Take the Image of Huidong Women as an Example: A Practical Report on the Possibility of the Integration of Installation Art and Cultural Heritage

By Xiaoyu XIONG (Sherry). 2021

What the project it is?

The project of art and heritage exhibition is a practice study about heritage protection, which is supported by British Council and organized by Ruan Yisan Heritage Foundation. Project members are include one British artist and two Chinese artists. The aim of this project is that through the intervention of contemporary art in the everyday life of ancient city, local residents can be triggered to think about their living environment and its relationship to them so that the fade-out cultural heritages can rebirth and integrate into contemporary way of life. This report will mainly narrate the 10 days fieldwork in Chongwu Ancient City, Fujian province, which was focus on the Huidong women and their everyday life.

What the expected outcomes of fieldwork it is? (objectives)

1. Collecting the data and information of fishing industry, especially fishing boats for Alan, have a general understanding of local geographic environment and urban landscape.
2. Have a general knowledge about current life status of Huidong women, particularly, knowing their  activities in spare time to draw images of locals in everyday life.
3. Have a preliminary understanding of contemporary Huidong women’s hidden images through the chating, eyes, expressions and other aspects of the surveyed subjects.
4. Testing the possibility of combining installation art with traditional culture, and observe the audience’s reaction.

What the methods and methodology will adopt to realize the goals?

This fieldwork practice will use the methods of dialectical practices which include direct observation, participant observation, ethnography, qualitative interviews and material collections.

Furthermore, it will combine the theory of Everyday life and subjectivity to analysis the data.

What evidence will produce to demonstrate the development of the professional practice and attainment?

1. Showing visual thinking draft to public by official website and instagram. 
2. Showing chatting and interviews records with different objects.
3. Showing videos and photography of the process.
4. Showing my diary recording.

Who will participate this practice ?

Alan, Sherry, Hui, Long (RHF) and Xia (RHF).  Due to Alan lives in the UK and can not go to the site, he will adopt online communication and observation by software and collect the resources from Sherry and Hui.

Introduction

Background of Chongwu Ancient City: Chongwu is located in the southeastern part of Hui’an County, on a peninsula jutting into Taiwan Strait. The town’s historical center, the Old Chongwu Fortress (Chinese: 崇武古城, Chongwu Gu Cheng) is a walled city dating to the late 14th century (Hongwu Emperor’s reign; the conventional date is 1384). A large sculpture park is located on the narrow strip south of the fortress, between the city wall and the beach. Today, Chongwu is one of the few remaining walled cities in China. The main color composition of the architecture is cement gray and the brick red temple house in the southern Fujian style. The old and new buildings are scattered at random, and the unique “丁” shaped narrow intersections separate the ancient city. There are four villages in the ancient city (Chaole, Lianxi, Xihua and Haimen), each of which is managed by a village-level administrative units. Most of the buildings in the ancient city are dilapidated, except for the long gray stone buildings from 1949 that still function as everyday buildings.

Definition and image of “Hui’an woman” (Hui’an nü): Hui’an Woman is a group of women who have attracted social attention due to their unique costumes, wedding customs and frequent collective suicides. In terms of geography, “Hui’an women” refers to the females who live in Huidong of Fujian, mainly distributed in Chongwu, Shanxia, Jingfing and Xiaozuo villages.  But in terms of history, their figure is always changing with politics statements of the states.  During the Maoist decades, the standard of Hui’an women was defined as feudal, backward, and oppressive in local society, which should be eradicated in order to forge a new socialist order. (Friedman, 2006). In detailed, dressing all in black, wearing headpiece with blue background and white dots like this traditional clothings were not recommend,  the custom of early marriage and married women staying in their natal home was outlawed, and unproductive labour like housewife was not allowed. With the reform and opening up, by contrast, Friedman believe that the image of Hui’an woman has defined around the feminization and commodification of ethnicity in market economy, and new standards of civilization and culture promoted by state-sponsored “socialist spiritual civilization”campaigns (2006:17). For instance,  tourism entrepreneurs Zeng Meixia runs a “hui’an woman style garden”, which provides a range of entertainment services such as take photos, food and beverage service by young females who are wearing “Hui’an woman” style clothings. Until today, in the times of Xi, liberation and open consciousness was replaced by the labels of thrift, hard-working and beautiful, they are portrayed as models of perfect women. Although there are so many forms of difference, like ethnic, gender, characters, and social responsibilities produced by different civilizing projects, it still cannot map a fully image and identity of Huidong women and it worth to be researched indeed.

