The young generation shows a preference for engaging with intangible cultural heritage

▲Renowned Yue opera actor Chen Lijun, also rose to fame online.
By She Zongming
Peking Opera has many ways to be presented. In Jay Chou’s “Chrysanthemum Terrace,” it involves “flourishing the spear, a backflip, the waist follows the turn, and the horse stance is stable.” Under the guidance of traditional culture content creator @Guo Cui’er, it can also showcase a trendy image, with a few cool special effects to perfectly express the charm of sheng, dan, jing, and chou roles.
Shadow puppetry also offers various ways to be explored. In Jay Chou’s “Shadow Play,” it features “a slender body, carving out a solid and dignified presence, a small screen, holding up a vast expanse of sky… I mumble, sing, narrate, act out joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.” For the fifth-generation inheritor of “Wang’s Shadow Puppetry,” Dang Feihua, shadow puppetry is a form that can be combined with anything, allowing the recreation of Michael Jackson’s dance moves, the carving of characters from the Chinese animated series “Fox Spirit Matchmaker,” and even interactive collaborations with the Asian Games.
The fusion of traditional culture with special effects, such as shadow puppetry meeting Michael Jackson, breaks through the dimensional barrier and surprises many: can intangible cultural heritage be this playful?
Indeed, it can. This generation of young people likes to engage in such activities.
The more they play, the more fun it becomes, attracting more participants. As more and more members of Generation Z connect with intangible cultural heritage through “play,” the prospect of a rejuvenated intangible heritage becomes increasingly promising.
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Intangible cultural heritage is currently experiencing a new trend, where it is considered fashionable.
However, just a few years ago, the “heritage” part of intangible cultural heritage was often misunderstood as being lost rather than inherited.
In the film “Birds of September,” suona craftsman Jiao Sanye expressed his sorrow for the discontinuation of suona art by saying, “The traveling family troupe has died out, and the art has become extinct.”
This lament was all too real. Fifteen years ago, an article in “Ban Yue Tan” reported on the critical situations facing many forms of intangible cultural heritage, including the endangered Yunnan Naxi Dongba culture, which was listed as a “World Memory Heritage” by UNESCO in 2003.
Local officials lamented at the time, “The rapid extinction of intangible cultural heritage is largely due to the aging of our country’s inheritors, entering the silver-haired era.” “When people pass away, they take with them their unique skills and treasures.”


▲In the past, Naxi Dongba culture was on the brink of extinction. The pattern in the image represents Dongba pictographic characters.
The continuous revival of intangible cultural heritage from the brink of extinction is closely related to its trapped traditional roots.
For many years, intangible cultural heritage has had two distinct features: on one hand, it embodies the “roots” and “soul” of traditional Chinese culture, and its protection and inheritance are essential for the continuity of culture and civilization; on the other hand, many forms of intangible cultural heritage have become disconnected from the current social and cultural consumption demands and have lost touch with the contemporary cultural context – it does not understand the young people, and young people do not understand it.
Today’s intangible cultural heritage is a thing of the past, and the past intangible cultural heritage needs to enter today’s life. The key to maintaining vitality lies in the foundation of human wisdom and skills, with daily life as the main setting, to keep it dynamic.
Revitalizing intangible cultural heritage can be broken down into many topics, but when it comes to the metaphorical cultural scene, intangible cultural heritage can be “played” with.
Playing involves a fun expression: @Guo Cui’er’s combination of “intangible cultural heritage popularization + live performance + cool special effects” is playing, @Wang’s Shadow Puppetry · Truly Awesome’s use of shadow puppetry to pay tribute to Michael Jackson and perform the role of Optimus Prime is playing. Post-95s graduate from Peking University, @Lang Jiaziyu, who uses plastic arts to recreate Hayao Miyazaki’s animations, and Binqilin is playing; Yunnan Bai youth @Xiao Apeng, who performs as a Bai tribal warrior during his thesis defense, is also playing.
Playing is also a form of social communication: many young people join the relay creation team by dancing in Chinese style, showcasing ancient style special effects, and playing card point transformations, contributing to a new approach to intangible heritage conservation and inheritance.
