Experts: Inherit and Innovate Jiangnan Culture to Promote Urban and Rural Development

On October 19th, the 5th Yangtze River Delta Jiangnan Culture Forum and the 2nd Jiangnan Culture and New Urban Construction Forum were held in Shanghai. In the parallel forum, experts and scholars from three provinces and one municipality (Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, Anhui Province, and Shanghai Municipality, respectively) in the Yangtze River Delta focused on topics including the interactive development, humanistic economy, creation and transformation of Jiangnan culture in the new era. They enthusiastically shared their insights, discussing the inheritance and innovation of Jiangnan culture to empower high-quality development and enable a better life.

Prof. Tang Lixing from the School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University, presided over the parallel forum themed “The Interactive Development of Urban and Rural Cultures in Jiangnan”.

Mao Shi’an, former Vice Chairman of the China Literature and Art Critics Association, made the speech of “Seeking the Momentum of Interaction”. He emphasized that Jiangnan culture is an important source of the “Shanghai Style”. Therefore, it is necessary to re-conceptualize the flexibility and interactivity of Jiangnan culture and to ceaselessly find the momentum of interaction, including economic interaction, cultural interaction, spatial interaction, etc. In this way, we can effectively preserve the modernity and rootedness of Jiangnan culture in urban construction and rural development.

Gao Bowen, Director of the Shanghai Pingtan Troupe, took Pingtan (a traditional Chinese storytelling and ballad singing art form), a representative music genre of Jiangnan culture, as a starting point to talk about the mutual accomplishment of Pingtan and Jiangnan culture. He also illustrated the wide dissemination of Pingtan in rural areas, which helped the formation of the community of Jiangnan.

Prof. Ji Zhongyang from the School of Humanities of Southeast University believed that the current growth of Jiangnan culture requires in-depth contemplation on the integration and development of urban and rural spiritual civilization construction in the Jiangnan region from the perspective of the Chinese path to modernization. We should better inherit the history and culture, repair and improve the traditional villages, promote the construction of beautiful villages, and take the integration and development of urban and rural spiritual civilization construction as an important initiative for Chinese modernization.

Chen Ye, former Vice President and Research Fellow of Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences, put forward her thoughts by using the case of Luojia Village in Xihu District, Hangzhou City. She said that Luojia Village, amidst the process of urbanization, continuously adapted to new environments, formulated new strategies, and absorbed new elements. With meticulous perseverance, the village has seamlessly inherited rural traditions while earnestly and humbly learning and accepting urban culture. It has not only provided internal support when facing external challenges but also culturally nourished the surrounding urban communities. 

Zhao Tiantian, a scholar from Anhui Museum’s Academic Research Department, said that Jiangnan culture is the humanities foundation and spiritual tie of the Yangtze River Delta integration. We need to organize the Anhui culture and Wanjiang culture in the scheme of Jiangnan culture. Such an approach is vital for us to reveal the deep relationship between the Anhui culture, Wanjiang culture, and Jiangnan culture as well as promote the innovation and transformation of these cultures.

Fang Wei, Vice Secretary of CPC Qingcun Town Committee in Shanghai’s Fengxian District and Mayor of Qingcun Town, believed that shaping the urban cultural brand with Jiangnan culture, enhancing the “beauty” of the countryside with Jiangnan characteristics, and continuously coordinating the development of urban and rural areas are essential steps to create a welcoming city of Chinese humanistic glory.