Scope and limitation

The in tension was to run the fieldwork over four phases.

1. Fieldwork research
2. Installation arts and Experiment design
3. Visualization of perception
4. Fieldwork Evaluation

1. Fieldwork research

1.1 Fishing industry of Chongwu

 From April of first to tenth, during the Qingming Festival, I went on a short fieldwork for ten days in Chongwu ancient city and Dazuo village, where has a pleasant climate in April, with an average temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius. There are hundreds of stone carving factories in Chongwu Town, and huge Buddha statues stand on both sides of the road. Hotels, restaurants, KTVs and other leisure venues are flourishing. Family shrines, Mazu temple, Buddhist and Taoist temples, and Christian churches can all be found here. Of course there are fishing boats leaning against each other after low tide. Before the 1990s, Chongwu was a seaside town that relied on fisheries for its livelihood. Walking along the coastline of Chongwu, you can still see more than a hundred fishing boats docked at the port. According to local fishermen, “there are fewer people fishing now, and they are all going to do stone carving!” Now the fishery output only accounts for 3% of the local GDP. Chongwu’s fishery management is based on traditional family-style operations. Men go out to fish and women are responsible for repairing fishing nets and selling seafood. In the few days I was in Chongwu, I heard a shipwreck accident, a floating corpse floated back from the beach, “Every month like this,” the locals said calmly. The high risk of fisheries has given rise to the unique cultural beliefs of the fishermen in Fujian-Mazu Temple. There are several Mazu temples along the Chongwu Sea to protect the fishermen from going out to sea safely, and each fishing boat enshrines Mazu for safety. Even in the declining period of fisheries, Fujian’s comprehensive strength of offshore fisheries still ranks among the top in China. As of the end of 2020, the province has 28 deep-sea fishery enterprises, 605 deep-sea fishing boats and 9 comprehensive offshore fishery bases. Now, the government is vigorously improving the hardware facilities of the fishery, and jointly develop from the fishery tourism culture. As I have seen, in the courtyard of a village cadre in the ancient city of Chongwu, fishing boats and fishing gear from the Ming Dynasty to the present are displayed. They have witnessed the difficult years of generations of Chongwu people seeking to survive from the sea.

1.2 Research about Huidong women

First impression of “the Hui’an Woman”: Walking on the streets, you can see middle-aged women wearing headscarves of various colors. Some wear traditional hairstyles or only wear black traditional pants. There are also ordinary women in modern clothes, but most of them are black and white. There are few women wearing headscarves in the ancient city of Chongwu. This is because in the past when they used to fish for a living, the headscarves had the function of sheltering the wind and rain. The residents of the ancient city of Chongwu belonged to the government army and did not live on fishing. Therefore, women’s clothing in the ancient city of Chongwu did not have a headscarf, and replaced them with more complicated headwear. Few women under the age of 30 who wear traditional clothing elements are on the streets. Traditional clothing stores are mainly divided into two categories. One type serves the daily lives of local women and their operators are all local women; the other type serves tourists and provides clothing rental and photo-taking services, which supported by local government. The ratio of the two is 5:1. After work, they spend most of their time chanting sutras. In addition, the vendors selling seafood and vegetables in the market are mainly women, with delicate traditional hairstyles and modern working clothes. They are taciturn and are not enthusiastic about soliciting business. In the local tourism industry, there is no shortage of female figures. They are dressed in the latest fashions, adopting the contemporary urban lifestyle to welcome guests, and only re-wear traditional costumes during festivals. The most common means of transportation for local women is electric motorcycles. 

