Promoting folk culture has become an important mission for some local governments, especially in ethnic minority areas
　　
　　Folk culture is drawing increasing attention as people"s awareness of protecting their heritage has grown. But it is also evident that such protection efforts can bring economic benefits.
　　Hubei, in central China, is one of the beneficiaries of folk culture protection. Seventeen of the 501 candidates for the selection of the first group of national-level masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage, which were announced by the Ministry of Culture at the end of last year, are in the province. All of them have been developed into tourist attractions, and two thirds of the income of farmers in areas of their origin is derived from tourism.
　　Many tourist sites have been formed around protected folk culture items. Local governments are using their particular cultural features to attract tourists, and more people are coming to experience, appreciate or study folk arts, crafts, literature and tradition.
　　Local officials, pleased with the huge economic benefits, have often attempted to justify their culture promotion campaigns by saying that the folk art is for the world. Tourists include a number of overseas, as well as domestic, visitors.
　　Among Hubei’s nominees of the national-level masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage is the “funeral dance” typical of the Tujia ethnic minority group, which inhabits the mountainous region in Changyang.
　　When a Tujia elder dies, his/her coffin is laid out in the house for one to three days before burial. Each night, friends and relatives come to dance around the coffin, accompanied by singing.
　　The funeral dance is seldom solemn and sad, rather it is hilarious and impassioned. The songs include tales of the dead person’s life, ethnic epics and even funny things in the local people’s daily life.
　　The funeral dance is a treasure created by the Tujia people themselves, demonstrating their folk customs. But, reflecting the changes in Chinese society, young Tujia now migrate to cities to seek their fortune. As a result, few people are left to inherit the tradition of the funeral dance.
　　In an effort to prevent the traditional dance from dying out, the local government has turned it into a tourist attraction, doing a lot to promote it. Thus, some local farmers perform the dance when tourists come to visit the area.
　　
　　Making money
　　In this way, the farmers not only can make money by performing the dance but they also can sell local specialties to the tourists. These are all “green” products and a lot cheaper than those sold in cities that are hundreds of miles away from the region.
　　“I grow tea. After keeping some to drink myself, I sell the rest of the tea for thousands of yuan each year, which is my primary source of income,” said Cai Yutian, a shopkeeper in Ziqiu Town in Changyang.
　　Ziqiu is about 300 km from the county seat of Changyang. All the residents are members of the Tujia minority. Before it was developed as a tourist destination, few people came to visit because of the inconvenient location. If no one came to buy the tea produced in the region and if the newly harvested tea could not be transported, it had to be dumped. Now, because of the folk culture appeal, more people are visiting the region, which contributes a lot to the local economy.
　　Apart from the funeral dance, the Tujia culture includes nanqu songs and the custom of kujia for a bride to cry and sing for a period of time before moving to live with her groom.
　　However, these folk traditions face the prospect of being extinct. According to local officials, nanqu has a history of over 200 years. However, pop music is taking over from the traditional singing as young people have contact with the outside world and are increasingly influenced by modern culture. Few are interested in nanqu.
　　To rescue these traditions, a folk culture preservation project was launched in 2002 by the Changyang Government.
　　“Basically, we sort out the folk heritage and carry out work to rescue and protect the traditional culture resources,” said Xiao Zhengxing, a local official.
　　Members of a special contingent collect local folk arts through voice recordings, videotapes and written records. The local government has also established a database of over 60 folk artists, making video and audio records of their performances, then producing VCDs to promote them. The folk artists are also organized to share their performing skills.
　　Changyang’s education authorities also invite nanqu singers to schools to teach students the traditional singing. An annual competition for folk singing and other folk arts is held to encourage young people to learn about and protect their cultural heritage.
　　Part of the investment in the protection work comes from the revenue of local tourist enterprises.
　　
　　Ancient housing rescued
　　Compared with masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage, protection of historical and cultural heritage sites has made more remarkable headway.
　　The Ancient Dwelling Museum in Huangpi District of Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, was half completed as of mid-April. Thirteen out of 30 ancient dwelling houses, which are about 200-500 years old, have already been relocated from across the province and restored here.
　　“The rest is expected to be finished in two years,” said Yuan Kun, an official in charge of the museum project.
　　The 30 ancient folk houses are of high historical, cultural, scientific and artistic value, but they are under serious stress from natural and man-made factors.
　　“If these houses are destroyed, we will suffer a great loss in terms of historical, cultural and artistic research,” said Shen Yuanyue, Director of the Ancient Folk House Rescue Center in Hubei.
　　According to Shen, much of the valuable ancient folk architecture is located in mountainous areas where travel is difficult and where local dwellers have little knowledge of the value of the architecture. Some houses have already been destroyed due to infrastructure construction, rebuilding of houses and the deterioration of the nearby environment. Relic dealers also buy delicate parts of the ancient architecture from local residents, which leads to the destruction of the buildings.
　　“Since they can’t be protected in their original places, we have to move them to a safe place,” said Shen.
　　During the relocation process, a house is dismantled, each section of the house is marked, and it is reassembled in the new location. Even the environment in which the house was found is duplicated.
　　
　　Government policy
　　There are a large number of architectural complexes in China’s countryside. In 1986, the State Council, China’s cabinet, devised the policy that old housing blocks, architectural complexes, towns and villages where relics and historical sites are clustered or that reflect traditional styles and features should be protected.
　　However, the policy was not properly implemented because of economic reasons and a failure to change people’s mindset.
　　“It’s the economic development that has changed their minds,” said Shen. “When people find that the ancient houses can also be tourist sites, then the whole country begins to realize the importance of protecting and developing the old architecture.”
　　“We prefer to protect the old buildings on their original sites, unless external conditions would fail this approach,” said Li Chaobin, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Cultural Relic Bureau, adding that the relocation program would apply instead.
　　The government provides some subsidies to help those who still live in the old houses carry out daily maintenance. If the residents want to build a new house, they are required to leave the old building alone, and the government gives them some money as compensation. The old house still belongs to the residents, however, and it is up to them to maintain the building.
　　Such a policy seems to work well because local residents are glad to protect the old houses with subsidies from the government.
　　“To protect ancient architecture not only helps tourism--actually, it is protecting our civilization,” said Shen. “It’s good for our youth to understand our civilization, especially the local traditions, and to inherit our culture.”

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