Sun Ruizhe, President Of China Textile Federation: Intangible Cultural Heritage Surges The National Tide, Improving The Cultural Soft Power Of The Textile Industry

　　 On November 14-16, the 8th China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference was held in Haining, Zhejiang Province. Sun Ruizhe, President of the China Textile Industry Federation, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Intangible Cultural Heritage Surge in the National Tide, Promote the Cultural Soft Power of the Textile Industry". Now the full text will be published for readers.

Intangible cultural heritage surges the national tide, improving the cultural soft power of the textile industry

Sun Ruizhe, President of China Textile Industry Federation

November 15, 2024

　　 Distinguished leaders and guests: Hello!

　　 Meeting in the light cold makes you feel warmer, and we can talk together in winter like a spring breeze. It's a great pleasure to meet you in Xucun, Haining in the early winter to attend the 8th China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference. First of all, on behalf of the China Textile Industry Federation, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the efforts made by the relevant organizers and extend a warm welcome to the participants from all over the country.

　　 The past is long and easy to count, and you can remember your thoughts. The national style and tide is a clear spring emerging from the mountains of traditional culture, which gathers in the busy streets and lanes of modern society and becomes a powerful trend. The rise of Guochao is not a simple return of traditional culture, but an active exploration of future cultural forms, bearing the weight of history, radiating the glory of the times, and guiding the way forward. The theme of this conference is "Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance, National Fashion Surge". It discusses the development path of textile intangible cultural heritage under the national fashion and national tide, aiming to find out how intangible cultural heritage can stick to its true colors in historical inheritance, blend and learn from each other in real practice, pioneer and innovate in future development, and form fashion ideas and Chinese style.

　　 Haining Xucun is a promising place for Chinese fashion. The long-standing landscape culture breeds Haining's unique aesthetic charm; The beautiful and prosperous exchanges have built a solid industrial foundation for Xu Village. As a "Hanghai New City" with two advantageous industries of home textile and fashion clothing, Haining Xucun develops textiles in the direction of specialization, intensification and branding, deepens manufacturing, advances both in numbers, intelligence and green, local and global linkage, and traditional and modern integration. Especially in recent years, in response to the trend of "national fashion", many enterprises in Xucun have transformed into national style fabrics, supported category innovation with traditional techniques, "put curtain cloth on your body", and new Chinese clothing, silk jacquard weaving works of art and various cultural and creative products are emerging. Horse face skirts, which are popular all over the country, have become the "new specialty" of Xu Village. By organically integrating intangible cultural heritage culture with modern textile, the "Xucun Model" has become a national model for developing new quality productivity in the new era according to local conditions. This conference is the first time that China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference has entered the coastal industrial cluster and settled in Xucun Village, Haining. It has practical value and special significance.

　　 Take this opportunity to share the following ideas with you.

　　 1、 Understanding the Realistic Value of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the National Fashion

　　 National style and national tide is the reinterpretation and creative expression of Chinese excellent traditional culture in the contemporary context, the natural expression of cultural self-confidence, and the echo of the times of cultural consciousness. According to the data, the market size of the national tide economy will reach 2051.74 billion yuan in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 9.44%. It is expected that by 2028, it will exceed the threshold of 3 trillion yuan. With the intergenerational inheritance of traditional aesthetics and the global extension of national culture, national style and national tide have become an important consumption trend and cultural phenomenon.

　　 As the carrier of social culture and the expression of life style, textile clothing inherits ancient and modern civilization, which is the beginning of national style and tide. This is the accumulation of years and the voice of strength. Clothes and quilts are all over the world. The total amount of fiber processing in China has accounted for more than half of the world, and the total amount of textile and clothing exports has ranked first in the world for 30 consecutive years. Accompanied by Chinese textile manufacturing, Chinese fashion has begun to form a higher volume, more expression and greater influence. Material innovation, process innovation, design innovation, product innovation, and concept innovation are integrated, integrated, and systematically displayed. Designer brands, manufacturing brands, consumer brands, cluster brands, and platform brands rely on each other and empower each other. National style and national brand rise, and new Chinese style has become a fashion trend. In 2023, the scale of the new Chinese clothing market will reach the level of 1 billion yuan. In the past three years, the total trade volume of related products will grow by more than 100%.