Contemporary Huidong women: The owner of the homestay I live in, Qiong, is a woman born into a traditional family in Dazuo Village in the mid-1970s. Based on her identity and life trajectory in line with the characteristics of the times, I conducted a one-on-one interview with her. The conversation took place in the evening. Sister Qiong prepared red wine, rose petals and candles to create a relaxed and romantic atmosphere for the conversation. When she was young, Qiong, like her friends, dressed in traditional costumes. She was engaged to a marriage contract by her mother and a man in the same village early, waiting for her married life when she grew up, but things turned around. “I have a sense of rebellion since I was a child. I don’t know where it came from. I only know that I don’t want to marry someone I don’t know. After a quarrel with my mother, I ran to the man’s house and withdrew the marriage contract with his mother by myself!” Qiong Said so. In fact, in the 1990s, with the development of market economy, the stone carving industry in Chongwu County developed. The development of the stone carving factory not only affected the traditional concept of local young people, but also changed them in terms of clothing, marriage views, and sexual relations practically. Qiong also entered the factory at this time and became a cashier in a stone carving factory after self-taught. Later he married a man who also worked in this factory. Currently single. Qiong said: “Marriage requires two people to fit together in spirit. If one party can’t keep up with the another’s pace, there is no need to be together anymore.” Then, she made a living as a taxi diver. After completing the initial fund accumulation, she ran a mobile phone shop until 2019. Quanzhou City, where Chongwu Town is located, has successfully applied for the “World as a City of Material Cultural Heritage” in 2021, and Chongwu’s focus will also be transformed from a stone carving factory into a tourist city. The owner of the stone carving factory invited her to run two guest houses for the purpose of receiving tourists. In order to learn knowledges, Qiong copied dozens of books, covering everything from art and culture to business management. It is true that there are barrels of empty cartridges on the bookshelf. In addition to running a homestay, Qiong’s hobbies are long-distance running and studying Nanyin (classic music in Minnan area) to spend her spare time.

1.3 Resources analyzing about the Figure of Huidong women

Based on the above information, what can be seen is the history of the development of Huidong women, which is a process of seeking social belonging and cultural identity and constantly abandoning self-identity, engulfed by national politics and the mainstream culture of the Han nationality. As Friedman (2006) claimed that women in Hui’an are divided into different hierarchies. Women headed by female cadres and entrepreneurs believe that they belong to intellectuals and urbanites, and are a higher level of civilized society. The lifestyle of living on traditional farming and fishery, including clothing, customs, etc., is called the most feudal, backward and oppressive low-level civilization. Just like the state that Joan revealed during the conversation, she is proud of her free life from feudalism. It’s not just Qiong. When I talked to Zhang, a Chongwu male, and asked about the local “Hui’an woman”, he told me that there were no “Hui’an woman” in Chongwu. At the same time, the government and tourism companies are vigorously promoting the revival of the “Hui’an woman” culture. The “Hui’an woman” in Zhang’s cognition is a feudal image that is oppressed by the patriarchal society, while the “Hui’an woman” that the government wants to promote is an image of a hardworking and family-loving woman. The descriptions of the female images of Huidong in different periods have caused confusion among the locals. Just as Qiong lamented in an interview: “In the past, the government did not allow traditional clothing to be worn, but people likes to wear it. Qiong’s words have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with government officials like this. Now people are allowed to wear it, and no one Willing to wear it.”It can be see that although the image of “the Hui’an woman” condenses the multiple forms of difference produced by Maoist, the theory of Deng and Xi’s policy in different period of time, they are not the relationship of the latter replacing the former but a mixed status, and these also do not fully summarize all Huidong women. (Friedman, 2006). Instead, it casts a veil of mystery on this group.

For explore the hidden image of Huidong women, it should from the perspective of an ignored and invisible sense in everyday life, such as daily dialogue, expression and so on, to extract the elements rather than focusing on the known and identifiable culture excessively. (Ben, 2002) everyday life is the repetition of trivial experiences, the intervention of new things, and then changes, and finally into daily life again. It not only implies knowledge of people’s traces and practices but also a projection of inner bodies, expression and emotions of people, which is the expression of people’s will and hidden paradigms that affect their subjectivity representation (Leuilliot, 1977). In the Chongwu ancient city, the old man sitting in a daze at the door every morning, and smiled at me in third day; the sound of chanting and Qiong blowing a flute every afternoon. All those things and things that effect the daily order are possibilities to make the figure of man appear.(Foucault, 1996).  During the research process, few people like Qiong are willing to make a voice. In most cases, the local middle-aged women showed a silent state of not paying attention to everything, as if no matter how big things could disturb their chanting. Only when they are riding a motorcycle and making a harsh whistle, I vaguely feel their firm attitude when facing the social order. Did the past history of collective suicide make them more and more silent? Is the strength of the family’s male host keeping them from asking questions about the world? These many assumptions still need further verification.

