The "Legends of the Han and Huaihe Rivers - The Essence of Bronze Wares from the Han Dynasty" held by the Shanghai Museum recently welcomed a group of visitors with special behaviors: they held up cameras to take pictures of the details of the vessels from different angles, and e

The "Legends of the Han and Huaihe Rivers - The Essence of Bronze Wares from the Han Dynasty" held by the Shanghai Museum recently welcomed a group of visitors with special behaviors: they held up cameras to photograph the details of the vessels from different angles, and even took pictures of the vessels on the spot with paper and pen. Floor plan of the upper ornamentation.

"I heard that the patterns on these bronzes are unprecedented. We want to see if they can be used in design." These visitors are engaged in jade carving and came here to "learn lessons" from cultural relics.

The Shanghai Museum, which mainly exhibits ancient Chinese cultural relics, often has special visitors like this who come to "copy homework". Not only that, in recent years many cultural and creative products, such as animation and games, have also directly copied cultural relics, incorporating ancient painting scenes, ancient statues, etc. into products.

"Putting real historical cultural relic elements into cultural and creative products shows that contemporary consumers are increasingly concerned about the correct use of 'Chinese elements.'" In the eyes of some industry insiders and citizens, "learning from museums" is a traditional A good trend for cultural renaissance. However, in the eyes of others, "the so-called 'classics' will lead to a dead end" by copying cultural relics intact and blindly emphasizing "retro" and "imitation of antiquity" without innovating under the contemporary aesthetic system.

The unique patterns of the bronzes of the Kingdom of Og on display at the Shanghai Museum have attracted many visitors

Culture and creative practitioners love to enter the museum to "copy homework"

"I only heard about the bronzes of the Kingdom of Og in the past, but this time I finally saw the real thing." This year 36 Mr. Wu, who is 20 years old, is engaged in the jade carving industry. After hearing about this exhibition at the Shanghai Museum, he made a special trip from other places to visit it. "'Antique' themes account for almost half of the jade carvings. The Kuilong pattern and the curved pattern on bronzes during the Shang and Zhou dynasties are simple and powerful, and are still commonly used today." Mr. Wu told reporters that animal face patterns are also important antique themes. "Animals Face patterns in the industry are generally Taotie patterns. It is said that the one on display this time is the unique 'God Face Pattern', so I wanted to see if I could develop new patterns in carvings. "

The "Silk Painting" held by the Shanghai Museum was previously held. "Special Exhibition of Ming and Qing Kesi Embroidery Calligraphy and Painting", many practitioners engaged in the production of Kesi handicrafts and the design and production of Hanfu came to "learn from the experience" and "draw samples" and launch "replica" products. Not only in the field of arts and crafts, many cultural and creative products today use elements of real cultural relics in museums. Before the

mobile game "Hundred Scenes of the South of the Yangtze River" was launched, Bao Weiwei, CEO and co-founder of Yedao Games, went to the Shanghai Museum to visit the "A Thousand Miles of Spring Breeze - Jiangnan Culture and Art Exhibition". In the exhibition, there was a Qing Dynasty painting collected by the Liaoning Provincial Museum. Xu Yang's "Prosperity of Gusu" is one of the ancient paintings that the game draws on. Chen Wen, COO of Yedao Games, said that ancient paintings such as "The Prosperity of Suzhou" and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" have indeed brought a lot of inspiration to the main creative team: "The ancient paintings helped us a lot in researching the background of the game. The paintings best reflect the time. We can also refer to the appearance of many cultural relics from ancient paintings. "

The game scene in "Black Myth: Wukong" (left) and the Twenty-Eight Constellations Painted Sculpture of the Jade Emperor Temple in Jincheng, Shanxi (right). "Face-shaking"

Coincidentally, Game Science Company recently released a 12-minute video of the game "Black Myth: Wukong" that is still under development. Some netizens compared it with reality and found that from the character modeling to the scene settings, they were almost "copied" Real-life cultural relics. For example, the opening scene is almost the same as the Dazu Rock Carvings; the statues in the temple "collide" with the twenty-eight-constellation colored sculptures of the Yuhuang Temple in Jincheng, Shanxi; and the last scene is close to the hanging sculpture of Xiao Xitian in Xi County, Shanxi. Even the sutra building that flashed by was found to be similar to the stone building at Foguang Temple in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province. This video has been played more than 22 million times on Bilibili alone, with more than 230,000 comments. Some netizens praised: "This is the correct way to spread Chinese culture."

Is copying cultural relics a restoration of Chinese aesthetics?

