In September of 2009, on the fourth conference of the intangible cultural heritage protection intergovernmental committee held by the UNESCO, the Qiang New Year Festival declared by China had been selected into “the list of the intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of protection“, which would be noticed when you learn Chinese in China.
To study Chinese in China, one should understand that the Qiang New Year is the traditional festival of the Qiang nationality in the Sichuan province of China, which is usually celebrated on the Oct, 1st of the lunar calendar.
It is noteworthy before you come to study Mandarin in China that during the festival, the Qiang people worship the gods, with an aim to pray for prosperity, display the harmonious relationship between human beings and nature, show respect for nature as well as to promote the social harmony and family concordances.
Readers must be curious about the procedures during the ceremony, well; firstly, under the prudent guidance of Shibi (priest), the villagers held solemn ceremony and offer killed goats as sacrifice to the deities with festival costumes on, which may sounds quite interesting and mysterious before people learn Chinese in China.
Then, the villagers start to follow the dances of leather drum and Salang led by Shibi, it is noteworthy for students curious about the Chinese intangible culture during their study Chinese in China that during the ceremonies, Shibi would singing the traditional epics of the Qiang nationality with villagers singing, wining and sharing happiness around.
On the New Year’s Eve, the host of each family will join in the host of the sacrificial ceremonies in offering sacrifices and tributes. The cultural and social significance must be easy to find by everyone longing to study Mandarin in China.
It can be fully testified from the schools to study Mandarin in China that through the celebration of the Qiang New Year, the Qiang’s tradition, historical sedimentary deposits and cultural information could be inherited and transmitted, the Qiang’s social behavior had been consolidated, what’s more, the Qiang people’s respect and worshipping for spirits, gods and nation could be expressed.
However, it is important to be seen by students when they learn Chinese in China that due to the increasing frequency of the people’s migration activities in recent years, more and more young people tends to show abated interested towards the traditional culture of the Qiang nationality.
What’s worse to be noticed by students longing to study Chinese in China that with the advent of cultural the cultural shock, fewer and fewer people join in celebrating the Qiang’s New Year, especially the 2008 wenchuan earthquake had destroyed lots of Qiang villages, making the Qiang people’s accumulation area was severely damaged as well as the Qiang new year , which is had also been driven in jeopardy.
Scholars who had thoroughly investigated the Chinese intangible cultural heritage and had been to study Mandarin in China would discover that the second intangible cultural heritage which had been enlisted in “the list of the intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of protection” is Meshrep, it was widely circulated in China’s Xinxiang’s Uyghur community thanks to the geological and functional differentiations.
Since people expecting to study Chinese in China know that Meshrep is rich is diversified expressional forms, which had provide main cultural space for the practicing of the Uyghur traditional customs as well as the exhibition of the Maqam, folk songs, dances, operas, dramas, acrobatics and oral literature, the Meshrep is important gathering in the carrying forward of the ethics, customs, arts and culture, and is an indispensible part in the Uighur traditional festive and folk activities.It is evident for students when they study Mandarin in China that the watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks is also enlisted into the “the list of the intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of protection” in November, 2010 during the 5th conference held by the UNESCO.
Before getting prepared to go to learn Chinese in China, it is also helpful to see that the technology of watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks used to be an important traditional manual skill, which used the camphor woods, pines, and the firs as the raw material, with the adoption of the core technologies of joggle joints and seeming to form a firm sealed and impervious structure form with cabins independent of each other, which should be done under the careful and tedious work of many artisans under the commands of one “head master”.