“非遗”档案：路桥莲花

王宗元：莲呀莲花开Wang Zongyuan: The Blossom of Luqiao Lotus Flower Art

王宗元，男，浙江台州路桥人，原为路桥文化站站长，现为退休干部。2008年被命名为台州市级非物质文化遗产传承人，代表项目为路桥莲花。一直从事文化馆工作，为路桥莲花作词作曲。其代表性作品有《雨夜出诊》、《赞声歌歌》。

Wang Zongyuan, male, is from Luqiao, Taizhou. Mr. Wang was once the director of the Luqiao Cultural Center. And now he is a retired cadre. He was appointed the inheritor of Taizhou City-Level Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008 with his representative project of Luqiao Lianhua. Having been engaged in working for the Luqiao Cultural Center, Mr. Wang has been composing music and writing lyrics for Luqiao Lianhua. His representative works include Outcall in a Rainy Night and Song of Praise.

莲呀莲花开

口述：王宗元 整理：许颖、章丽琼

它不是北宋学者周敦颐口中“出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖”的那朵莲花，可它的特性亦如莲花般清新雅致。

拥有200多年历史，历经四个发展时期，即便已不复往日之辉煌，但碗碟碰撞的“叮当”声中，它依旧笑看春风，未改最初的本质。

若要问起它的“名字”，那便是“莲花”，又名“莲花落”、“莲花乐”。在路桥，我们更喜欢称它为“路桥莲花”。

“莲花”的前世今生

“一二三四五六七呀咿莲花、莲格莲花落，七六五四三二一呀莲花、莲格莲花落呀啊”，这支只有上下两句腔调的单曲体莲花，就是当年我们最熟悉、民间最流行的莲花调。路桥莲花，便是因这句“莲呀莲花开”的伴唱而得名。

路桥的莲花，与其他曲艺不一样，我们路桥莲花就是闹着玩玩的，像你们年轻人唱卡拉OK一样，没有师承关系。最开始是僧侣师傅募捐时候唱的警世歌曲。后来传到平民百姓间，就成了贫苦人乞讨时候唱的歌。再后来就成了一种说唱故事情节的曲艺形式。什么时候形成的、来源在哪里，这些都不清楚。

在两百多年的历史中，路桥莲花共经历了四个发展时期，即男班、女班、男女合演和女班时期。最初的男班，主要是百姓间自娱自乐的一种艺术形式。到新中国成立后的女班时期，才开始以舞台表演为主。到了20世纪六七十年代，由于“‘文革’文艺”的影响，增加了“阳刚气”，出现了男女一起表演载歌载舞的走唱表演形式，并且开始用普通话演唱。但是，仍然有民族乐队伴奏，演员则减少到八至十人。1974年又重新回到了女班时期，歌舞保持不变，但是突出了说唱性，同时形成了“一人领唱，多人击乐，边击边帮腔为伴”的特色。

叮叮当当，是谁在吟唱

路桥莲花由一人领唱，多人帮腔伴唱，每个人手上都拿一件打击乐器。演唱者称为莲花头，手拿七姊妹，或小竹板、瘪鼓（路桥莲花特有的表演道具，用毛竹最后一节做成）；帮唱者叫莲花当，最早拿的是家里的日常用具比如说酒盅、菜碟、饭碗、竹筷、算盘等，后来盅、碟被保留下来了，别的都改用雌雄鞭（洒尺）、霸王鞭、道情滚。表演形式的话，大家都喜欢女子走唱的表演形式，因其流动性强、以静唱说事情为主、同时加以生动的情节，而广受大家欢迎。演员人数可少可多，但是一定要单数，并且至少得五个人。我们现在的路桥莲花一般是一个莲花头，八个或者九个伴唱，像《生命清单》就是九个人。击乐一般喜欢用盅、碟、雌雄鞭，比较轻盈。表演场上，排列顺序是按照演员使用的表演道具的大小排列的——比较小的排列在较前，稍微大一点，长一点的，像雌雄鞭排在后面。音乐唱腔的话是属于曲牌体，主要曲调有游头、软腔、硬腔、回调等。曲词基本是七字句二二三句式，比较押韵合辙，口语化。篇幅都比较短小，只有数十句。因为当初唱莲花的人文化水平不高，都是农民创作，写下来的词都不完整。

