China has a history of 5,000 years, which is one of the earliest countries in the world with developed civilization. It is recorded that Chinese people knew the technology of smelting copper about 5,000 years ago, and started to use iron tools more than 3,000 years ago. Besides, ceramics and silk production was also highly developed then. In 221 BC, Ying Zheng built Qin -- the first unified, centralized and multi-ethnic feudal state. While Han Dynasty, which began in 206 BC, opened the road from Chang’an (now Xi’an, Shaanxi) through Xinjiang and central Asia to the depth of the eastern Mediterranean road, known as the “Silk Road”. During the long past five thousand years, Chinese people, including many ethnic minorities, have made a brilliant history of civilization. And the worldwide known cultural heritage that we have today is exactly a part of the brilliant history. China is one of the countries with the richest cultural heritage in the world. By July 2019, there’d been 55 world cultural and natural heritage items listed on the World Heritage List, ranking first in the world; and 41 items on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list, making China the country that has the largest number of intangible cultural heritage items in the world. Among which Peking Opera is one of the most popular operas in China, and is regarded as quintessence of China. It has rigorous standard in many aspects such as literature, performance, music vocals and facial makeup, and it is a highly comprehensive pattern of art. In 2010, Peking Opera was collected on the world intangible cultural heritage representative list. In China, Peking Opera courses are very popular in the universities for the elderly, and it’s a great art edification and enjoyment to learn.
The Chinese zither-guzheng-is Han people’s traditional plucked musical instrument, and one of the unique and important ethnic musical instruments in China. As early as Warring States Times, the 5^th century BC to the 3^rd century BC, it was popular and widespread in Qin state (now shaanxi), so it’s also called qinzheng. Therefore, it has a history of more than 2500 years. People love it so much because of its beautiful timbre, broad range of tones, various playing technique and fairly strong expressive force. In 2008, guqin art was collected on human intangible cultural heritage representative list. In China, almost every university for the elderly offers guzheng courses. Calligraphy is the art of writing Chinese characters. It is not only our own cultural treasure, but also outstanding among the world art treasures. It has gone through over 2,000 years of inheritance and development, starting from the oracle till now. Calligraphy of different periods is a unique form of visual art, always reflecting the social and economic development and people's value orientation at the certain period of time. In 2009, the calligraphy art was collected on human intangible cultural heritage representative list. And almost every university for the elderly in China offers calligraphy courses. Courses are an important part of the universities for the elderly. In China, the students at these universities are very keen on cultural heritage, especially those courses relevant to intangible cultural heritage.
CAUA once conducted a survey of the students’ courses selection at 59 universities for the elderly, analyzed the data, and then found that among all the courses, painting and calligraphy, dancing, Chinese and Western medicine health care and vocal music are the most popular with the senior students, ranking top 4 of all categories of courses. Students choosing the four categories of courses take up 51.5%. And many courses of the four categories are relevant to Chinese cultural heritage especially intangible cultural heritage. Recently, we carried out a survey of all the 184 courses offered to senior students in 2019 Autumn Semester at Shanghai University for the Elderly, up to one third of the courses are related to Chinese intangible cultural heritage, such as Seal Cutting, Chinese Landscape Painting as well as Flowers and Birds Painting, Calligraphy (regular script, running script, etc.), Meridian Health Care, Ear Health Care, Scrapping Therapy, Chinese Medicine, Chinese Traditional Treatment, Taiji, Selection of The Inner Canon of Huangdi, Introduction to the Book of Changes, Introduction to Shihchi, Cultures of Change, Appreciation and Performance of Peking Opera, Tea Art, Weaving Craft, Guzheng, Pipa, Erhu, Bamboo Flute, etc. Senior students all scramble to sign up for these courses. Why do senior students love these courses so much? Students said the courses contain rich cultural connotation and reflect the content of the outstanding historical tradition, and some of them reflect the wisdom and hardworking spirit of Chinese people. Moreover, most of the cultural heritage bears rich aesthetic elements. It could arouse people's aesthetic temperament and interest, improve the senior students’ ability of aesthetic appreciation and evaluation, thus enriching their spiritual life.
Cultural heritage essentially belongs to the world, belongs to all mankind. Cultural heritage is the footprint of human being’s historical development and the crystallization of human civilization, reflecting the world's history and culture. World cultural heritage shows us the diversity of human society development, from which we get to know that understanding and respecting various cultures and traditions of different areas and nations all over the world and learning from each other can promote the world’s common development and progress. Human being’s cultural heritage is also the common resources of the interna