北京时间12月4日，“春节——中国人庆祝传统新年的社会实践”项目成功入选《人类非物质文化遗产代表作名录》。
Spring Festival is the most important festival in China that marks the beginning of a new year on the Chinese lunar calendar. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Wednesday inscribed Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional new year, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
During the application process, communities across China signed consent letters to help the inscription of Spring Festival, involving various national-level intangible cultural heritage items, including the Taohuawu woodcut New Year print from Suzhou.
The Taohuawu woodcut New Year print originated in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and flourished during the reigns of the Qing emperors Yongzheng (1722-1735) and Qianlong (1735-1796). It is named after its production area - Taohuawu Street in Suzhou. The production method is derived from the woodblock printing of the Song dynasty (960-1279) and follows the overprinting technique from the Ming dynasty.
Taohuawu woodcut New Year prints were on the verge of extinction at the end of the last century. In 2001, the struggling Suzhou Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Print Society was absorbed into Suzhou Art and Design Technology Institute in a bid to inject new vitality into the traditional technique. In 2006, the Taohuawu woodcut New Year print was among the first to be included in China's National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Zhao Gang, dean of the Arts and Crafts School of Suzhou Art and Design Technology Institute, said that the application of Taohuawu woodcut New Year prints, in collaboration with Mianzhu New Year prints, Yangliuqing New Year prints from Tianjin, and Yangjiabu New Year prints from Weifang, Shandong province, for UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity began as early as 2013. Perhaps due to the richness of excellent intangible cultural heritage in China, it had yet to be officially recognized.
Zhao was very pleased with the successful application of Spring Festival. He mentioned that Taohuawu woodcut New Year prints feature various auspicious patterns, making them not just decorations but also carriers of cultural heritage and people's wishes for a prosperous New Year. "Now with a new starting point, I hope the works of our students can serve as a memory of the times and an important medium for recording history."
Source: Xinhua; Modern Express