"Black Myth: Wukong" has attracted attention and praise this time. One of the main reasons is that in the video released last year, some scenes put Japanese-style buildings into this game based on Chinese mythology. In this year's video, this situation basically does not exist. It is reported that the main creative staff visited domestic cultural relics and historical sites, scanned relevant data, and reproduced these scenes in the game.

Some senior game players admitted that confusing traditional Chinese culture with Japanese culture and summarizing it with "Oriental aesthetics" was a common "routine" for Western cultural and creative products in the past. "Cultural self-confidence is not just a slogan. We have a splendid and advanced traditional culture, and we should actively 'rectify chaos' in our own animation games and cultural and creative products."

The same porcelain artwork designed in Europe is presented in completely different ways in China and Japan

At the "Meeting of East and West - Special Exhibition of Sino-European Ceramics and Cultural Exchanges" held by the Shanghai Museum, there is a pattern "Parasol Lady" designed by the Dutch East India Company in 1734 by the painter Cornelius Poulenc to customize porcelain. The porcelain made with this pattern from China and Japan on display has obvious differences from the "parasol" to the "lady"'s clothing and hairstyle and even the edge decoration. Industry insiders said that although the cultures of China and Japan are inextricably linked and exchanged, "after all, they are different countries and have different cultures."

Using elements from cultural relics is the most direct way to restore traditional culture. Liu Qing, who is engaged in the jewelry and jade industry, also pays close attention to the museum's bronze exhibition. "Traditional decoration is very important to this industry." Liu Qing remembers that when he first entered the industry 15 years ago, his first job was to study a cabinet of cultural relics albums: "Not only do you need to be familiar with various traditional decorations, but you also need to understand the differences in decorations in different eras and the meanings behind them." At that time, he was The few "majors" in the studio have to trace the patterns on the cultural relics into flat patterns so that the young apprentices can practice directly with them. He said frankly that in the past, many carving craftsmen were not highly educated and "carved what they came to and what became popular." In this case, "it is most reliable to directly use the patterns on cultural relics."

"Cultural relics are placed in museums, and the number of visitors is limited after all." Some cultural and museum practitioners are also happy to see this phenomenon: "Through animation games or film and television dramas, as well as various cultural and creative products, the true traditional culture can have a wider exposure Impact. "

Big data makes "retro" stagnant?

However, one of the main reasons why the Shanghai Museum’s exhibition of bronzes from China attracted Mr. Wu and Liu Qing is that “finally there are fresh patterns to refer to.”

"Looking at the patterns in history, they are constantly changing. Do we value traditional culture today and can only 're-engrave' it?" Liu Qing said frankly that although some award-winning works in recent years have repeatedly been innovative, the market response has been mediocre; However, copying the styles of cultural relics has always been popular: "Is this really good for spreading traditional culture?"

Even with the wings of technology, Liu Qing's worries still seem to have no answer. Before some "national style" games are launched online, various versions will be put online for traffic testing, and the most popular "retro" styles will be selected. Some game practitioners are also worried that today's games are increasingly focusing on "small but beautiful". As long as they attract and capture a small number of "core consumers", they can make profits. On the contrary, traditional culture will be limited to those who like "national style". among niche groups.

The picture of "Hundred Scenes of Jiangnan" refers to the ancient painting

There is a prop "Eight Immortals Lamp" in "Hundred Scenes of Jiangnan", the prototype is taken from "Aoshan". In the Lantern Festival folk customs since the Song Dynasty, people like to stack colored lanterns to form a mountain. For example, the Giant Ao, hence the name - the character images, architectural designs, and clothing shapes in the game can all be prototyped in ancient paintings. In Chen Wen’s view, “We have always advocated cultural self-confidence, which is to let young people understand traditional culture through good art forms.”

“Innovation in traditional culture is first based on understanding traditional culture.” Some game players He believes that only when traditional culture enters the lives of more contemporary people will innovation and development be stimulated: "Isn't it innovation to spread traditional culture through mobile games?"

"If you think that restoration is just copying the ancients and does not count as creation, then They are too ignorant of the situation." Liu Shuai, founder of the Chinese costume restoration team who created Song Dynasty costumes for actors Liu Shishi and Jing Boran at this year's CCTV Mid-Autumn Festival, believes that restoration is also innovative.In addition to restoring the shapes, patterns and craftsmanship of ancient clothing based on historical records, many of the ancient clothing patterns and colors they introduced were redesigned based on historical records. Some consumers bought their Hanfu and used it as a windbreaker to wear to work. In the eyes of these consumers, “the important thing is to feel the charm of traditional culture, rather than being bound by tradition, so that traditional culture can be actively applied to contemporary life.” "

column editor: Shi Chenlu text editor: Jian Gongbo

source: author: Jian Gongbo Zhang Yi