Imitation is not cultural innovation

It was reported by Nanfang Daily that during Guangdong’s recent ”two sessions,” Liu Liping, a member of the local advisory legislature, proposed that a ”Statue of Harmony” be built on the island of Zhuhai, located west of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, as a cultural event designed to attract global attention. He suggested the government should support the project and invite bidding from all over the world.

Liu is the president of a construction company in Zhuhai. His proposal suits his occupation. But the proposal for a ”Statue of Harmony” has failed to gain any positive response from the public.

Instead there has been unanimous criticism over the idea from netizens in China who either see it as a clumsy imitation, or regard Liu as ambitiously grandiose.

Chinese harmonious society has a unique cultural spirit, which encourages creativity, stresses coexistence and emphasizes people’s rights and livelihood. There is no doubt this spirit should be carried forward. But it is not necessary to demonstrate the enhancement of a cultural spirit through a tall statue.

It is not typical of Chinese traditional culture to use nymph statues to represent the spirit of its culture. It would be a little awkward to build a statue like this close to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

It would not represent the heaviness of China’s cultural spirit, nor would it stimulate the pride of Chinese people. Instead people would be repulsed by it for obviously copying the West.

Besides, we should be aware of such ways for enhancing our culture, through elaborate building and construction.

Chinese culture and spirit stresses its gradual permeation and influence while emphasizing the realization of people’s will and public interests. Erecting magnificent buildings should come from the concern over public good rather than from other things.

With this in mind, a so-called ”Statue of Harmony” is just a fashionable coat, and has nothing to do with Chinese culture and spirit. Such cultural creativity is actually not creative at all, and once it’s encouraged it will damage more worthy innovations within our society as a whole.

Source: Beijing News