　　 The rise of the national tide is inseparable from the inheritance and innovation of intangible cultural heritage. As the essence of China's excellent traditional culture, intangible cultural heritage contains the unique spiritual pursuit, mode of thinking and creative imagination of the Chinese nation. It has unique historical, cultural and technological values, and is an important content and strong support of the national trend. From traditional patterns to color matching, from craft tools to silhouette structure, from spinning, dyeing, weaving, embroidery, printing to national costumes, ingenuity flows from stitch to stitch, and wisdom flows from warp to weft. Intangible textile heritage is innovated, practiced, inherited and developed in the national fashion and tide. Integrating traditional elements such as button, cloud shoulder and slanted lapel with traditional techniques such as embroidery and tassel, Wu Luohan clothing, Song brocade clothing, horse face skirt, fragrant cloud gauze, and improved cheongsam, these popular categories have become an aesthetic and consumption trend respected by Chinese people. Taking this autumn's China International Fashion Week as an example, Shangjiukai launched a new high definition series "Zhuangzhou Dreams of Butterflies" to show the beauty of harmony between man and nature with Song brocade technology; Jeanswest, in the compound form of "intangible cultural heritage+science and technology+fashion", interprets the futuristic new national trend with Chinese cultural characteristics; Gu'axin takes Guizhou Village T as the theme to express the local culture and daily life of the villagers; The Lanhe Fragrant Cloud Yarn from Nansha, Guangzhou, presents a unique oriental life style. The national style brand of intangible cultural heritage shows great vitality and charm. It complements cultural tourism, complements cultural creativity, empowers science and technology, and complements exhibitions. The cross-border integration of intangible cultural heritage is also developing widely and deeply, from e-sports entertainment to beauty home furnishing. These innovative practices make intangible cultural heritage of textile rejuvenate in the interweaving of tradition and modernity and become a value fulcrum.

　　 General Secretary Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to the development of intangible cultural heritage, and has repeatedly stressed the need to do a solid job in the systematic protection of intangible cultural heritage and better meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people. From the central to the local, a series of policies and measures nourish the fertile ground for the development of intangible cultural heritage. The cultivation of people inheriting intangible cultural heritage is in full swing everywhere. The construction of intangible cultural heritage workshops and characteristic parks is flourishing. The development of intangible cultural heritage promotes industrial upgrading, rural revitalization, and the innovation of intangible cultural heritage drives people's livelihood, employment, and cultural exchanges. The current national style and tide provide new opportunities and ways for the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Through the reinterpretation of modern aesthetics and lifestyle, intangible cultural heritage has accelerated to enter the homes of ordinary people, radiating new attraction and vitality. On the other hand, the integration of intangible cultural heritage elements also provides a unique artistic style and means of expression for national style and national fashion products, provides a rich source of cultural supplies and inspiration, and becomes an important port of value and flow. The Report on E-commerce Consumption of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2023) shows that the consumption of intangible cultural heritage national trend shows a rapid growth trend. In 2023, the turnover of intangible cultural heritage national trend goods on the e-commerce platform will exceed 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 107.32 billion yuan, up 37.7% year on year, more than 5 times the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods in the same period. Grasping the time and trend, we should correctly understand the value position of intangible cultural heritage in the development of national trends and the pulling role of intangible cultural heritage in inheriting the Chinese trend. On the basis of inheriting and developing traditional culture, we should have the courage to innovate, dare to break through, and realize the creative transformation and innovative development of intangible cultural heritage.

　　 2、 Grasping the development law of intangible cultural heritage in the national trend

　　 National style and national tide is the linkage of cultural innovation, industrial innovation and market innovation, with new structure, new characteristics and new connotation. We cannot simply use past experience to see the present, nor can we simply use foreign development to see China. It is necessary to grasp the essence through the phenomenon, from the outside to the inside, from the point to the surface, around the development requirements of new quality productivity, in the unity of universality and particularity, historical and epochal, find the development trend law and deep force of national style and tide, and promote the epochal, valuable, global landing of intangible cultural heritage industry, creative, sustainable and systematic development.

