Is there a need to rebuild the Old Summer Palace? In reply to such a proposal from a national lawmaker, the National Cultural Heritage Administration said there was no such need.

The Summer palace on the outskirts of China’s capital is a tranquil park with canals, bridges, pagodas, ginkgo tone ruins, and a few traditional buildings. Despite still covering a large area, the site today represents only a shadow of what stood before.The ruins have long been a potent symbol of China's"humiliation"at the hands of foreign powers.

In 1860, British and French troops looted and burned the Summer Palace in response to the killings of 20 European emissaries during the Second Opium War: Forty years later, it was further damaged by a coalition of foreign nations. Historian Bernard Brizay described these acts of cultural destruction as equivalent to invaders blowing up the Palace of Versaille (凡尔赛宫), looting thousands' of priceless artworks from the Louvre((卢浮宫), and burning France's national library to the ground。

Since rebuilding the Old Summer Palace was first proposed in 1980, there has been an ongoing public debate about whether its ruins should be left to stand as a permanent reminder of China's dark history. The state-run newspaper Guangming Daily called the remains of the Summer Palace "the most realistic teaching materials" for instilling a patriotic education. "Though humiliating, they cause people to think, "an author wrote. “They use a cruei reality to tell all Chinese people: Those who fall behind are struck down, while the strong rise and prosper.”

Those in the rebuild camp want to recapture old glory, but they don't understand the importance of cultural relics. A ruin like Yuan Ming Yuan is a historical record. In this case the history includes its destruction by fire. If you rebuild, you erase the record.

While the term cultural heritage is used to refer to both physical and intangible qualities, it is not limited to physical objects. It can also refer to beliefs, traditions, language, and food. These are often passed down from generation to generation. 【小题1】The preservation of these cultural treasures can help promote global understanding and mutual respect.

【小题2】Determining what constitutes(构成) “cultural heritage” is often a challenging and contentious task, and advocates of cultural preservation and integrity are often accused of making false assumption(假设)about the cultures they study.

It is important to recognize that cultural heritage is not limited to physical objects and monuments. It also includes living expressions of culture inherited from our ancestors. Intangible cultural heritage refers to knowledge and practices related to the environment and traditional crafts. 【小题3】It is essential to protect these valuable assets for their protection and appreciation.

【小题4】 It is essential to preserve these objects in order to preserve their significance. And it is necessary to protect the intangible cultural heritage, because it is often overlooked. These works of art have symbolic and aesthetic(美学的) value and are valuable to the people of the country. Some of them are even more significant than the physical objects.

As cultural heritage is a part of a culture, it can be protected. However, if someone is trying to patent a design, you have to ensure that you do not copy it. 【小题5】Whether they’re paintings, sculptures, or food, they’re worth protecting. Fortunately, it’s important to protect and conserve our cultural heritage. It’s the legacy of the culture and the way it was once lived.

You might think of martial arts movies when you see people performing graceful moves down a river, all standing on a bamboo strip, but actually it is a form of intangible cultural heritage: single bamboo drifting (独竹漂).

Over 2,000 years ago, the high-quality wood, nanmu, in Guizhou was in great demand by the royal court in the north. With no better transportation, people had to stand on one log to drift down the river. Later, local people began to compete along the way and the game of wood drifting was born. In the Qing Dynasty, wood drifting became single bamboo drifting because of bamboo’s lower price. Due to various skills it takes for one to master this act, single bamboo drifting was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2021.

Yang Liu, an inheritor (继承者) of single bamboo drifting, learned it at 7. “Usually, the bamboo under our feet is about 9 meters long, and the bamboo in our hands is about 5 meters. If the length of the bamboo is not long enough, it will not float. Keeping our feet firmly positioned on the narrow bamboo pole is the key, so we should fight against the current (水流) by constantly changing the angle. I lost my balance and fell into the water many times while practicing. Once I fell, I gave it another try until I knew how to handle the most difficult part,” she said.

The love for the ancient skill keeps Yang going. Yang also shows creativity when spreading the culture of single bamboo drifting. For example, she includes dance in single bamboo drifting to make it more graceful. As hanfu culture has been on the rise, Yang started wearing hanfu while performing, creating a more beautiful feel. In 2020, Yang began to post her videos on social media. “I’m extremely proud to get the response from viewers that single bamboo drifting makes the line between what is possible and impossible unclear. It’s my mission to keep it alive and make it known to more people,” Yang Liu told China Daily.