Through the interactive collision of playing, intangible cultural heritage breaks free from the abstract narratives and serious expressions, entering the world of young people in a fun way.
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Playing is a new expression of the new generation in a new context.
In today’s world where mass information dissemination channels and reception methods are constantly evolving, and where young people reject “formality” and “pretense” and are averse to preaching and slogans, the transmission of intangible cultural heritage content naturally needs to adapt to the times and innovate accordingly.
On short video live streaming platforms, many have brought new twists to intangible cultural heritage.
Some play with dazzling special effects.
Dubbed as the “cosplay ceiling,” @Zhu Tiexiong, and the “traditional culture lover” @Guo Cui’er, have both mastered the art of combining “national essence performance + special effects cosplay” to captivate a large following.
Some set up stalls to unbox.
Blogger @Tiedou has garnered great interest from many netizens by explaining intangible cultural heritage through online unboxing and gift exchanges.
Some embark on visits to replicas.
Post-95 @Jiang Xunqian (September) has been traveling to learn how to make blush, dragon and phoenix candles, kites, and sugar paintings. Due to her meticulous craftsmanship, she has been dubbed “the blogger who never rushes to update.” Earlier this year, she collaborated with an ice sculptor to create China’s largest single ice dragon, which received over 10 million likes on Douyin and accumulated over 200 million views.


▲@Jiang Xunqian (September) collaborated with an ice sculptor to create China’s largest single ice dragon.
Similarly, treasure trove blogger @Nanxiang Bu Ai Chi Fan visited a group of craftsmen in their 80s to understand the process of making box lamps, ultimately recreating a lost box lamp from thirty years ago, earning the admiration of many netizens.
Some capture classroom moments.
Gan opera teacher Chen Li’s performances during class were captured by students and went viral on the internet, attracting more opera enthusiasts.
A multi-sensory immersive experience involving auditory, visual, and tactile stimuli, rich in emotional elements that are highly engaging, is present.
Such innovative ways of communication transform intangible heritage storytelling from flat images to three-dimensional stories. Consequently, intangible heritage becomes tangible, accessible, interactive, cute, trendy, and fun.
Through these dynamic and engaging presentations, people can see the charm and beauty of intangible cultural heritage embodied in the details, craftsmanship, and creativity, which resonate not only with their eyes and ears but also with their hearts. The connection between the form of intangible heritage and modern aesthetic values, as well as the content and contemporary values, becomes even closer.
The multidimensional connection between intangible heritage and the public undoubtedly enhances the vitality of intangible heritage.
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Generally speaking, the vitality of intangible heritage is mainly reflected in two aspects: whether it can attract more attention, acceptance, and appreciation from young people, and whether those niche and endangered forms of intangible heritage will be seen.
Due to the integration of youthful expressions, post-95s and post-00s are now becoming the driving force behind the transmission of intangible heritage.
According to the “2024 Douyin Intangible Heritage Data Report,” there are currently 1,428 intangible heritage inheritors on Douyin, with 199 being under 30 years old, representing a 72% year-over-year increase. Dang Feihua, who uses shadow puppetry to interpret Michael Jackson and Optimus Prime, and Beijing opera mask artist Lang Jiazizhu, who recreates Hayao Miyazaki animations with plastic arts, are part of the innovative new generation of intangible heritage inheritors.


▲@Wang’s Shadow Puppetry · Truly Awesome pays tribute to Michael Jackson through shadow puppetry.
Interestingly, in the past year, the total number of shares of national-level intangible heritage-related videos on Douyin has increased by 36% year-over-year. Apart from the post-60s generation, the most enthusiastic viewers of these contents are the post-00s generation.
With algorithms accurately connecting intangible heritage content with interested audiences, the combination of “old” styles with “new” forms and expressions rejuvenates traditional craftsmanship in the context of modernity. As a result, niche and endangered intangible heritage are being seen by more people on short video platforms and live streaming channels.
