UK-China Song of the Female Textile Workers, past, present and the future

英中纺织女工之歌，过去、现在和未来是一个为期一年的实践导向研究项目，旨在收集更广泛的英中受众和消费者文化数据，以响应AHRC关于了解英中R+I在创意产业中的未来的呼吁。纺织遗产文化，包括有形的（建筑工地、机械、织物等）和无形的（音乐，歌曲，讲故事等）是后工业社会和经济转型的核心主题。中国东部三角洲（上海，浙江，江苏）和英格兰北部都有无数的纺织厂变成了艺术和创意集群，用于城市再生，绅士化，吸引来自不同背景的游客和消费者。在AHRC获奖项目《纺织女工之歌--中英数字连接（2020-2021）》中，这种文化共性被认为是沟通中英观众和消费者品味的潜在纽带，该项目以上海全女性越剧为案例研究，并发展成为完全在线制作的混合现实表演。上海越剧起源于浙江农村民歌，后来发展成为中国最受欢迎的戏曲，至今已有360多种不同的形式，主要赞助人是上海/浙江的外来女工。初步调查结果得到了英国和中国观众的积极响应。与此同时，也发现了对英国纺织品非物质文化遗产（ICH）的有限研究，以及它如何更好地品牌英国文化身份，特别是英格兰北部，以吸引全国和全球的观众和消费者，以进一步促进社会经济转型和增长。这个为期一年的项目旨在更深入地了解音乐、戏剧、数字表演和相关创意产品的可能兼容的观众和消费者口味，以及联合创造文化产品以满足中英共同观众和消费者需求的最佳实践。中国已将非物质文化遗产作为其文化创意产业（CCIs是中国的首选术语）内容开发和国际软实力插入的优先事项。政府政策密切监测并确保非物质文化遗产被纳入所有社区卫生倡议部门。腾讯从2019年开始推出一系列以越剧等戏曲形式为主题的手机游戏，瞄准国内和国际富裕消费者，只是其中一个例子。因此，该项目以中国战略性ICH CCI为方向，与受众和消费者文化进行接触和研究是及时的，所产生的知识将为未来的中英R+I创意产业发展提供信息。

UK-China Song of Female Textile Workers, past, present and the future is a one year practice-led research project aims to collect wider data on UK-China audiences and consumers culture in respond to AHRC's call on Understanding the Future of UK China R+I in the creative industries. Textile heritage culture, both tangible (building site, machineries, fabric etc.) and intangible (music, songs, storytelling etc.) has been a core theme in post-industrial social and economic transformation. Both Eastern Delta China (Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu) and the North of England have countless textile mill turned arts and creative clusters for urban regeneration, gentrification, attracting tourists and consumers from diverse background. This cultural commonality was identified as the potential link in bridging UK-China audiences and consumers' taste on our AHRC awarded project Song of the Female Textile Workers, UK-China digital connectivity (2020-2021), which took Shanghai all-female yueju as a case study and developed into a mixed reality performance produced entirely online. Shanghai yueju originated from Zhejiang rural folk song and grew to become China's most popular opera, to date over 360 different forms are practiced, with patrons mainly being Shanghai/Zhejiang migrant female workers. The initial findings gained positive response from audiences across the UK and China. Meanwhile, what has also been identified is the limited research on UK textile intangible cultural heritage (ICH), and how it can better brand UK cultural identity, especially the North of England, to attract audiences and consumers nationally and globally for further socio-economic transformation and growth. This one year project seeks to gain deeper understanding of possible compatible audience and consumer taste on music, theatre, digital performance and related creative products and the best practice in jointly creating cultural products to cater for a shared UK-China audience and consumer. China has taken ICH as a priority in its cultural and creative industries (CCIs as China's preferred terminology) content development and its international soft power insertion. Government policy closely monitors and ensures ICH is incorporated into all CCIs sectors. Tencent's launch of a series of mobile games since 2019 on the theme of yueju and other opera forms targeting national and international affluent consumers is only one example. This project takes China strategic ICH CCIs direction to engage with and research on audience and consumer culture is therefore timely and the knowledge generated will inform the future UK-China R+I creative industries development.