Taiyuan In Shanxi Province Temple Gate Stilts Heritage Research

Miaoqian stilts in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province is a uniquetraditional folk art with local characteristic, it is also one of thefamous local performance in Taiyuan. At a time when it is highlyadvocated in our country to promote folk art and protect culturalfolk heritage, Miaoqian stilts was reborn,which disappeared thirtyyears ago. A troupe of stilts is founded and it is registered as anon-material cultural heritage. Varous awards won by the stiltsartists were concerned by all medias, so it became splendid.Great support from the country, government and society isensured to develop Miaoqian stilts, but it is not effective for thereare not enough people to inherit the unique skills. The old artists trytheir best to spread this art. They set up objectives and make itwell-known by lots of performance, but their goals are unmetbecause few people want to learn the skill and there is no reflectionin society.The origin, the cultural connotation of Miaoqian stilts and its development are discussed in this paper. Two artists areinterviewed about their life in order to discribe the means to inheritMiaoqian stilts, its characteristic, development as well as theinheritage of the art.There are lots of difficulties about thedevelopment of Miaoqian stilts. In modern society, the public getnew choices, there is not enough space to develop this art. Formerartists are too old to perform the skills but there are few youngpeople to inherit the art. Support from the government is not strongenough and the protection of the old folk art is not effective.So, themain problem about Miaoqian stilts development is its heritage. Ifwe cannot find proper successors for this folk art, it will disappearin the future. Some feasible suggestions on developing Miaoqianstilts are discussed in this paper to explore a space for Miaoqianstilts to survive.