Making the guitar case, installing the headstock, polishing, installing the strings... It took Nurdong Simayi two days to complete a dutal, which is beautiful in shape and beautiful in tone.

He is a villager of Jiayi Village, Yiqierike Town, Xinhe County, and he is also an autonomous region-level intangible inheritor of Uyghur folk handmade musical instruments. Now, 10 apprentices are learning this old craft with him, and more apprentices have already graduated.

Hu Zhidong, director of the Xinhe County Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, said: "Through the production and performance of musical instruments, the lives of the villagers are getting better and better. Intangible cultural heritage drives the rural economy, and rural tourism promotes the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage."

Guarding inheritance and changing rural life

Kader Reheman, a villager in Qiaomaizhuangzi Village, Taojiagong Township, Yizhou District, Hami City, is a municipal representative inheritor of Hami Uyghur embroidery, a national intangible cultural heritage protection project. In recent years, he has gone to Beijing, Guangzhou, Taiyuan and other places to study. In addition to study and training, he and more than 50 embroiderers in the studio went to Xiamen, Qingdao and other cities to participate in exhibitions in batches. It was a woman who embroidered for her own home, and later learned that it could be sold for money, and now she knows it is an intangible cultural heritage, a work of art."

The inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage has driven local rural tourism, improved the rural style, built a rural civilization, increased the income of the people, and changed their lives.

Jiayi Village is a famous musical instrument village. Nuerdong said: "You can earn money now, and young people are willing to learn." A musical instrument ranges from a few hundred yuan to several thousand yuan. More than 50% of the 347 households in the village are engaged in musical instrument making, and musical instrument making has already formed. It has established an industry with annual sales of more than 10 million yuan.

The relevant person in charge of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Culture and Tourism Department of the Autonomous Region said: "The participation of villagers in intangible cultural heritage projects will help the inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage, as well as promote employment and increase people's income."

Workshop Bazaar helps rural revitalization

The small building of the intangible cultural heritage poverty alleviation workshop in Yining City welcomes tourists from all over the world. The first floor is the exhibition and sales hall, where five embroiderers including Hamagul Turhan embroider on the spot; the second floor is the training and embroidery studio.

In December 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other departments issued the "Notice on Continuing to Promote the Construction of Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshops to Help Rural Revitalization". Intangible cultural heritage workshops refer to various business entities and production and processing points that rely on representative intangible cultural heritage projects or traditional handicrafts to carry out intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance, and to drive local people to find jobs nearby. It has the functions and characteristics of widely absorbing employment, strengthening skills training, cultivating outstanding leaders, and enhancing product competitiveness.

In recent years, the Autonomous Region's Department of Culture and Tourism, together with many departments, has played a policy guiding role, encouraged the active participation of social forces, and promoted the construction of intangible cultural heritage workshops. Carrying out embroidery productive protection experiments, focusing on traditional craft projects such as Adelais silk weaving and dyeing, mulberry paper making, etc., through the establishment of intangible cultural heritage workshops, carrying out research and training of inheritors and other measures, to help inheritors to increase their employment and income, and to revitalize the countryside Infuse cultural nourishment.

43-year-old Hamagul Turhan has learned embroidery with her grandmother since she was a child. After joining the workshop, she learned more about how to incorporate modern fashion elements into embroidery in the training class. "In the past, we embroidered mattresses, tapestries, and pillows, which are the old three. Nowadays, young people also like embroidery." Hamaguli said.

Yining City Intangible Cultural Heritage Poverty Alleviation and Employment Workshop relies on traditional national embroidery to drive nearly 50 embroiderers around to increase their employment and income. You can focus on embroidery in the workshop like Hamagulli, or you can take the embroidery work home and complete it while taking care of the elderly and children. Two flexible ways provide more employment opportunities for local villagers.

The Shufu County Ethnic Musical Instrument Production, Inheritance and Protection Base is the first batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage productive protection demonstration bases. Relying on the intangible cultural heritage project, 35 nearby villagers have been boosted by employment and income, with a per capita monthly income ranging from 2,500 to 3,700 yuan.

The Xinjiang Cultural Development Research Center of Xinjiang University has built a team of "Intangible Cultural Heritage Bazaar" to promote the diverse integration of intangible cultural heritage, modern design, and contemporary art. It also invited domestic first-class product designers and cultural scholars to help nearly 1,000 people in Xinjiang. The intangible cultural heritage inheritors are trained and taught to improve their professional technical ability and protection and inheritance level, and help the creative development of intangible cultural heritage.

Transforming innovation and continuously enhancing vitality

Chen Ping, head of the Yining Intangible Cultural Heritage Poverty Alleviation Workshop, told reporters that it plans to integrate intangible cultural heritage projects and rural cultural tourism resources to launch a one-day tour product. Last year, they tried to design intangible cultural heritage soft clothing products for the first time. This year, they plan to make more efforts in this area, using embroidery techniques to restore the costumes of characters, cultural walls, explanation boards and felt murals in the museum.

Xinhe County has its own plans to improve productivity and market competitiveness. This year, the local area will further standardize the production of musical instruments, so that the production advantages of each household will be transformed into industrial advantages, and the brand characteristics of handmade musical instruments will be created. The newly built musical instrument trading center is expected to be put into use in May. The village will also set up a second phase of musical instrument cooperatives, including musical instrument production, sales, exhibitions, performances and other projects. Hu Zhidong said: "In the future, we will continue to promote the sustainable development of the musical instrument industry in Jiayi Village, promote employment and increase income, and make musical instruments a landmark industry."

Wang Min, a professor at the Xinjiang Cultural Development Research Center, School of Chinese Language and Literature, Xinjiang University, said: "Most places can rely on intangible cultural heritage projects to build a cultural brand for one township, one product, and even a cultural revitalization construction project for one village and one product. external communication.”

"This year, we will continue to promote the participation of the whole society, pay attention to the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, and make intangible cultural heritage 'old crafts' 'new vitality' through various forms." said the relevant person in charge of the intangible cultural heritage department of the autonomous region's cultural and tourism department. It will allow more people to participate in the inheritance, development and utilization of intangible cultural heritage, so that the achievements of intangible cultural heritage protection will benefit the people, help rural revitalization, and realize the creative transformation and innovative development of intangible cultural heritage.