Xie Ding-yuan
College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University
This paper deals with the definition of productive protection of intangible cultural heritage and its current progress, as well as the significance and principles of productive protection of food in Chinese intangible cultural heritage. Measures for such protection are also discussed, for example, "oil extraction skills by Yang Louzi Workshop" and "the cooking details of Wu Han Hot Noodles with Sesame by Cai Lin's".
As is understood in this paper, intangible heritage is a living and on-going heritage. Productive protection can actively and effectively stimulate the vitality of intangible cultural heritage and thus serve the purpose of its preservation. Hence, productive protection should work under the principle of "vitality-preserving and heritability-enhancing" and attention should be paid to the innovation of inheritance modes, focusing on the continuation of skills and knowledge, while avoiding the "pan-industrialization" tendency. Productive protection of intangible cultural inheritance should not center on amount and scale, but on individuality and difference, embracing the creativity of human beings, rather than the functions of machines.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)