The “Chinoiserie Grand Ceremony (国潮盛典)” is a cultural gala jointly produced by Kuaishou and Henan TV. The gala incorporates diversified program art forms, rich in type and both aesthetic, and allows more people to discover, experience and inherit culture through the collision of Chinoiserie culture and technology and the expression of unique perspectives. The gala has been broadcasted on November 9, 2022.
01 Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Show
The story revolves around a small restaurant where the two bosses are run by the two stars of the classic martial arts TV series “My Own Swordsman”, Wang Shasha and Fan Ming.
While thinking about how to generate revenue for the restaurant, they come across a skill convention held in the neighborhood and have many interesting stories with all kinds of people on the street.
Such a program setting not only continues the previous format of stringing programs with stories; the wonderful program design and elaborate hanfu costumes also continue the previous aesthetics. For example, the sequel of the “Tang Palace Night Banquet”: “San Cai Nao Qian Deng (三彩闹千灯)”.
If the “Tang Palace Night Banquet” shows the funny things that happen on the way to the performance of the ladies preparing for the banquet; then the sequel shows the lively scene of their shopping at the market after work.
What would the ancient ladies do after work? They may also be like us, meet good friends to go out to dinner; or shopping in the market, buy a piece of traditional textile fabric, made a new dress for themselves; or participate in the lantern festival activities, recklessly relaxed play.
Whether it is the light and shadow under the lamp, or the chase in the street; the playful life scenes of the girls, or the unison dance and rejoicing in front of the temple under the peace and prosperity, the delicate dance and the gorgeous scenes, the little bit of people's life a thousand years ago, are transmitted through the screen.
Spreading intangible cultural heritage culture through the program has always been the credo of Henan TV to produce the program. This time, they even brought a shocking, but little-known skill, Long Lin Zhuang (龙鳞装, dragon scale binding).
Long Lin Zhuang, also known as whirlwind leaf, is a book binding method that emerged from the middle of the Tang Dynasty. This type of binding not only protects books, but is also extremely aesthetic when flipping through them.
But unfortunately, due to the scarcity of information and the fact that this technique is little known, it was once lost for a thousand years. The team brought this technique back to life with the exciting program “Ru Lin Yi Meng (如麟一梦)”. In the program, we saw the ancient painting “A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains” and book “Dream of the Red Chamber”, they travel through the millennium and pass down the memory of Chinese civilization.
Apart from that, all the other programs are also worth watching.
The acrobatics “Water Country Umbrella Fate”, which tells a love story that takes place in the water town of Jiangnan, is beautiful and touching.
The dance “Menshen”, relying on the story and legend of “Classic of Mountains and Seas”, each image is full of the unique atmosphere of ancient mythology.
In the opera joint, Peking opera, Henan opera and Yue opera, with different styles, tell the story of Wang Baochu and Xue Pinggui, a traditional Chinese opera subject, with classic chanting.
Various intangible cultural heritage skills interspersed in the program, such as Chinese fondant icing, embroidery, kite flying, paper cutting, oil paper umbrella, and so on.
02 The Connection of Ancient and Modern
In addition to the exciting program, the biggest feeling of the gala for the audience may be that those ancient scenes, which were thought to be far away, are closely related to today's life.
The street on which the show's skill convention is held may be a restoration of Dong Jing, the bustling city of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the place depicted in the famous painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”.
It may be hard for us today to imagine how prosperous Dong Jing City was at that time. Many of the lifestyles we have today were available at that time, such as food delivery, vehicles sharing system, etc.
Modern Prime Day, Shopping Festival, also had a similar prototype in ancient times. Ancient Chinese shopping festivals, generally referred to as “Chong Ri Jie (重日节)”, such as the first day of the Lunar New Year, the second day of February, the third day of March and so on. And in the matter of promotion, the ancients also spared no effort.
There are various welfare activities, such as “Sa Zan (撒暂, taste and try before buy)”, “Guan Pu (关扑, lucky lottery)”, “Hong Piao (红票, discount code)”, “Xue Jia (削价, discount coupons)” and so on. This connection of time and space through the past and present is really amazing.
03 Ongoing Cultural Heritage
A wonderful gala, both to meet the audiovisual aesthetic, but also to learn the knowledge of intangible cultural heritage, Henan TV do a series of programs to bring the audience the greatest experience, which is inseparable from their own cultural temperament and mentality.
Henan has a rich history and culture, having unearthed the oldest Chinese characters – oracle bones; the earliest archival writings of mankind, the earliest bronze musical instruments in China; and three of the four great inventions of China: papermaking, gunpowder, and the compass.
As the birthplace and inheritor of Chinese traditional culture, Henan understands Chinese traditional culture, the necessity of inheritance, and how a true Chinoiserie trend should be done. And most importantly, they have never changed their minds.
However, the road of cultural heritage means the pursuit of content, and repeated refinement and polishing. It means inheritance and dissemination, but also beyond the innovation of self.
As an example, the dance program “Menshen”. Almost every Chinese knows, but most people are not very clear about Menshen's story.
The story of the Menshen was first told in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas”, but it was only described in simple words, and no one had ever expressed such a strong concept through film and television. So, through this dance program, the crew hopes to let everyone intuitively feel and understand how far-reaching the cultural connotation behind it is, and how it has long been a national spirit and heritage.
We need this kind of program, we need this kind of cultural heritage. Although the road ahead is still far, the road ahead is also getting more and more spacious.