但闻“莲花香”

新中国成立前，我们根据老艺人王阿妹提供的材料整理出了路桥莲花的一些零碎的资料，但没有受到重视。新中国成立后，路桥莲花发展得很快。1950年10月，台州当地地委文工团派人到路桥采风，最早发现并记录了路桥莲花。1956年初，省里下达表演通知，我们马上挑选了一支比较突出的曲目《梁山伯与祝英台》参赛。这曲莲花非常出彩，这个内容来自我们浙江省的民间传说，是我国四大民间故事之一，它讲的是少女祝英台女扮男装，上杭城读书，与同学梁山伯相识相爱的故事，情节生动有趣，音乐也十分动听。

曲目确定后，路桥文化馆立即从镇上十多个越剧团中选了十一名年轻女演员：个子高挑、歌喉亮丽的陈秀贞是“莲花头”，陶招玉、章瑶英、金素兰、曹云琴、张路生、陈荷招、陈彩霞、张官凤等十人是“莲花当”，还挑选了八个民间乐手，组成了新中国成立以后的第一个“女子莲花班”。1957年，这个节目还获得了浙江省第二届民间音乐舞蹈观摩演出大会二等奖，被中央人民广播电台录播。那时候我们没有电视，也没有电脑，能让广播电台录音播放已经相当不错了。

“莲花”缘

我是个“文化人”，就是“搞文化”的。从1962年开始，我就在路桥基层文化站工作。“搞文化”就是要把路桥莲花“演出去”。我的工作是写莲花曲词，像做导演一样排演一出莲花曲。后来，领导说要挖掘非物质文化遗产。在2006年，我被任命为台州市级非物质文化遗产传承人，代表项目为路桥莲花，我就开始真正投身于路桥莲花的传承事业当中了。路桥莲花的创作并不复杂，取材也简单。过去的莲花落故事主要取材于传统文化与民间故事。而现在的莲花落的创作灵感都是来自于社会时事，歌颂社会的好人好事，传递正能量。像去年为了参加义乌文博会，我应上级要求临时改编的《雨夜出诊》，讲述的是一名女大学生远离城市，去到边远山村当兽医，雨夜出诊，为养猪大户抢救病猪的事迹。故事之中还借着各种花（莲花、荷花、牡丹花等）来表达情感，唱花随内容，如唱“富贵”用牡丹，“悲哀”用杜鹃。莲花乐和莲花落表达的就是乐与悲。

我很早就开始接触路桥莲花，我的工作环境、生活环境都离不开路桥莲花。或许是受我的工作环境的熏陶，我的女儿王颖从小喜爱曲艺，高中毕业后就留在我们的文化站里学莲花。我的女儿现在也是区文化馆的工作人员，我很自豪她能成为一名优秀的路桥莲花表演演员。那个时候，她是队里年龄最小的。起初，她是以伴唱的身份参加演出的。随着时间的推移，她的技术越来越纯熟，表演也愈加到位，便从“莲花当”变成了“莲花头”。以后，路桥莲花的事业也是要靠她来传承了。

“莲花”未来的怒放

以前大家的业余生活不像现在这么丰富，所以我们每次去表演，老百姓都很乐意看。如今了解路桥莲花的人越来越少，以后莲花会走向何处，我们真的说不好。新中国成立后第一代男班人员年纪大了，就不想再演路桥莲花了，甚至有些人已经年逾古稀，一并带走了他们的技术。第二代女班人员年龄也已偏高，培养新人成了我们的当务之急。“路桥莲花”的价值不单体现在传承人创作的作品上，更应该体现在传承人所拥有的技艺上。路桥莲花是民间说唱艺术，歌颂身边的事物，褒扬先进，深受普通百姓的喜爱，可谓是曲艺的“草根”。虽然近些年来，国家重视非物质文化遗产，但是由于缺乏创作和表演人才，虽被列入省“非遗”名录，它的前景依然令人担忧。

