文化講座的期盼 / Lectures on Cultural Heritage: What to Expect

文化講座的期盼 鄭培凱	Lectures on Cultural Heritage: What to Expect Pei-kai Cheng
中國文化中心在安排講座方面，一向秉持一個雙管齊下的策略：一方面要從通識教育的角度，拓展同學的文化關懷與知識面；另方面則是提供學術研究的前沿發現，讓同學瞭解學術文化的新知與探索的方向。我們邀請的專家都是一時之選，都是在不同學術領域有突出創見的學者。由於他們掌握了整個知識領域的全局，在學術鑽研上又有獨到的見地，這些講座才能不落俗套，深入淺出，引導同學們認識某一課題研究的意義，聯繫起文化認知的重要性。	IN PREPARING lectures and programmes, the Chinese Civilisation Centre (CCIV) has always sought to attain a two-fold objective – to enhance our students’ concern about and knowledge of various cultural issues in a spirit of General Education, and to impart to them new findings in frontier-zone researches and the latest academic quests for the yet unknown. Our guest lecturers and speakers are a select group, all being scholars and experts with outstanding success in their own fields. Given their grasp of the overall picture and their original work done, these lectures and programmes will be aptly individualistic, insightful and yet readily comprehensible. They will guide our students well on the road towards understanding of the subjects and their relevance to and significance for civilisation in general.
換句話說，我們的講座要求實際從事特殊研究工作的專家，像話家常一樣，把他們融會貫通的知識，講解給同學們聽，讓不是鑽研這個領域的同學也能產生興趣，拓展自己的文化視野。能夠達到這個目的的首要條件是，大學者願意降尊紓貴，願意放下身段，給初學者一個入門的機會。另一個條件則是，同學要有開闊的胸懷，對自己不認識的知識領域有認知的興趣。兩相結合，則文化藝術講座就能為青年學子打開一扇一扇新知的視窗，看到知識的天穹是多麼遼闊，文化修養的樂趣則如光風霽月，給人帶來無限的歡愉。	In other words, through these lecturers, experts and first-hand researchers in various specialised fields will explain what they deeply and wholly know to our young students in an amiable family-chat way. Even those not specialised in those particular subjects will find their interest aroused and their cultural awareness sharpened. To achieve this aim, first we need successful scholars who are nevertheless willing to undertake such an unattractive work as talking to entire beginners. And then we also need young people who are open-minded and willing to learn about new things in unfamiliar fields. When the two sides come together, we can happily present these lectures and programmes on culture and art that open up window after window for our young students to look out into the unknown world. Then they will see how far and wide spans the firmament of knowledge and feel how pleasurable it is to bathe in the light breeze and clear moonlight of intellectual beauty.
我們這個學期的講座安排，特色在於文化遺產及文化藝術的傳承，具體的節目有崑曲示範講座、昆曲演出、粵劇與粵曲、古琴音樂、少數民族音樂、通俗音樂、考古發現、石刻藝術、絲綢之路文化交流，等等。用現在文化界流行的話來說，就是“文化遺產”與“非物質文化遺產”的文化認知，以及文化遺產與當今社會文化發展的關係。	This semester, our CCIV lectures will focus on cultural heritage and the passing down of various forms of art and culture. This catalogue lists lectures on Kunqu opera plus demonstrations and performances, those on Cantonese opera and operatic singing, music of the instrument of qin, China’s ethnic minorities’ music, and pop music. Also can be found are lectures on topics like archaeological findings, the art of stone-carving, and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Road. To borrow some current buzzwords in cultural circles, we are trying to raise awareness of “heritage” and “intangible cultural heritage”, and to draw attention to how heritage relates to new advances in society and civilisation nowadays.
