Country must work hard to create new cultural classics

China is lagging behind other countries in the creation of contemporary works that represent the peak of the country's cultural achievements, according to a leading heritage campaigner.[Special coverage]

"We have profound cultural traditions and splendid arts such as Peking Opera, but in terms of contemporary culture, we are known for nothing," said Feng Jicai.

"Culture is living and develops as the times and society change. We should safeguard our heritage while developing today's new classics."

Feng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was speaking at the annual session, which opened on Tuesday.

He referred to the death on Monday of Yuan Kuocheng, one of China's best storytellers. He said Yuan may be the last practitioner of the storytelling tradition, and his death could mean the end of the art form.

"Maestros such as Yuan become fewer and fewer," he said.

Feng, 73, has long been a focus of the annual session, not only because his 1.92 meter height means he rises above the crowd. His repeated calls for action to safeguard the cultural heritage have attracted attention for the past 10 years.

Tianjin-born Feng loved painting and literature from a young age. In the 1960s, he studied traditional Chinese painting at a local studio and developed a fascination for folk art.

However, the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) prevented him from pursuing this interest. He turned to literature in the early 1980s, and soon became one of the nation's best-known writers.

His commitment to safeguarding the country's cultural heritage began in 1991 when he visited Zhouzhuang, a village in Jiangsu province that has many waterways and is known as the "Venice of the East".

Feng was impressed by the architecture of the village's houses, gardens and bridges. He learned that a villager wanted to sell his house because he needed money and regarded the building as old and shabby.

Feng realized that old villages and the traditional lifestyles of their people were dying, and "threw away" his brush and pen so he could devote himself to saving them.

In the mid-1990s, Tianjin launched a reconstruction program. He could do nothing to stop the reconstruction, but was determined to preserve the heritage of the 600-year-old city.

He arranged for photographers to take pictures of the old streets and buildings, sent out volunteers to record the residents' memories of life in the old communities, and spent large sums of money buying historic objects. All these treasured memories are now on show in Tianjin's Old City Museum.

Feng does not only care about his hometown - he has visited 2,000 counties to help preserve their heritage.

"We used to have thousands of towns and villages with a variety of unique cultures, but now villages disappear one after another and all the towns look the same," he said.

In 2001, he met an elderly woman on the border of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces who could sing many old folk songs. He was unable to record them all because of his tight schedule, but promised to come back. He kept his promise and returned the next year, only to find that the woman had died. Her daughter told him that before her death, the woman had kept asking, "When will that guy come back to listen to my songs?"

"I was so sorry, and decided I would never again delay recording such treasures," Feng said.

In 2003, Feng started a nationwide project to preserve folk traditions, and the following year he launched the Feng Jicai Folk Culture Fund.

"Every day, I receive numerous calls, e-mails and letters from all over the country telling me that a certain craft is dying or old buildings are being torn down," he said.

"The speed at which we try to save them is far behind the speed at which they are destroyed. We're battling against time, but should never give up."