在“变异利用”方面，我也做过一些尝试，比如：泰隆城市信用社四十员工击乐风采的“方队莲花”，路桥文技校百名女生展示服色韵味的“团操莲花”，路桥街道近四十个姑娘展示彩灯和肢体风韵的“灯彩莲花”，等等。我做这些尝试的目的就是为了让更多的年轻人有机会接触莲花，喜欢上莲花。我很欣慰的是，经过大家的努力，路桥莲花的传承和保护工作有了明显的成果——“非遗”中心在路桥博物馆落脚了、路桥实验小学设立了莲花保护基地、路桥莲花曲艺入编“乡土音乐教材”并开设了课外课程。与此同时，更多的孩子们开始学习路桥莲花，像我们小朋友排练演出的《老外看路桥》还获得了市小学比赛金奖。

作为路桥莲花的传承人，我自然是希望能把这个曲种传承下去，不让它失传。而且现在国家和政府都非常重视，我们这些有志人士也在努力，相信路桥莲花会灿烂而热烈地怒放在曲艺之园中。

The Blossom of Luqiao Lotus Flower Art

Narrator: Wang Zongyuan Compiled by: Xu Ying, Zhang Liqiong

The Lianhua (Lotus Flower Art) here is not the same Lotus as in Scholar Zhou Dunyi's poem:“She (The Lotus) comes from the ooze, yet remains stainless; though baptized by ripples, she stands modest.” Yet, the singing tunes in Luqiao Lianhua sound as fresh as the Lotus described in Mr. Zhou's poem.

With a history of more than 200 years, Luqiao Lianhua has undergone four stages. Though it might not be as popular as it used to be, Luqiao Lianhua still possesses its unique glamour.

Lianhua is a well-renowned traditional Chinese folk art also known as Lianhua Lao or Lianhua Yue. In Luqiao, we proudly call it “Luqiao Lianhua.”

The History and the Present of Luqiao Lianhua

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven ya yi lianhua, liange lianhua lao, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ya lianhua, liange lianhua lao ya ah.” This quote of Lianhua Lao, with these lines only, was the most well-renowned piece of Lianhua Lao in the past. Luqiao Lianhua is therefore known for its famous lyrics “liange lianhua lao” (“the blossom of Lotus” in English).

Luqiao Lianhua,different from other forms of quyi arts,is performed for fun here, just like the youth enjoy singing Karaoke in their leisure time. Therefore, there is no serious master-apprentice relationship in this case. Originally, it was used by monks as a means to raise money as well as to alert the society. Later it spread to civilians and then became a way for the folks to beg for a living and gradually became an art form that tells stories. When and where it originated is still unknown.

In its 200-year history, Luqiao Lianhua underwent four stages. In the first stage, the performance was done by males only. In this period, Luqiao Lianhua was an entertaining art form among the folks. Later after the establishment of the P. R. China, Luqiao Lianhua went through the second stage, which was dominated by actresses. At that time, Luqiao Lianhua was performed on the stage as a serious art form. In 1960s and 1970s, it was under the influence of the “Cultural Revolution” when both actors and actresses started to cooperate and co-perform Lianhua Lao, so as to add a sense of masculinity. Also, since then, Luqiao Lianhua has been performed in Mandarin Chinese and accompanied with traditional instrumental orchestras. Yet, the number of performers decreased to eight to ten artists. In 1974, it reached its fourth stage when female artists once again dominated the performance. During this period, singing and dancing still remains while the artists added more rapping in the performance. Since then, Luqiao Lianhua has established a prominent feature, i.e., with one lead singer leading the performance while several artists are backup singers playing percussion instruments.