　　 Intangible cultural heritage should be developed in the integration of cultural inheritance and era innovation. The development of culture is achieved through popular choice. Intangible cultural heritage comes from the fields and serves the people. It is a living and dynamic culture. Only by better serving the people's needs for a better life and forming a sustainable business model can intangible cultural heritage become more dynamic. National style and national trend are not simple retro imitation, but innovative and epochal transformation on the basis of inheriting excellent traditional culture. At present, cultural identity and emotional value are receiving more attention, and experience economy and content industry have become common business models. More than a quarter of Gen Z in the world said they would pay more for the experience. As a historical carrier, time memory and emotional sustenance, intangible cultural heritage has great potential. In 2023, clothing accessories and home textile industries will rank second and eighth in IP licensing industries. Intangible cultural heritage is an important source of IP, enabling product innovation, promoting scenario integration, and realizing value creation. Where there are ancient towns and business streets, Han suits have become the standard; National craft and national costumes are important elements of immersive experience of folk tourism. Take Xi'an as an example, there are more than 1800 Han clothing related enterprises. From health consumption to green consumption, from sports fashion to travel clothing, lifestyle changes have also become an important context and development space for intangible cultural heritage innovation. The consumption characteristics of individuation, diversification, quality and layering have led to a more diversified and in-depth expression of intangible cultural heritage. Integrating and embodying life, innovating products and services around lifestyle and life attitude, and improving aesthetic value, emotional value, experience value and social value are important topics for the development of intangible cultural heritage.

　　 Intangible cultural heritage should be developed in a balance between key breakthroughs and systematic promotion. Under the new fashion ecology, the development of national style and national trend needs to make people "shine at the moment", and create popular products to achieve topical communication with representative single products. Horse face skirt, Song brocade, fragrant cloud gauze, intangible cultural heritage of the industry has formed a rich exploration. Traditional culture is extensive and profound, and national culture is rich and diverse. National style and national trend are not only the popularity of single products, but also the amazing things. Instead, more cultural concepts and values behind the transmission should be explored, and continuous cultural awakening and systematic innovation and reconstruction should be formed. Culture itself is a value ecology and a collective narrative. Every cultural phenomenon does not exist in isolation, from costumes and utensils to catering buildings, from customs and etiquette to entertainment and dance music, from methods and crafts to stories and legends. Intangible cultural heritage needs to be promoted as a whole, related to development, find common logic and form image clusters in order to obtain sustainable vitality. At present, intangible cultural heritage in Guochao Guofeng is more in the form of simple elements, and has not yet formed an original and systematic fashion style. The popularity of many Chinese elements still comes from the promotion of foreign brands. The ability to explore culture, refine style, and source fashion needs to be improved. Systematic protection is required to retain the original cultural form and life state of intangible cultural heritage, refine epistemology and methodology from theory and practice, realize the logical unity of the past, reality and future, and form a more systematic and profound expression of intangible cultural heritage. Systematically develop, integrate with modern manufacturing system, promote the overall upgrading of elements, structure and ecology, promote the coupling development of design innovation, material innovation, process innovation and tool innovation, and create a product system and industrial ecology with Chinese characteristics and oriental aesthetics.

　　 Intangible cultural heritage should be developed in the unity of regional characteristics and global vision. One side is water and soil, and the other side is humanity. The landscape, climate and scenery are different, and the concept, food, clothing and charm are different from each other. National and regional characteristics interact and shape each other, making textile intangible heritage generally have prominent regional characteristics and national style, and become a local cultural advantage and symbol. This regional feature is the core source of intangible cultural heritage aesthetics and value. To protect the diversity of culture is to make the regional temperament and personality of culture more substantial, plump and distinct. On the other hand, the beauty of culture lies in tolerance and openness. The current fashion trend is a narrative of globalization in the context of globalization. National style and national tide are not only the self-expression of national culture, but also the reinterpretation and dissemination of China's excellent traditional culture in the context of globalization. Brands and designers with national style and national fashion are increasingly active on the international stage, starting to break through the existing fashion architecture, transmit Chinese fashion and oriental aesthetics, and reflect national contributions and world values. The greater trend is that China's textile industry is entering the "new navigation era" in terms of products, production capacity, brands and capital. The global M&A integration resources of Anta, Golis and other enterprises, and the establishment of branch stores with the international layout of brands such as Chun, Jiangnan Cloth, Sima, etc. Cross border platforms such as Shein and Temu are popular overseas, and small and medium-sized enterprises such as Shajuan Cashmere and Haining Moussa have begun to enter the global luxury core supply chain. The rise of the industry has brought strong trend leading and high volume fashion expression; Global development promotes mutual learning of fashion and global dialogue of culture. To build a master, build a big brand, do great things, and build a Chinese fashion style, we should have confidence and ambition. With a global perspective, we should "more actively learn from all the outstanding achievements of human civilization", so that the world can better understand China and fall in love with intangible cultural heritage.

