Review and Prospect of the Inclusion of Chinese Abacus in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Abstract

This study adopts the field survey method. The purpose of the research is to track the changes of abacus culture and education in the past 12 years, and focuses on the changes in the key three years before and after the inclusion of the Chinese abacus in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity through the resolution by the “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization” (UNESCO) in 2013. Therefore, this study is divided into two stages of time axis: the first stage is from 2013 to 2016, namely the three years after Zhusuan was listed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, in which the protection and revitalization of Zhusuan were discussed through field investigation, a questionnaire prepared by the researcher, and in-depth interviews. The second stage is from 2016 to 2019, in which the work reports of representatives of various countries in these three years were interviewed through the network to collect data and discuss the inheritance and dissemination of Zhusuan culture. The research results show that, since 2019, the cultural education of “Zhusuan—knowledge and practices of mathematical calculation through the abacus” has expanded from the Chinese cultural circle to non-Chinese cultural circles, and the cross-cultural education of Zhusuan and cultural and educational industry cover five continents around the world. This not only reflects the role played by the “Belt and Road Initiative” in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, but it also makes the Chinese abacus part of a truly world-class Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. According to the research results, the researcher puts forward three suggestions: 1) from a protection project to education inheritance; 2) from folk customs to cultural regeneration; 3) from the folk economy to social practice.