Original title: Walking at the grassroots level in the New Year丨23 years of perseverance, the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage are busy passing on their art during the Spring Festival.
Poster News reporter Cai Wei reports from Jinan.
Hou Zhixin is the sixth-generation inheritor of Hou's Shehuo Mask, and has been making Shehuo Mask for more than 40 years. As a representative inheritor of the provincial level, Hou Zhixin shoulders the important task of inheriting and carrying forward the face of Hou's Shehuo, and he knows that the inheritance of culture is a trickle, moisturizing things silently, as long as there is transmission, there will be inheritance and development. Therefore, during the New Year's holidays, he will go into museums, communities, schools and other public places to popularize the knowledge and skills of Hou's Shehuo face painting to the public.
According to Hou Zhixin, Hou's Shehuo face mask originated on the bank of the Yellow River in Jinan City, and was influenced by local folk customs and living habits, forming a face mask culture with local characteristics. Started in 1820 and currently rated as a provincial intangible cultural heritage, Hou's Shehuo Mask has exaggerated composition, rough shape, strong color, and has both national characteristics and modern atmosphere. Like Qin Qiong's face, Emperor Shun's face, and the face of the zodiac, it is deeply loved and sought after by local residents, and is known as a must in Jinan. Over the years, Hou Zhixin has continuously enriched the varieties of the old map of Hou's Shehuo Mask, actively participated in various international and domestic intangible cultural heritage exchange activities, and has been invited to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in China, as well as Australia, South Korea, Serbia and other places to carry out cultural exchange activities, contributing to the protection and inheritance of Hou's Shehuo Mask.
If we want culture to flourish, we must let more people understand and touch it. To this end, Hou Zhixin and his wife Li Xiaolan began to carry out public welfare activities of intangible cultural heritage inheritance since the Spring Festival in 2001. They were the first to hold activities in Quancheng Square, Baotu Spring Park, Daming Lake and other places, attracting a large number of citizens and tourists. With the deepening of the activity, they gradually entered the community, schools, museums and other places, so that more people have the opportunity to come into contact with Hou's Shehuo face. These public welfare activities began in the lunar month and continued until the fifteenth day of the first month, every day as scheduled, even on the Chinese New Year's Eve. Hou Zhixin and his wife used their actions to interpret their love and adherence to intangible cultural heritage.
Today, these Spring Festival public welfare activities have lasted for 23 years. Over the past 23 years, Hou Zhixin and his wife have had a full Spring Festival schedule, and they have traveled to various event venues to teach the public the skills of Hou's Shehuo face painting. Their dedication and persistence have allowed the traditional culture of Hou's Shehuo face mask to be widely disseminated, and more people have felt the charm of intangible cultural heritage.
On the occasion of the Spring Festival, the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture held a series of unique "Shandong Intangible Cultural Heritage Month" activities. Hou Zhixin also participated in the display of intangible cultural heritage. On February 2, 2024, the Young Pioneers of Class 2 of 2021 of the Primary and Secondary School Affiliated to Shandong University immersed themselves in the charming charm of "intangible cultural heritage" through a variety of ways such as field visits, hands-on experience, and listening to explanations.
Through Mr. Hou's in-depth, patient and meticulous explanation, the students had a deeper understanding of the long-standing traditional culture of Shehuo mask.
The students were engrossed in the creation of face masks, and each stroke was full of love and respect for face painting culture.
Hou Zhixin's daughter Hou Renyu is a "post-00s", and now she has joined the team of intangible cultural heritage with her parents.
The story of Hou Zhixin's family allows us to see the responsibility and responsibility of intangible cultural heritage inheritors. They use their actions to guard the roots of traditional culture, so that it glows with new vitality in modern society, adds more color and fun to our lives, and also makes our Spring Festival more festive and meaningful.
*: Poster News].