Henan Normal goes the distance in celebrating intangible Chinese culture

The mystery and majesty of intangible Chinese culture was showcased when performers in traditional Chinese mamian skirts brandished silver swords and a single actor in headgear played two roles during the mid-May opening ceremony for the 19th Cultural Heritage Activity Month staged by Henan Normal University.

With teachers and students cheering them on, performers presented a blend of cherished projects of intangible cultural heritage such as Huaibang opera, dry boat dance, hengxiaoche singing and xiaodonggu drumming. There were also handicraft exhibitions and lectures to enchant audiences.

The university has been engaged in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage for 19 years and continues to explore ways to help more students understand and appreciate cultural heritage, encouraging them to join the campaign to protect outstanding traditional culture.

"With a passion for intangible cultural heritage, I planned to establish a swordsmanship club shortly after entering university. I recruited members, looked for instructors and organized training for the team," said Chen Yushen, president of the university's Thirty-One Swordsmanship Society. "The sword dance team was just established in April, and I plan to create more teams to revitalize intangible cultural heritage and swordsmanship culture."

A performer surnamed Luo explained the nuances of ergui wrestling, a traditional folk dance performed by one person carrying props for two ghost characters. "The performance is widely seen in the folk community, and I have been performing this program for nearly 16 years," said Luo. "The challenge lies in portraying two characters with a single person. One must have good physical fitness and a rich imagination." When Luo took off his headgear, the audience erupted into thunderous applause. He now spends Saturday evenings teaching basic skills to children in the village, hoping to pass on this valuable cultural tradition.

"The campus is a significant area for the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Bringing intangible cultural heritage into university campuses can allow young people to experience, engage in, and understand intangible cultural heritage, addressing the urgent issue of the lack of successors in intangible cultural heritage inheritance," said Ding Yongxiang, head of the Central Plains Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Research Center. Ding is also a professor in the Literature Department of Henan Normal University.

Dasima Erguxian is a rare drama genre with only one troupe remaining in the country. Due to financial difficulties, the troupe planned to disband in the winter of 2006. Ding led students in works such as inheriting plays, organizing scripts and rescuing audiovisual materials to help the artists continue the performance. The genre has since been recognized as a national-level intangible cultural heritage item.

Established by Henan Normal University, the Central Plains Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Research Center was selected as one of the first intangible cultural heritage research bases in Henan province. The center has recorded more than 166 hours of folk-art audiovisual material, accumulated more than 2 million words of written records, collected about 400 folk opera scripts and taken more than 10,000 photos of related artifacts, performances and artists.

In 2006, Henan Normal University established the first collage students' intangible cultural heritage protection association in Henan province, and today its membership numbers in the thousands.

Over the years, the association has carried out activities such as bringing intangible cultural heritage to campuses, intangible heritage practices in summer vacation and talent training. In 2015, the education activities held by Henan Normal University to protect and inherit intangible culture was recognized by the Ministry of Education as a national demonstration project to showcase the respect for outstanding traditional Chinese culture.