2. Installation arts and Experiment design

2.1 Installation arts 

Another part of the task in this trip is that testing people’s reactions and emotions when contemporary installation arts is placed in daily life and production spaces. Installation art is exploring the potential common emotions of current society to lead to identification and empathy as well as induce fundamental psychobiological emotions (Konečni, 2015). The immersive environments cause one’s own perception to become the object of reflection and led many to deeper understanding of themselves and their relationship to the external world, whose access to the world is mediated visual perceptual faculty with particular features, limitations and abilities. By framing certain artistic interventions within, artists may cause the individuals and spectators to rethink their own responses, to consider different viewpoints or even create some confusion regrading what is ego and the environment (Matthew, 2018).

2.2 Experiment design

3. Visualization of perception

Huidong women are taciturn. As Salomé Voegelin claimed that when silence comes, a powerful voice will come. It is an exaggerated means of communication that demanding through its uncompromising nature a direct confrontation. So, I plan to collect the voices of the Hui’an Woman in daily life to explore their hidden image. Based on the research data, I extracted three sound elements to express Huidong women, they are Nanyin, motorcycle sound and chanting sound. And visualise them to try to express the potential image of the Hui’an woman. 

The first type of voice is “Nan Yin”. If chanting and whistling are unconscious expressions, then Nanyin is the direct expression of Hui’an women’s inner emotions. Local music Nanyin was mainly made by local women to express their emotions. The tune is long and melodious. Hence, I collected the audio of Nanyin from the locals, and transformed it into visual images through programming, so as to describe the complex and vivid inner emotions of Huidong women.
The long painting represents the life of Huidong women. The image changes with Nanyin’s audio-frequency, and the background color changes with the movement of the mouse. I would like to express the different emotions of Huidong women in different social environments through the intervention of the outside world. Scan the QR code or click the link to watch the work: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1191318

The second sound, “motorcycle whistle sound”. Huidong women are usually quiet and silent. However, when they rode motorcycles in the narrow Chongwu Ancient City and whistle frequently, which like a direct confrontation with society without compromise. So I recorded the whistle of the motorcycle and combined it with her image. Scan the QR code or click the link to watch the work: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1206111 

The sound of chanting comes from the voice of elderly women praying for family blessings every morning. The peculiar and sad tone reminds me the collective suicide history of Hui’an women. So, I checked the list of Hui’an female suicides and combined it with the sound of prayer. The red image beats with the sound, like a swaying candle, like a beating heart, like a dialogue with the past. Scan the QR code or click the link to watch and interactive with the work: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1217004 

4. Fieldwork Evaluation

4.1 Summary

This practice is not only a very good exploration of the Every Life Theory and Subjectivity Theory, but also gave me the opportunity to verify and explore the feasibility of contemporary installation art in traditional villages. It has a deeper insight into the integration of contemporary installation art into daily life and even triggers audiences to think. Through this practice, there are several points that need to be rethought: First,  Installation art is exploring the potential common emotions of current society to lead to identification and empathy as well as induce fundamental psychobiological emotions (Konečni, 2015).  It is a language for communication among people, between people and nature, and between people and society, rather than a means to satisfy curiosity or pursue flow. Secondly, installation art should be subtly integrated into daily life, relying on daily life and different from daily life at the same time, rather than publicity by the government or commercial departments, otherwise it will only make it more distant from people. For example, the sound interactive device should be placed in people’s daily life, so that people can discover and interact with it spontaneously. Finally, through this practice and testing, it is proved that the re-creation through the integration of traditional material and intangible cultural heritage with daily life is an exploration of great potential and value.

In addition, I am especially grateful to Sister Qiong, Uncle Zhang Zanping, Feng Shui master Wang Xikui, sculptor Kong Zhanwu, and the Chongwu Town Government for their enthusiastic help and strong support for the practice.

4.2 limitations

There are some of reasons to limited the development of fieldwork:

1. The language barrier. The females in Hui’an are mainly Hokkien. It has difficulty communicating with Huidong women who are over 50 years old.
2. The barrier of COVID-19. The repeated coronavirus leads to British Alan hard to the site, so that we do not have enough fund and conditions to have a long term and deep research in Chongwu.

Figure List

[1] Chart 1 Task allocation

[2] Experiment design

[1] Experiment testing (photos by the author, Long yumeng, xia fan)

[2]“Nan Yin”

[3]”Motorcycle Whistle Sound”

[4]”Chanting”

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