Source: People’s Daily

"Do you want to innovate in the lyrics and plot? Make the audience feel more interesting. " "A play is long, no play is short. Traditional operas have to adapt to the theater, and the plot is compact and simple. " This is a daily discussion among young actors in Zhejiang Wuju Art Research Institute. In this troupe, which accounts for nearly 90% of the post-80s, post-90s, and post-00s, the actors practice hard the Four Merits and Five Methods and improve the literary and martial arts, and are active in more than 500 performances every year, so that the audience can feel the "fashion" of the opera.

The new appearance of Wu Opera is the epitome of contemporary China youth’s active participation in cultural inheritance and development. It has become the cultural consciousness of contemporary China youth to explore the cultural roots and take the initiative to inherit and innovate, from the young archaeologists at Sanxingdui archaeological site, to the young restorers who "rejuvenate" ancient villages, and then to the young creative talents in the national wind and tide.

Young people can use new technologies and new means to skillfully combine Chinese excellent traditional culture with contemporary life and open up innovative space. Taking intangible cultural heritage as an example, in the front line of rural revitalization, young people use innovative ideas to stimulate intangible cultural heritage, which not only inherits intangible cultural heritage, but also promotes rural development. Yang Changqin, the representative of the 14th National People’s Congress and the inheritor of the post-90s generation of Chishui bamboo weaving, a provincial-level non-legacy in Guizhou Province, studied skills and innovatively introduced a series of handicrafts such as bamboo weaving porcelain, which directly led to the increase of income of 177 households and 570 people in the ethnic village of Datong Town, Chishui City, and the bamboo weaving industry led to the employment of nearly 30,000 people in surrounding towns and villages. On the Tik Tok platform, in 2022, nearly seven creators in the field of non-legacy became young people, with over 1,000 live broadcasts every day; Young talents from professional troupes such as Huangmei Opera and Huagu Opera have stepped onto the "Cloud Stage", covering more than 300 kinds of operas. Last year, the number of people watching live broadcasts exceeded 2.5 billion, with an average of 3,200. Thanks to the innovative enthusiasm and creativity of youth groups, Chinese culture, including intangible cultural heritage, continues to glow with the glory of the times.

Inheritance needs innovation, and innovation calls for youth. Generate’s creativity in the cultural inheritance and innovation of the youth group proves the enterprising spirit of the Chinese nation, respecting the past and not retro, and reflects the outstanding innovation of Chinese civilization. Growing up in contemporary China, the stage for young people to display their skills is extremely broad. It is expected that the vast number of young people will inject more youthful strength into the cultural inheritance and development with high spirits.

"The apes on both sides of the strait can’t stop crying, and the canoe has passed Chung Shan Man!"

Rivers run, birds gather, and poets sing loudly, resounding through the sky. At the end of the animated film "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an", Li Bai finally saw the light after a rough time, and the audience felt deeply and comfortably. The creator showed the weather of the Tang Dynasty with a hearty audio-visual narrative, and also made the familiar Tang poems have a new artistic conception.

From The Return of the Great Sage on the Journey to the West, which was called "the light of the country", to the grand occasion that Ne Zha created a single box office of more than 5 billion yuan and 140 million people watched the movie, and then to the watching craze and continuous hot discussion caused by Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an … In the past 10 years, nine of the top 20 animated films at the box office in China were based on Chinese excellent traditional culture. These passionate "national style animations" activate cultural genes with contemporary aesthetics, present magnificent imagination with digital technology, explore China style and pursue China style, and become a microcosm of Chinese excellent traditional cultural innovation.

不只是动画，也不只是电影。近年来，我国文艺领域“国潮”涌动、“国风”劲刮。舞台上，《唐宫夜宴》《只此青绿》《五星出东方》，“国宝文物”翩然起舞；荧屏上，《中国诗词大会》《经典咏流传》《斯文江南》，典籍文字气韵生动；北京冬奥会开幕式上，二十四节气倒计时展示华夏独特时间观，“燕山雪花大如席”以浪漫想象穿越时空，徐徐打开的“中国门”迎纳四海宾朋……国风国潮牵动的，不仅是器物、人物和故事，更是审美、情感和认同；它所体现的，不仅是赓续文脉、续写辉煌的文化自觉，更是坚定的文化自信。

5000多年未曾中断的中华文明，为新的文化创造提供丰沛源泉，人民日益增长的精神文化需求，为推动文艺高质量发展提供源源动力。习近平总书记指出：“要把握传承和创新的关系，学古不泥古、破法不悖法，让中华优秀传统文化成为文艺创新的重要源泉。”当前文艺创新的成功探索向我们昭示：文化自信涵养文化创造，文化创造增强文化自信。强化这个正反馈，在新的起点上继续推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国、建设中华民族现代文明，是我们在新时代新的文化使命，也必将推动中华文化生生不息、奔涌向前。《 人民日报 》( 2023年09月15日 04 版)