Previously unheard of national-level endangered intangible heritage such as Qingshen bamboo weaving, Northeast drumming, Longgupo carrying songs, Tajik ethnic attire, and Yushan Qin school have been reborn on Douyin.
These signs indicate that the conservation and inheritance of intangible heritage is entering the “people’s era.”
In the “people’s era,” Clay Shirky once asserted that in the future, people will connect, share, and collaborate based on common interests.
In the context of the conservation and inheritance of intangible heritage, this scenario is already unfolding: young people are actively participating in collective creation through “play,” driving intangible heritage towards the masses and accelerating the “progress bar” of intangible heritage rejuvenation.
With low participation barriers, everyone can be a transmitter of intangible heritage. Data shows that over the past year, 13.79 million netizens have shared their experiences with intangible heritage on Douyin.
For many netizens, the new ways of transmitting intangible heritage will guide them along a progressive gradient of “cognition-identification-acceptance.”
Their way of expressing acceptance may be through rewards.
Such rewards can support the concept of “sustaining intangible heritage with intangible heritage”: intangible heritage inheritors can monetize their skills through “new performance tickets,” helping to establish a positive cycle of intangible heritage content production, monetization, and reproduction.
In 2023, there were an average of 53,000 intangible heritage live streams on Douyin per day, with a 25.63% increase in the number of intangible heritage anchors receiving rewards.
Their way of expressing acceptance may also be through visiting.
The algorithm’s recommended bidirectional interaction and positive reinforcement loop of “planting seeds, weeding, and replanting” will encourage many netizens to transform their excitement about revitalized intangible heritage into actions by personally experiencing it.
Moreover, the rich ecosystem of creators, e-commerce, and lifestyle services on Douyin can translate the online “intangible heritage content heat” into offline “urban cultural tourism heat.”
The data speaks for itself: driven by a 216% year-over-year increase in the number of dragon boat race videos saved, Foshan, Guangdong, saw a 131% year-over-year increase in alcohol tourism orders; and propelled by a 2,848% year-over-year increase in likes on chrysanthemum videos, Quanzhou, Fujian, witnessed a 110% year-over-year increase in alcohol tourism orders…
Undoubtedly, many netizens engage in activities like making lacquer fans and wearing hairpins out of pure enjoyment.
But do not underestimate this kind of “play”—play is also a form of conservation and inheritance.
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“Pre-pay five hundred years of new ideas, feel outdated after a thousand years”—only by constantly renewing itself can intangible heritage remain vibrant.
Most of the time, the new vitality of intangible heritage is derived from “play.”
When intangible heritage is infused with a touch of Chinese style, it transforms into a national trend while playing.
Therefore, intangible heritage is not outdated; instead, it rejuvenates when it encounters a national trend.
On short video live streaming platforms, there are often bloggers dancing to the tune of Jay Chou’s “Blue and White Porcelain,” with users using traditional Chinese effects to experience Qing Dynasty makeup… This is how playing breathes new life into the conservation and inheritance of intangible heritage.
The creative transformation and innovative development of intangible heritage require maximizing the reduction of the participation threshold for intangible heritage conservation and inheritance through a zero-load “common interest mobilization” and supporting the sustainability of intangible heritage conservation and inheritance through innovative play.
After all, intangible heritage belongs to the ancestors, us, and future generations, encompassing the past, present, and future.
China is the world’s largest intangible heritage country, with nearly 870,000 intangible heritage resources. To ensure the continuation of these intangible heritages, they must first be kept alive.
Respecting the past without being bound by it, upholding tradition without being stuck in the past, this kind of “play” is the right way to keep intangible heritage alive.
When intangible heritage becomes fun, more young people will love to inherit, spread, plant seeds, remove weeds, and more niche and endangered intangible heritages will receive attention and emerge from their predicament.
And now, this scene has become a reality: intangible heritage is being revitalized and is within reach.
In “Birds of September,” Jiao Sanye once lamented with a sense of loss: Who still takes our suona craftsman seriously these days?
If we were to transplant this sentiment to the present, it is foreseeable that there would be a group of suona enthusiasts standing up to answer: we do.