Dingdingdangdang: The Sound of Luqiao Lotus Flower Art

In Luqiao Lianhua, we have one lead singer and several other backup singers, each of whom plays a percussion instrument. The lead singer, known as Lianhua Tou (Leader or Head), plays such instruments as the Seven Sisters (made of bamboo and metal), Bamboo Clappers, or Bie Drum (made of the end-joint of Moso Bamboo, which is a unique instrument to Luqiao Lianhua). The backup singers are the Lianhua Dang (Accompaniment), whose “musical instruments” used to be some daily utensils such as wineglasses, dishes, bowls, chopsticks, abacuses and so on. Only wineglasses and dishes are still being used now. Others were changed into the Cixiong Whip, Bawang Whip and Daoqing Gun. As to the style of performance, the folks prefer a show accompanied with actresses' storytelling while walking. This performance style is very popular for its strong mobility, its storytelling techniques as well as its vivid plots. At least five folk artists (the number of artists must be odd) are required to perform Luqiao Lianhua. In today's performance, there are one Lianhua Tou and eight or nine Lianhua Dang.For example,we have nine Lianhua Dang in the show The List of Life.On the stage,where the artists stand is arranged in accordance with the sizes of the instruments they use—the artists with the smaller instruments have to stand in the front while those with the bigger ones will stand in the back. The singing style we employ in Luqiao Lianhua is the Qu Pai Style, with its main tunes involving twisting tunes (used in the beginning of Lianhua), soft tunes (used for telling stories), stiff tunes and uplifting tunes (rising tune). In the libretto for the seven-word line, the words rhyme and are colloquial. And the length of the piece is short, about ten sentences. Because the singers are farmers who are not highly educated, the words are not complex.

The History of Luqiao Lotus Flower Art

We sorted out some information concerning Luqiao Lianhua before the foundation of the P. R. China in 1949 based on the materials offered by an experienced artist, Wang Amei. However, the information was limited in scope, and Luqiao Lianhua was unfortunately neglected at that time. It was since the foundation of the P. R. China that Luqiao Lianhua began to develop quickly. In October, 1950, the local official Arts Committee sent some staff members to Luqiao to collect and research folk songs, and Luqiao Lianhua was then first discovered and officially documented in written form. Later, in early 1956, the provincial government issued a notice that required us to stage a Lianhua Lao performance. And, we selected a well-renowned piece,Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai(The Butterfly Lovers), for this competition. It is a famous piece of Lianhua Lao with its main content drawn from the folklore in Zhejiang Province. It depicts Zhu Yingtai, a young lady who dressed up as a boy to go to school in Hangzhou and then fell in love with her classmate Liang Shanbo. As the plot of this show is vividly and lively presented and the music is so melodious, we expect that this piece of Lianhua Lao would receive positive responses from the audience.

Soon after we confirmed the piece for the competition, the Luqiao Cultural Center immediately selected eleven young actresses from ten Yue Opera troupes. With a tall figure and a beautiful voice, Chen Xiuzhen performed as Lianhua Tou (lead singer). The rest of the actresses (i.e., Tao Zhaoyu, Zhang Yaoying, Jin Sulan, Cao Yunqin, Zhang Guanyun and etc.) were Lianhua Dang (backup singers). With eight folk bandsmen,they formed China's first female troupe of Lianhua.In 1957,Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai won the second prize of the Zhejiang Province Folk Music and Dance Contest (Second Session), and it was even broadcasted by China National Radio. At that time, we did not have televisions or computers. Therefore, it was a great honor that our piece of Lianhua Lao was recorded and broadcast by China National Radio.

