Song Dynasty research center turns heritage into culture icon
An artist's rendition of the Deshou Imperial Palace after the restoration
After six months of preparations, the Song Dynasty Culture Research and Inheriting Center opened on February 11 in Hangzhou's Shangcheng District.
The center will boost academic research related to Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) cultural heritages citywide and build the heritages into a cultural icon in partnership with Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou City and Shangcheng District.
Members of the center's Academic Advisory Expert Committee includes Bao Weiming, director of the Song Dynasty History Research Association, He Zhongli, professor from Zhejiang University, and Wang Yu, director of the Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences.
The advisory committee will consist of 30 professors and experts, conducting research, academic seminars and academic exchanges about Song Dynasty culture including ideology, regulation, economy, society, people's lives, art and literature, architecture and religion. It will explore Song culture's historical significance, spiritual core and contemporary value.
Residents enjoy the performance of Song Dynasty Cultural Festival last year.
Song poems, ink-wash paintings, music, opera, dance, costumes, makeup, porcelain, silk, flower arrangement and other fields closely related to Song people's lives will be compiled into books in a bid to present a well-rounded picture of this dynasty.
Members of the advisory committee will hold lectures, livestreamings and other activities to popularize Song culture among younger generations. Project construction, exhibition and convention, tourism and the creative industry will also be promoted.
"The center will deepen systematic research about the Song Dynasty, strengthen the multi-channel dissemination of Song culture and promote the brand of cultural heritages," said Qi Xiaohu, a standing committee member of the Hangzhou People's Congress. "Zhejiang government initiated the Song Dynasty Cultural Legacy Project in August 2021. Building Song culture into a paramount icon of Hangzhou is a long-lasting project that requires excavation, enhancement, protection, research and inheriting."
A performance of the Song Dynasty Cultural Festival last year
Shangcheng District is home to many buildings, streets and blocks built in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), accounting for half of the protected sites in Hangzhou City. It's also the former location of the Deshou Imperial Palace, dating back to when Hangzhou was the nation's capital.
As a result, building a national Song cultural display window is the priority for Shangcheng in the next five years, since the district is located in what was the core area of the Song Dynasty.
The Southern Song Dynasty was one of China's golden eras, with a thriving economy, technology and culture. However, unlike the well-preserved Forbidden City in Beijing, Deshou Imperial Palace has been virtually destroyed over the centuries, with only a few remaining relics and foundations. Now, Hangzhou is rebuilding it on its original foundation to restore the dynasty's glory days and better protect remaining relics.
"Deshou Imperial Palace will be built into a window with a living, multi-dimensional space for displays," said Xue Yabing, director of the Shangcheng District Culture and Tourism Bureau. "We will organize a cultural festival annually to make the palace a Song Dynasty lifestyle experience base and develop it into a never-ending Song culture grand showground."
As of last month, more than 60 percent of the palace's reconstruction had been finished. When completed, it will become the only venue in China that shows Song imperial palace's soil layers and excavation sites. Fixed exhibitions will portray the dynasty from different angles, such as rituals, costumes, food, art and daily utensils.
Deshou's excavation began in 2001, and after 20 years, the imperial street, empress' pavilion, royal ancestral temple, gardens, city walls and pipes were discovered.
