By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 169 This is Culture [Second Update!]

My decision to learn about intangible cultural heritage was initially just a passing fancy.

In a sense, it is also a way of not letting down one's existing abilities.

After all, it would be a real shame not to use his incredible craft skills to do something.

After returning to Chengdu, Li Younan visited several local inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, including paper-cutting and Shu embroidery.

In contrast, these intangible cultural heritages also have a good market in this day and age, which is different from the smiling dolls that were about to disappear that I came across before.

These two inheritors of intangible cultural heritage are an elderly woman and a younger woman.

Both of them showed great enthusiasm for Li Younan's arrival.

In the process of learning these two crafts, Li Younan naturally gained some understanding of the core knowledge of intangible cultural heritage, and his previous views and opinions on intangible cultural heritage also changed.

Two days later, Liu Yu called him, wanting to find a place to practice fishing again.

This time, I don't plan to go far. I'll just find a paid fishpond near Chengdu to practice my skills.

Although it was supposed to be practice, Li Younan still felt that Liu Yu was more interested in simply having some fun.

One morning, Li Younan drove to pick up Liu Yu. Liu Yu could drive, of course, but he seemed to really enjoy riding in Li Younan's car.

On the bus, Liu Yu brought up Li Younan's recent visits to intangible cultural heritage inheritors. "In my opinion, to say something politically incorrect, protecting intangible cultural heritage is actually going against the tide of history. Some things should be subject to natural selection and gradually eliminated."

He glanced at Li Younan and said, "It's pointless. You have no way to protect intangible cultural heritage that's about to disappear."

Li Younan gripped the steering wheel, thought for a moment, and said with a smile, "Actually, my thoughts were similar to yours for the past few days. I also felt that intangible cultural heritage existed mainly because it was usable during a certain historical period. But after visiting several inheritors of intangible cultural heritage in Chengdu these past few days, my thoughts have changed somewhat."

Liu Yu raised an eyebrow but remained silent, waiting for Li Younan to continue.

Li Younan gathered his thoughts briefly and slowly asked a question: "What do you think is the meaning of us traveling to different places?"

Liu Yu hesitated for a moment, then shook her head: "This question is too broad. What are you trying to say?"

Li Younan looked ahead; they had already left Chengdu's territory. Pointing to the sign marking the Chengdu border, he asked, "What comes to mind when you see the word 'Chengdu'?"

Liu Yu looked over, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Li Younan laughed, his expression gradually becoming serious: "Chengdu's current urban scale is comparable to that of a true first-tier city. From the perspective of the city, how different is it from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen? These places are all built of reinforced concrete, they all have parks, they all have subways, they all have people from all over the country, they all speak Mandarin, and even the street food is almost the same. You can find Shandong multigrain pancakes, Hunan stinky tofu, and Hainan coconut fruit salad downstairs in any residential area."

So, what is the real difference between Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shanghai?

“It should be culture,” Liu Yu said after thinking for a moment. “Culture? That word is too abstract. Let’s continue talking about urban development.”

Li Younan paused for a moment, then asked seriously, "If every city develops like this, what is the point of moving from one city to another?"

These words immediately put Liu Yu into deep thought.

Li Younan's words made Liu Yu suddenly realize this. It was true. What you could see in Chengdu was exactly the same as what you could see in Beijing. So why did you go from Chengdu to Beijing?

Li Younan continued speaking.

He laughed: "So you've realized that too, right? The reason we chose to travel from Chengdu to Beijing is because Beijing has things that Chengdu doesn't. Because times are changing, technology is advancing, and convenient things can suddenly spread and take over the whole country. So every city has the same architectural layout, the same reinforced concrete. But there are always some differences, and that's what we see. What are these differences?"

Li Younan glanced at Liu Yu and said, "Let's continue using Beijing as an example. These different things are Peking Opera, hutongs, candied hawthorn, and so on. These things don't exist in Chengdu, or rather... Chengdu's are not authentic. And this is the significance of intangible cultural heritage."

Liu Yu's expression was somewhat strange, but there was also a hint of sudden enlightenment in her eyes. She said, "What you said seems to make some sense."

Li Younan said earnestly, "Ordinary people find it difficult to see things from a higher perspective, but since the country is so vigorously promoting the protection of this, it must have a greater significance that ordinary people can hardly imagine. I'm reminded of a documentary I watched before, do you know about hanging coffins?"

Liu Yu nodded and said, "Are you talking about that coffin hanging on the cliff in Guizhou?"

Li Younan nodded and said, "When scientists were exploring, they considered all sorts of possibilities, but they couldn't figure out how people in the past managed to hoist those coffins up there. Later, they interviewed a centenarian and finally figured out the reason."

At this moment, there was a highway intersection ahead. Li Younan slowed down and drove the car onto the ramp, and continued, "Then you will find that humans have a very wonderful attribute, which has almost become the driving force of human development, and that is curiosity. But curiosity is not only about the future, but also about the past."

"Times are indeed progressing, and many things will indeed be phased out. But they should not disappear."

"If we broaden our perspective further, what distinguishes us Chinese people from other ethnic groups? It is precisely those intangible cultural heritages that have been continuously passed down."

"These intangible cultural heritages, on a smaller scale, are the unique characteristics that distinguish one village from another, one city from another, or even one province from another. These unique characteristics together constitute the unique characteristics of our Chinese nation. This is also the fundamental reason why we are different from other ethnic groups."

"Imagine Australia and some of the major countries in the Americas. What do you think are the differences between them? To put it even more bluntly, if Canada and the United States suddenly became one country, you wouldn't think there would be any problem, right? But if Spain and Italy became one country, you would find it very strange. They are not the same ethnic group at all, because when you think of Spain, you think of bullfighting, which is something that Italy doesn't have."

These words made Liu Yu fall into deep thought. After a moment, he slowly raised his head and said, "You've rambled on for so long. Let's just say you have a point. You've found a legitimate reason for what you did."

Li Younan laughed and said, "At first I didn't think that much about it, but as I was doing it, I suddenly realized this. If one day I go to the capital and can't get douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), even though I've heard it's hard to drink, or Peking duck, which I've heard isn't very tasty, or I can't see Peking Opera, well, Peking Opera doesn't seem that interesting, then I'll still feel regretful. Going to the capital and going to Shanghai are no different."

Liu Yu nodded seriously. "This is culture."

The car slowly drove off the ramp. Liu Yu suddenly looked at the road ahead and said out of the blue, "By the way, do you want to see what my sister looks like?"

Li Younan paused for a moment, then looked at Liu Yu with some confusion, though Liu Yu's expression seemed quite serious.

(End of this chapter)