我個人對“文化遺產”及“非物質文化遺產”的名稱使用，多有微詞，認為容易誤導一般人的理解，以為“文化遺產”可以輕易轉為“文化資產”，甚至當作“文化資本”，用來發展“文化產業”。比較好的稱呼，應當是“文化古跡”、“文物遺址”、甚或“文化國寶”，以免地方官員或財團以之作為牟利的工具，削足適履，最後以破壞文物古跡收場。就短時間而言，錢是賺到了少數管事者的口袋裏，但就長期而言，破壞了歷史文化古跡，剝奪了子孫後代瞻仰與欣賞國寶的基本權利，實在是歷史的罪人，對不起整個民族，對不起五千年的中國歷史文化。	Personally, I dislike the use of yichan (遺產) as the Chinese equivalent of heritage in the context of “cultural heritage” and “intangible cultural heritage”. The word yichan is misleading as it means “inheritance” to the man in the street, which leads people to think of cultural “inheritance” as readily convertible to cultural “assets” or even cultural “capital” that can be utilised to stimulate cultural “industries”. More accurate terms, I think, would be “cultural-historical sites” (文化古跡)”, “cultural relic sites (文物遺址)”, or even “national cultural treasures (文化國寶)”. That would help to discourage the local officials or business interests from tampering with those relics and sites for money’s sake and wrecking the treasures in the end. For a short while, the profits made would go to the private coffer of those few in charge. Yet, in the long run, those relics and sites would be destroyed, thus depriving posterity of their right to admire and appreciate the nation’s cultural treasury. Then the culprits would go down in history as criminals who caused irreparable damage to the Chinese nation and its five-millennium-old civilisation.
至於“非物質文化遺產”的名稱，誤導性更強。我長期以來一直呼籲，應當改稱“非實物文化傳承”，一則理由如同上述，民俗生活、信仰活動、民間藝術傳統、表演藝術精粹，都不應該完全變成企業化的賺錢工具，只為了賺錢而提倡。二來是因為重點應該放在傳承上，也就是文化傳統的延續與源自內在的發展。絕對不可假借“非物質文化遺產”之名，改頭換面，甚至掛羊頭買狗肉，順應金錢的潮流，打著“文化搭台，經濟唱戲”的招牌，任意修改文化傳承，卻名之為“發展創新”。文化當然應該發展，應該創新，但是，我反對劈了祖宗的骨殖當柴燒，還要自誇是發現了新能源。中國人應當有能力在文化藝術上創新，但是，逃避文化傳承，扭曲文化傳統，把一切文化資源都當作賺錢的法門，只能說是販賣祖傳的遺產，一點創新發展的意圖都沒有。	Even more misleading is “non-material cultural yichan” (非物質文化遺產). For quite a long time, I have been calling for the term to be replaced by “intangible cultural tradition” (非實物文化傳承). One reason is actually stated as above – folk customs, faiths and beliefs, arts and crafts, gems of performing art should not be commercialised into milch cows, or be promoted merely to raise cash. Another reason is that emphasis should be laid on tradition, namely the continuity and intrinsic growth of cultural heritage. It is utterly unacceptable to exploit “non-material cultural yichan” by “setting up a stage of culture only to put on shows of business”, so to speak. And one shouldn’t tout distorted heritage on the pretext of “innovative advancement” like selling horsemeat as beefsteak, as it were. True, heritage ought to advance and innovate, yet I am against burning one’s ancestors’ buried bones for fuel while boasting of having found new sources of energy. The Chinese should be able to innovate in fields of culture and art, but there is no innovation – nor any intention of it – in squeezing money out of whatever cultural resources available, shunning responsibilities to pass down tradition but distorting its real significance instead. It is like living by selling off one’s inherited property – and selling it cheap.
我們希望，這學期的講座與特備活動，都能保育及發展我們的文化傳承。	It is our hope that the lectures and special programmes for this new semester will help to preserve and carry forward our cultural tradition.
[本文為香港城市大學中國文化中心2008-09學年上學期的講座概覽之前言“主任的話”。]	[This is CCIV Director’s Message, or foreword to the catalogue of lectures for Semester A of 2008-2009 at CCIV, CityU of Hong Kong.] (Translated by Allen Zhuang)