"This is the Kanghou Gui of Henan, dug out from Hebi in 1931; this is the gate pillar of Luoyang, which is a hollow portrait brick pillar of the Han Dynasty. There are only two of them in the Henan Museum... ..." Recently, a video of Liu Wenchao, a blogger born in the 1995s and native dialects, introducing Henan cultural relics in the British Museum in Henan dialect went viral. In a recent interview with a reporter from the Yangtze Evening News/Ziniu News, he revealed that he is currently preparing to upgrade and film a short drama about "Henan Cultural Relics Returning Home."
Netizens "questioned" to explore the past and present life of cultural relics
Recently, it was revealed that 2,000 collections were stolen or damaged, and some parts of the collection were even sold as scrap. The British Museum has once again attracted attention. Currently, there are more than 23,000 pieces of Chinese cultural relics in the museum, ranging from Neolithic Age stoneware, Yangshao Culture painted pottery, Shang and Zhou Dynasty Spring and Autumn Warring States bronzes, Han Dynasty lacquerware and jade, to Tang Sancai, Song Dynasty Jun Kiln porcelain, Yuan Dynasty blue and white, Ming Dynasty filigree enamel, almost all of them are covered All cultural relic categories cover the entire history of Chinese civilization.
Cultural relics are silent, but history is deafening. The bronze gui made by Kanghou of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the three-color glazed pottery from Luoyang Tang Dynasty, the azure-glazed porcelain lamp holder from Ru Kiln... From the short video of Liu Wenchao, a young man from Zhengzhou, many people have learned that there are many extremely precious cultural relics unearthed from Henan. "When you reach out and touch it, you can see the Spring and Autumn Culture; when you step on it, you can see the Qin bricks and Han tiles." The culture of the Central Plains is the main source and root of Chinese culture, and the development history of the Central Plains civilization is the epitome of the history of Chinese civilization. As a native of Henan, speaking Henan dialect is Liu Wenchao's language habit and it is also a gene engraved in his bones. In 2021, after graduating from Henan University, Liu Wenchao went to the UK to study. Since then, he has often shared his daily life while studying abroad on his social account, and occasionally posted some videos complaining in Henan dialect. Liu Wenchao's humorous expressions have attracted nearly 200,000 fans, and he is also called the "British Henan dialect promotion ambassador" by his fans.
Liu Wenchao started shooting a series of cultural relic videos two years ago. At that time, he simply shot and edited the video with his mobile phone, and it already had millions of views. In fact, the original idea was inspired by netizens. "Xiao Chao, are there any cultural relics from Henan in the British Museum? A message from a fan woke me up and I decided to go to the British Museum to have a look." Liu Wenchao told reporters that due to limited space, the collection on display in the museum is only the tip of the iceberg. So Liu Wenchao spent a lot of time searching for Henan cultural relics in the museum.
Liu Wenchao felt a sense of intimacy when he saw the cultural relics from his hometown in a strange country thousands of miles away. At the same time, he felt very distressed when he thought of these cultural relics wandering to a foreign country. "I usually don't pay much attention to cultural relics. I majored in logistics at university. Through shooting videos, I found that there are so many cultural relics related to Henan in the entire China Pavilion. I checked the information one by one to understand the past and present lives of the cultural relics. I also hope to see more Young people like me have a better understanding of the cultural relics of their hometown."
Presenting serious themes in contrasting Henan dialects
Liu Wenchao's video impressed many netizens and triggered everyone's interest in exploring the culture of the Central Plains. "I feel like crying when I see these. They are all our fellow villagers!" "Let them listen to Henan dialect. We are going to pick them up soon!" He also did not expect that the video he shot would be forwarded and reported by many domestic media. , which in turn attracted many netizens’ attention and comments on the loss of overseas cultural relics.
"This is our Sanmenxia pottery, the oldest complete pottery in China's collection, a pointed-bottomed bottle from the Banpo site of the Yangshao Culture..." Analyzing its traffic code, it was narrated in Henan dialect, and the local accent brought a sense of intimacy. As a dialect blogger, Liu Wenchao told reporters that making videos is just his side job. The occasional dialect video he posted became popular, allowing him to gradually develop his side job. "I hope to show the humorous expressions of Henan people in the video, so that our cultural confidence can be expressed more." Although the cultural relics have a long way to return home, the stories behind the cultural relics are full of touching the hearts of the Chinese people, "They are in a foreign country, we I want everyone to know the stories behind them. The painful stories are told in a contrasting way."
After the short drama "Escape from the British Museum" became popular this year, the short film's feelings about family and country and rich cultural content , also inspired Liu Wenchao’s creation.Currently, he is also starting a new short play concept in the UK, using personification to tell the past and present life of a cultural relic unearthed in Henan, and at the same time integrating Henan dialect culture, food culture, etc. into the video. Of course, as equipment upgrades and investment increase, it also brings challenges to forming a shooting team.
Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News reporter Zhang Nan
Proofreading Li Haihui
