Tradition’s Transforming Powers

By Tao Zihui

Today’s young Chinese are， in fact， quite “traditional.” By day， someone could be a hiphop lover with a taste for designer streetwear strutting around Sanlitun， a popular business and fashion area in Beijing， but by night this same person may have a proclivity for hit costume drama vibes. Young urban professionals in Lujiazui， Shanghai’s financial center， with their high heels or smart suits on weekdays， may dress up in hanfu， the traditional clothing of China’s Han ethnic group， on weekends.

These seemingly fragmented and contradictory aspects of life are an accurate portrayal of China’s contemporary youth. What’s more， traditional culture is also seeking new ways of blending into modern-day life.

“Traditional culture can come to life on a dayto-day basis by infusing its unique elements with a modern twist，” He Yang， a professor at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology， told Beijing Review.

This summer， pop show A Dream of Splendor is recreating China’s cultural glory days of the Song Dynasty （960-1279）. This era produced an assortment of artistic achievements from poetry to painting and calligraphy， according to Yang Yang， the show’s principal director. The aesthetic palate of the Song was“delicate， high-end， but also simple，” she added.

Loosely based on a classical play written by playwright and poet Guan Hanqing in the Yuan Dynasty（1271-1368）， it tells the story of Zhao Pan’er， a talented teahouse owner from a humble background who rescues her two friends from their unhappy homes. Together， the three musketeers decide to launch a business in Dongjing， the then-capital of the Northern Song Dynasty （960-1127）， known today as Kaifeng in Henan Province.

First airing on popular Chinese streaming site Tencent Video in early June， the show has already proved one of the country’s most popular dramas this year. It’s also made its way to the Republic of Korea， Malaysia， Cambodia and Japan.

From the bustling marketplace in Dongjing to the riverside households in Qiantang， known today as Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province， the drama looks at the way Chinese lived roughly 1，000 years ago， providing a panoramic view of common people’s lives in those days.

This drama focuses on several aspects of traditional Chinese culture. “Moreover， the modern spirit embodied in the original play also sparked discussion among viewer audiences，” Zhao Dongmei， a professor at the Department of History at Peking University， told China Newsweek.

A Dream of Splendor reinterprets the Northern Song by bringing viewers colorful， energetic scenes bursting with elegance that modern audiences can relate to. Burning incense， brewing tea， arranging flowers， and playing cuju， the ancient Chinese game of kicking a ball through an opening into a net like today’s soccer， people are fascinated by these traditional legacies.

“People are looking at these ancient traditions from a modern viewpoint； they are aware of what happened before and after a certain point in dynastical times，”Zhao said. The Song became a blueprint for Chinese society， one that shaped people’s lives for decades， centuries even， after the actual dynasty had ended. Some aspects have even survived to this day. For example： French Revolution Paris in the late 18th century is usually cited as the birthplace of the restaurant （the word itself is French）， but many of the characteristics that define a modern restaurant were already in place in Song times as part of the era’s colorful nightlife. Rice and tea， now staples of the Chinese diet， replaced wheat and wine as the dominant food and drink during the Song.

The dynasty’s application of woodblock printing evolved into book printing； the epoch marked the formalization of the imperial examination system， a civil service examination system in imperial China， administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy； and so the list continues. All these similarities generate a sense of contemporary closeness to traditional culture.

For most people in today’s fast-paced society， having a nice cup of tea is still the No.1 way to relax and quench their thirst. A Dream of Splendor brings viewers the complex and exquisite tradition of cha bai xi， or tea acrobatics， an ancient art dating to the Tang Dynasty （618-907） which uses tea paste， produced by using tea leaves that have already been processed and fermented， as a raw material to draw figures on the beverage’s surface. The art has been inscribed as provincial-level intangible cultural heritage in China’s Fujian Province.

“The restoration of cha bai xi has opened a window for us to understand culture and life in the Song，”Zhang Zhifeng， a representative inheritor of the craft， told Xinhua.

But it’s not just the tea cup that runneth over with tradition.

According to a report released by the Public Opinion Laboratory of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences （CASS） last year， in 2021， on Taobao， Alibaba’s online retail marketplace， the annual turnover of 14 intangible heritage industries exceeded 100 million yuan （$14.9 million）.

Professor Liu Zhiming， chief expert of the CASS Public Opinion Laboratory， believes that the intangible cultural heritage that has entered the basics of clothing， food， housing and other aspects of daily lives can be better preserved and passed on. Promoting the consumption of intangible cultural heritage derivatives and promoting the high-quality development of the industry are the most effective ways to protect and inherit intangible cultural heritage， Liu added.

As a scholar of the Song history， Zhao feels the same way. She has always embraced new methods to spread knowledge and believes by publishing meaningful content from the ancient past by relating it to contemporary lifestyles will be beneficial to building a better Chinese civilization. For Zhao， scholars have the responsibility to break the myths and establish （relatively） true historical narratives.

More and more scholars are turning to short video platforms such as Douyin—China’s TikTok， to bring the public a real “ancient experience” in terms of literature， politics， lifestyles and social activities.

Kang Zhen， a famous poetry researcher and professor at Beijing Normal University， said in a Douyin livestream in April that if platforms like this had existed in ancient times， Li Bai， the romantic poet of the Tang Dynasty， along with his peers would have “rushed to open accounts and tell more people about their poems and ideas through short videos.”

In the digital era， scholars have entered a whole new world on platforms such as Douyin and Bilibili， another hugely popular short video platform， exporting their knowledge in a way today’s public responds to.

Ancient literati would often leave poems and inscriptions on walls， cliffs and post stations. But why？“An important reason was that they were looking to spread the word—i.e.， their works，” Kang told China Newsweek. Short videos， a new form of communication， pursue conciseness and simplicity. “It’s convenient for everyone to understand and repost，” he added.

According to the Douyin Ancient Poetry Data Report， in the past year， the cumulative playback volume of the platform’s ancient poetry-related videos was 17.8 billion， a year-on-year increase of 168 percent. As a platform with more than 1 billion users， Douyin has also cooperated with scholars to conduct knowledge popularization and bring traditional culture back to life.

“Scholars today have one more channel to spread their ideas， and people who love traditional culture can gather to discuss， compare and stimulate the imagination，” Kang said. BR