My Bond with Luqiao Lotus Flower Art

Now that I work in the field of culture, my job involves dealing with cultural matters. Since 1962, I had been working at the Luqiao Cultural Center. Working in this field requires me to perform and promote Luqiao Lianhua, not only for the people of Luqiao, but also for people from all over the world. My mission then was to compose both lyrics and music for Luqiao Lianhua and then to direct the plays. Later my supervisor called for us to preserve intangible cultural heritages. Since then, I was officially engaged in the task of inheriting and preserving Luqiao Lianhua. In 2006, I was appointed as the inheritor of Taizhou Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage with Luqiao Lianhua as my representative project. Now, speaking of the process of creating Lianhua Lao, it is not that complicated, as most of the content is closely related to our daily lives. In the past, the plots of Lianhua Lao were mainly drawn from traditional Chinese culture and folk life. While at present, the inspiration mainly comes from current affairs, most of which are to praise good persons and good deeds. For example, last year I recomposed Outcall in a Rainy Night for the Yiwu Culture Industry Exposition. It's a play that narrates a female undergraduate who is willing to be the veterinarian in a small county away from the urban area. She made an outcall to treat the sick pigs on a rainy night.A variety of flowers are used in the lyrics of Outcall in a Rainy Night so as to express different emotions. Depending on the content, different flowers stand for different emotions, e.g., “Lianhua” (Lotus) for happiness, “Cuckoo”for sadness, and “Peony” for wealth

I started to engage in the field of Luqiao Lianhua long ago, and I was heavily involved in working with Luqiao Lianhua. Perhaps influenced by my working environment,my daughter Wang Ying became fond of quyi(Chinese folk art)since her childhood. After her graduation from high school, she joined the Luqiao Cultural Center to study Luqiao Lianhua. Now, she is also a staff member of the center. I feel so proud that she can be an excellent artist in this field. When she joined us, she was the youngest. At that time, she performed as a backup singer. And gradually, she was getting better at acting, and her performance was becoming more and more brilliant. Therefore, her role had changed from “lianhua dang” (backup singer) to “lianhua tou”(lead singer). The future of Luqiao Lianhua, I would say, counts on her.

The Bloom of Lotus Flower Art in the Future

In the past, people did not have such colorful leisure activities as we have now. Therefore, whenever we performed Lianhua, we were always warmly welcomed by the folks. Nowadays, as the number of people who know Luqiao Lianhua is on the decrease, it is hard to predict what the future holds for Luqiao Lianhua. After the foundation of the P. R. China in 1949, the actors of the first generation were too old to perform Luqiao Lianhua while some actors who had reached their seventies had passed away. Also, the actresses of the second generation were also advanced in years. Therefore, it is an urgent task for us to train new Lianhua performers. From my perspective, the value of Luqiao Lianhua not only lies in the works of its inheritors but also in the techniques they possess. Luqiao Lianhua is a folk art that aims to tell a story or praise the deeds of heroes. As it is widely welcomed by the folks, it may be said to be the grassroots in the field of traditional Chinese quyi.Also,it has to be admitted that during these years the Chinese government has attached great importance to preserving intangible cultural heritages. And in 2007, it was listed as one of the Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritages. However, due to the lack of talent in composing and performing Luqiao Lianhua, its future remains in doubt.

I have made several attempts to further develop and innovate Luqiao Lianhua. For instance,I organized a show named Square Lianhua in which forty staff members from Tailong Urban Credit Cooperative played percussion instruments. I directed the show Lianhua in Group Gymnastics with hundreds of female students from Luqiao Technical School. In this show, the students displayed the charm of the beautiful costumes through Lianhua. And I also directed a program in which about forty girls from Luqiao Street displayed the glamour of their body figures and the beauty of the lanterns by means of acting out Luqiao Lianhua. My main aim here is to create more opportunities for the youth to be exposed to Luqiao Lianhua which hopefully will make them fall in love with this traditional folk art. I am glad that we have obtained many achievements in terms of inheriting and preserving Luqiao Lianhua. Parts of our achievements are listed as follows. In Luqiao Museum, we have established an Intangible Cultural Heritage Center. Moreover, the Luqiao Lianhua Preserve Base has been set up in Luqiao Experimental Elementary School. Plus, Luqiao Lianhua Quyi has been compiled in the “Country Music Textbook” as part of students' extracurricular course materials. In the meantime, more and more children are involved in learning Luqiao Lianhua. For example, some kids worked together and staged a play named Foreigners'Perspectives on Luqiao th at was awarded the Golden Prize in the Taizhou Primary School Quyi Competition.

