. To date, Yao has already accumulated 150,000 followers on the platform.

One of her videos introducing an embroidery technique has garnered more than 1.4 million likes. “Suzhou embroidery is so elegant and exquisite,” praised one online user after watching the video. Yao explained that netizens across the country commented under her videos that they would like to also have the chance to learn embroidery skills themselves.

Pointing out that these kinds of videos can help present the most attractive features of ICH in a comparably shorter period of time, experts have commented that such new technologies and platforms are assisting with the promotion of ICH and enabling more and more people to appreciate the charms of traditional Chinese handicrafts.

Liu Kuili, an honorary academician at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that digital solutions and new technologies are necessary to better promote and inherit ICH.

Experts have said that more priority should be given to integrating ICH items into modern-day life, showcasing their current value, and turning them into a “golden key” to bring more and more growth in the incomes of those engaged in such trades.

Internet platforms have continued to play a significant role in this regard. Qiao Xue, an inheritor of handmade leather art, an item on the ICH list for Yinchuan city in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, opened an account on a short-video sharing platform to showcase her expertise in leather carving. Qiao has hosted over 100 live-streaming shows on the platform, selling more than 3 million yuan (about $471,120) worth of handmade leather products.

Fully displaying ICH-related craftsmanship through Internet platforms can boost the sales of relevant products and encourage ICH brands to develop products that conform to a kind of consumption demand that is becoming increasingly more diversified and personalized, thus creating a virtuous circle for the production and consumption of ICH products.

Yin Jun, dean of the Art College of Chongqing Technology and Business University in southwest China’s Chongqing, said leveraging the Internet and digital technologies to promote the inheritance and innovative development of ICH products is an irresistible trend and can help meet the ever-growing intellectual and cultural consumption demands of people, inject new vitality into ICH items and generate additional incomes for ICH inheritors.

At present, multiple short-video sharing platforms and e-commerce platforms have been making significant strides to promote traditional Chinese culture, allowing increasingly more people to appreciate the charms of and boost their interest in intangible cultural heritage. Douyin, for instance, has launched programs aimed at better promoting ICH products, which not only has attracted more people to pay attention to ICH but has also generated more job opportunities and higher incomes for ICH inheritors.

The integration of the Internet and digital technologies has created more possibilities for ICH development and new media technologies are expanding the space for further ICH inheritance and development, observed Wang Yanlong, a professor with the College of Literature and Journalism of Sichuan University in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.