　　 3、 Exploring innovative ways of intangible cultural heritage in the national style and tide

　　 At present, developing new quality productivity, promoting the high-end upgrading of traditional industries, and implementing the industrialization of cutting-edge technologies are the era topics of the textile and clothing industry. In order to transform the global advantage of Made in China into a strong voice of Chinese fashion, it is necessary to take advantage of national style and national tide to enhance the soft power of industry culture, and explore the innovative development path of textile intangible heritage in the integration of traditional and modern time and space, local and global culture, and aesthetic and commercial value.

　　 First, "deep" innovation. It is easy to establish things, but difficult to establish one's mind. Thin, empty and fragmented content cannot support valuable and sustainable fashion expression. China has a vast territory, many nationalities, complex history and different customs. Most intangible cultural heritage has not been systematically excavated and thoroughly explained. Strengthening the research on traditional textile culture and traditional skills and techniques is the basic project to realize the protection, inheritance and value transformation of intangible cultural heritage. It is necessary to systematically, comprehensively, orderly and completely sort out intangible cultural heritage information such as inheritance pedigree, process flow, tools and materials, and mode of existence, and refine knowledge system, method path, and cultural characteristics. Promote the excavation from single cultural symbol to systematic cultural expression, from surface aesthetic taste to deep spiritual connotation, strengthen cultural subjectivity, and achieve innovative development while maintaining cultural authenticity. Improve the ability of source planning and improve the research and release system of popular trends.

　　 Second, "live" innovation. Intangible cultural heritage is a living thing, not a dusty object, but a dynamic practice, which is manifested in application and inheritance. Intangible cultural heritage should be integrated into economic and social development. Integrate traditional cultural elements with modern aesthetics and lifestyle, and carry out product innovation, category innovation and mode innovation to create aesthetic value, functional value and experience value according to the change of cultural concepts, adjustment of social strata, evolution of demand structure, and subdivision of activity scenes. From historical memory to traditional skills, the living inheritance of intangible cultural heritage is carried by inheritors. We should strengthen the publicity and education of intangible cultural heritage projects, improve people's awareness and understanding of intangible cultural heritage, and cultivate more inheritors and enthusiasts of intangible cultural heritage. Promote mass learning, mass experience, mass participation and mass practice. We should create a development ecology and promote the participation of government, enterprises, designers and consumers.

　　 Third, "new quality" innovation. Grasp the development law of new quality productivity, and promote industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation. Develop intelligent manufacturing, biological manufacturing, additive manufacturing, laser manufacturing and other new manufacturing, and apply graphene materials, bio based materials, 3D printing materials and other new materials to promote the innovative development of intangible cultural heritage. Innovate products and services, develop the first economy, and promote the innovation of intangible cultural heritage in the form of first store, first show, first exhibition, etc. We should strengthen the innovation of AIGC, AR/VR, metauniverse, 3D modeling and other tools. Relying on rich intangible cultural heritage resources, we will promote the establishment of corpora and large models that conform to Chinese values and oriental aesthetics. Explore the "AI+Design" mode and promote generative design and multimodal design with new tools and methods. We should adapt to social media and content platforms to build a new ecology of fashion communication. It is necessary to integrate digital fashion, master the flow code, create masters, big brands, and major events, present them in an immersive, interactive, three-dimensional manner, and build cultural influence and fashion discourse.

　　 The difficulty of intangible cultural heritage innovation lies in the balance between innovation and conservation, and in the leap between fracture and continuity. If the tradition does not innovate, it will become a shackle; If innovation loses its tradition, it will become duckweed.

　　 The national tide is surging and unstoppable; The inheritance of intangible cultural heritage has a long way to go. Let us grasp the "time" and "momentum", adhere to integrity and innovation, pragmatic and unswerving, take intangible cultural heritage as the boat, step on the waves of national tide, and go to a beautiful future! Thank you!