As the inheritor to Luqiao Lianhua, I truly expect to pass on this folk art to the next generation. Now that both the government and we aspiring individuals are giving great emphasis on preserving Luqiao Lianhua, I firmly believe that Luqiao Lianhua will bloom brightly in the field of quyi in the future.

绽放的莲花

文：章丽琼 指导教师：陈雨枝

此莲花非彼莲花

2015年7月7日，大雨没有浇灭我满腔的热情，我抵达了台州路桥，对传统文化遗产进行采访。我格外期待采访路桥莲花的传承人，因为第一次听说“路桥莲花”时，我本以为是一种手工制作品，然而在进行深入了解以后才发现原来这是一种传统曲艺。也因为这一简单的原因，我开始对这一拥有优美名字的传统曲艺产生了浓厚的兴趣。

传递“非遗”独特魅力

那日接见我的是一位七八十岁的老人——王宗元师傅，他是路桥莲花的继承人，原为路桥文化站站长，现为退休干部。第一次见到这位老人，我便非常敬佩他，因为他虽已年逾古稀，但对传统文化却仍然满怀热情。从他的言语中不难发现，“莲花”早已成为他生活中必不可少的一部分。在访问正式开始前，王师傅为我们播放了两个路桥莲花的表演视频。听惯了流行歌曲的我竟也被这一种传统的演奏方式给深深地吸引住了。虽然它的歌词较为直白、生活化，但却又有一种独特的味道，同时加以生动的情节，非常引人入胜，使我观罢意犹未尽，这也更激起了我对路桥莲花及其表演形式等内容的好奇心。路桥莲花的起源是什么？视频中演员们手里拿着的乐器又是什么？随着采访的逐渐深入，我感受到了老人对路桥莲花这一传统文化曲艺的归属感及发自内心的骄傲。从某种程度上来说，莲花真的伴随了他的一生。

填补“非遗”展示空白

出于对“莲花”的喜爱，我不禁对这一传统曲艺的传承问题感到非常担忧，因为我不想这种美妙的声音慢慢消失。当被问到路桥莲花的传承现状时，老人的回答也确实让我有些许的失落。目前，路桥莲花的传承方式为：以文化馆为主导，安排演员排戏演出，并在路桥区中小学设有课程，设立保护基地。路桥文化馆对路桥莲花的保护虽然做得较为出色，但是这保护措施略显呆板，不够灵活——这只能让学生被动地去学习、被灌输路桥莲花的表演形式，而对其文化、含义并没有给予深入的介绍。我想老一辈们都希望“莲花”能够一代一代地传承下去，可以延续几百年、甚至几千年。

打响“非遗”保卫战

今天的采访经历让我感触颇深。不仅仅是“莲花”，中华上下几千年，传统文化数不胜数，对每一种传统文化遗产我们都应该去尊重、去传承。我们当代大学生不仅没有去珍惜这些对上几代人很重要的传统文化，甚至在抛弃它们，认为它们是古老的、是不入流的，甚至认为如果在众人面前去欣赏传统文化可能会被嘲笑。而在我真正接触到“莲花”之后，我为我们很大一部分大学生感到愧疚——我们自以为流行的东西难道就是好东西吗？而“莲花”这一传承几十年的曲艺形式难道不是经典吗？每个人的喜好不同，我们虽然不能要求每个人都去喜欢它们，但每个人都应该尊重这种传统文化，尊重那些热爱这种传统文化的老人。

