Immobility Behind Mobility: The Cultural Discount Problem Faced by Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Process of Commodification and Cross-Cultural Communication
Abstract
As an important carrier of cultural exports, China's intangible cultural heritage faces commodification challenges and cross-cultural understanding barriers in its globalization process. This paper takes Xiu Niang Silk, a local Suzhou embroidery workshop, as a case study, using fieldwork to analyze the current situation and causes of cultural discount among Chinese intangible cultural heritage products in cross-cultural circulation. The study finds that Chinese cultural products in global circulation the process of globalized circulation are jointly hindered by external hegemony and internal limitations, forming an "imagined line" that enables Chinese cultural products to achieve physical mobility while their cultural connotations remain difficult to reach audiences from different cultural backgrounds. This paper argues that resolving this dilemma requires a shift from external critique to internal–external coordination, and, on the premise of maintaining cultural subjectivity, the realization of a transformation from "passive accommodation" to "active dialogue" by improving institutional guarantees, cultivating cultural intermediaries, and building multi-layered communication systems.
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