Chapter 17 This is like farming
Chapter 17 This is like farming
"But……"
Xu Yichi hesitated to speak. She always felt that something was not right, but she couldn't tell exactly what was wrong. Hearing this, Yang Yanan glared at her and said, "Okay, shut up. I know what you want to say."
"——Aren't you trying to say that all the data I just mentioned are based on idealized 'hypothetical' conditions, and that reality may not be as smooth as I expected?"
Xu Yichi nodded frantically like a chicken pecking at rice.
"Tsk..." The little girl couldn't help but grin and sneer at this, "Yes, you are right, what I just said is indeed just an assumption based on idealized conditions."
"But don't forget, Xiao Xu, I also said that people's interests will not remain unchanged. Those netizens who have not seen any news about Ronghua for a while are unlikely to never see or hear about it in their lifetime."
"So, the actual screening ratio may not be as ideal as I just said, but the final result may not be much worse than the one I assumed - it may even far exceed the '550 people' I finally deduced."
"Or, let's take a step back and say that even if the final loss ratio doesn't reach the ideal 1%, it can only be 1/500, 1/1,000, or even 1/10,000. After 55 million people are screened, only five or six people will remain."
"Aren't these five or six people also fresh, reliable and safe successors of skills?"
"——It is better to have five or six new people to inherit the intangible cultural heritage of velvet flower than to have only one elderly inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage branch of Jinling velvet flower like before!"
"Besides, these five or six people are just the first batch that emerged in this short period of time. We have analyzed the problem very clearly before. The fundamental reason why many intangible cultural heritage projects are on the verge of being lost is that they are not well-known and cannot make money. Now that the fame of 'velvet flower' has risen, a large demand gap has also appeared in the market. The income of practitioners has increased. Naturally, there will be new craftsmen willing to devote themselves to the production and inheritance of the intangible cultural heritage of velvet flower."
"As for the unprofessional improved and innovative products and their makers that you asked about earlier, can they still be considered part of the inheritance of velvet flowers?" Yang Yan'an paused intentionally when talking about this question, "--Yes, of course, and it must be considered."
"Xiao Xu, have you forgotten? When I mentioned the two different directions to you, I told you that although these two options are completely different, they are not in conflict. It doesn't matter which one comes first."
"Hmm... yes, you did say that." Xu Yichi tried hard to recall what the old loli said and nodded solemnly, "I seem to understand a little bit... but I'm not sure whether what I understand is right or not."
"...Then what is it that you understand?" Yang Yanan's eyebrows twitched slightly. She was now somewhat skeptical about this kid's ability to understand.
"Well... no matter what, these makers and their works have helped spread the velvet flower craft to a certain extent?" Xu Yichi scratched his head uncertainly, "And if a certain kind of craft culture wants to develop continuously, long-term and healthily, the technology and subject matter must not stand still for years?"
"Hiss~ Don't mention it, you really hit the point this time." Yang Yan'an bared his teeth and inhaled with a hiss, "That's about right." "First of all, no matter if you have innovated enough and found that your technical level is insufficient, and then turned to someone for serious and systematic learning, or after further study, you turned around and devoted yourself to technical improvement and subject matter innovation, the two words "improvement" and "innovation" are indeed topics that a skill is destined to be unavoidable if it wants to develop healthily, so it doesn't matter which comes first or later."
"——Even if you just focus on improvement and innovation, there is nothing wrong with that. After all, practitioners can always get all kinds of novel inspiration from the wild imagination of the 'folk craftsmen'. In the end, the two can always achieve a delicate balance and unity."
“Secondly, as you said, no matter whether those hairpin girls with wild imaginations make glowing velvet flowers with small electric beads, or cyber velvet flowers that move and change when tied with motor parts, or even if they are extremely cruel and use velvet flowers to make a giant flying cockroach - although the velvet flower flying cockroach is indeed quite vicious - as long as what they make is novel and interesting enough, and the number of views of the videos and blog posts they post is high enough, it means that more people know and understand velvet flowers, and they are spreading this intangible cultural heritage.”
"So, have you discovered it, Xiao Xu?" Yang Yan'an said, clapping his hands and summarizing Xu Yichi, "After the velvet flower became popular, the paper-cut, silk flower, filigree inlay and cloisonné enamel that were also brought up, all these intangible cultural heritage skills that have shown signs of revival, have such a complete, huge and traceable inheritance chain behind them."
"They first took advantage of an opportunity to increase their familiarity and recognition among the public - this opportunity could be the broadcast of a certain drama, the explosion of a certain short video, or the convening of a national or even international conference..."
"In short, when the spread reaches a certain level, a large number of people will be drawn to experience this skill out of curiosity or because they truly love it. After experiencing it, some people will choose to stay and continue to study it in depth..."
“So the market expanded, and the circle of enthusiasts and practitioners continued to expand. When the scale of the two developed to a certain limit, quantitative changes led to qualitative changes, and new technical improvement ideas and subject matter selection directions were bound to burst out in a blowout manner.”
"It's like farming." Yang Yan'an thought about it and threw out an analogy. "It's very difficult to grow the best quality food on a piece of barren land. It's almost impossible to do it unless you are an expert and scholar who devotes himself to this."
"But if you carefully sow a handful of seeds on a very fertile piece of farmland, you can easily harvest a large field of green seedlings."
"If an intangible cultural heritage is the grain you are going to plant," the little girl said solemnly, "then the public's understanding and acceptance of the intangible cultural heritage is the land."
“Vitality is brought about by development and progress, and development and progress mostly come from a rich and fertile mass base.”
"It is very dangerous to lock a skill culture in a small circle for a long time, whether actively or passively. Doing so will at best make people complacent, and at worst it will be tantamount to self-destruction."
"A virtuous cycle that can spread the culture and allow more people to personally participate in the inheritance chain is the guarantee for the long-term spread of an intangible cultural heritage, Xiao Xu."
() Why does it sound like a civil service exam?
(End of this chapter)