文化遗产并不仅仅是一种流行，它极具生命力、是中华民族流淌的血液中不可或缺的一部分。时间越久，越有味道。文化的流失是可悲的。或许在很久很久以后，我还是偶尔能回忆起今天耳边的曲艺，希望我们能更多地去了解并主动学习非物质文化遗产，创新其形式与内容，使之贴合群众生活。切莫等到她消失了，才后悔莫及。

The Blossom of Lotus Flower Art

By Zhang Liqiong Supervised by Chen Yuzhi

Lianhua, a Traditional Folk Art

On July 7, 2015, the heavy rain did not extinguish my enthusiasm for interviewing the inheritor of Luqiao Lianhua. On this day, I arrived in Luqiao, Taizhou to explore one of the traditional cultural heritages of Zhejiang—Luqiao Lianhua. When I first heard of this term, I had thought it was a handicraft. But after I had a better understanding of Luqiao Lianhua, I knew it was a kind of traditional art. Therefore, I was eagerly looking forward to interviewing the inheritor and to exploring this glamorous folk art.

Experiencing the Charm of Lotus Flower Art

Wang Zongyuan, the inheritor of Luqiao Lianhua at the age of seventy or eighty, was my interviewee that day. Mr. Wang was once the director of the Luqiao Cultural Center, and now he has retired. When I first met him, I really admired him because he has devoted almost all his life to this traditional folk art but still shows extremely high enthusiasm. From his words, I found that Lianhua has been an indispensible part in his life. Before the formal interview, Mr. Wang played two videos of Luqiao Lianhua performance for us. Even though I was more familiar with pop songs at that time, I was deeply attracted by this traditional art form. I sensed its uniqueness from its simple yet lively lyrics. With its vivid plots, Luqiao Lianhua is even more attractive to me. All these feelings thus excited my curiosity: What's the origin of Luqiao Lianhua? What are the percussion instruments played by artists in the video? While interviewing, I got to see Mr. Wang's sense of belonging to Luqiao Lianhua and his enthusiasm from the bottom of his heart. To some extent, Luqiao Lianhua has been accompanying Mr. Wang's entire life.

The Present and Future of Lotus Flower Art

“Out of my affection for Lianhua, I felt worried about the inheritance issue of this traditional art because I didn't want this wonderful sound to disappear one day.” When I asked Mr. Wang about the status quo, Mr. Wang's answer upset me.

Now, the Cultural Centre plays a leading role in preserving Luqiao Lianhua. For example, the Cultural Center arranges performances for audiences and sets up a preservation center for Luqiao Lianhua in which extracurricular courses of Lianhua are being offered in elementary and middle schools in Luqiao. It has to be admitted that they have made great efforts to preserve Luqiao Lianhua, but these measures seem to be a little bit inflexible because students are “forced” to study and perform Luqiao Lianhua involuntarily. And the courses seem to fail to introduce its hidden cultural background and its philosophy in depth.

Preserving the Intangible Cultural Heritage

I am deeply impressed by the conversation. Besides Luqiao Lianhua, there are countless traditional folk arts in China that we should respect and preserve. However, nowadays many college students think that those folk arts are already out of fashion, so they simply ignore or even abandon them. Some students might even be afraid of being laughed at if they seem to appreciate the traditional arts. However, after having a better understanding of Luqiao Lianhua, I feel guilty for us college students. In fact, Lianhua, with a history of more than several decades, is classical. Though we cannot force everyone to fall in love with classical quyi,at the very least we should show respect for traditional culture as well as for these artists who genuinely love and devote their life to the art.

From my perspective, cultural heritage is an indispensible part of traditional Chinese culture and if not fashionable, it's certainly vital. As time passes by, traditional arts will become much more charming. It would be a huge pity for us if these traditional folk arts finally become extinct. In my view, we should try our best to understand and learn our traditional culture. Innovating the form and content of traditional culture is an essential way to help these ancient arts accommodate to today's society. Only by doing so shall we not have to regret one day that Luqiao Lianhua is on the verge of extinction.