Folklorists' Prospects for the Development of Folklore Studies

Chinese folklore in the process of development and growth, although there are many deficiencies, even fatal flaws. However, the prospects for the development of the discipline are not all dark, and looking ahead to the coming 21st century, the development of folklore is still full of opportunities.

The establishment of the status of the discipline

A. The establishment of the status of the discipline has laid the foundation for the future development of the Folklore Society. 1997, 80 years after the introduction of folklore into China, folklore has finally been given its own place in institutions of higher learning, and folklore has gained the status of an independent discipline. This means that in the future, folklore will be able to train its own master's and doctoral students, and will not need to rely on other disciplines to train folklore talents (the so-called "laying eggs on borrowed shells") as it did in the past. By the end of 1998, there were 8 colleges and universities in China that had been granted the right by the state to cultivate Ph.D. and M.A. students in folklore, including one Ph.D. program and 8 M.A. programs. In the fall of 1999, the first batch of M.A. and Ph.D. students in the name of folklore entered the colleges and universities, which marked that our country was on the right track of cultivating high-level talents in folklore, and that there would be a group of systematically academically trained folklore students in the next three to five years. In three to five years, there will be a batch of folklore talents with systematic academic training to enter the actual working departments of the society, and folklore will play a greater role in the society.

Tertiary industry development

In the next century, the development of many industries in China (especially the tertiary industry) will create a favorable environment for the survival of folklore, provide a broad world for the applied research of folklore, and provide employment opportunities for the graduates of folklore majors, which will, to a certain extent, also promote the development of the whole discipline of folklore.

China's industrial structure will continue to undergo substantial adjustments in the next century, and folklore will be a beneficiary of such adjustments. The further development of tourism will certainly provide a place for folklore talents, and applied folklore, tourism folklore, and other sub-disciplines closely related to practical applications will also play a greater role.

Global Economic Integration

Third, with China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the trend of global economic integration will certainly have an impact on China's political, economic and cultural development, and in this regard, folklore will give full play to its own disciplinary advantages, and will have a positive impact on the protection of national culture, understanding of foreign cultures, and the promotion of global trade.

Folklore is the basic culture of a nation, and the essence of a nation's culture can be best reflected in folklore culture. Therefore, folklore study reveals the true meaning of the national culture and summarizes the essence of the national culture through the study of the folklore of the nation, which will have a great impact on the preservation of the cultural traditions of the nation and the resistance to the invasion of foreign culture.

Under the situation of global economic integration, the economic and trade behaviors between different regions, peoples and countries will be more and more, and the understanding of the folklore of different regions, peoples and countries will, to a certain extent, become an important factor for the success of economic activities, and the study of folklore in this field will have a significant impact on the economic activities, and bring a direct benefit to the development of the economy. benefits.

Dynamics of economic development

Fourth, economic development to a certain extent will bring about a great development of culture and education, which has been proved in developed countries. Our country's economy will develop to a certain level in the next century, by then, people's cultural awareness will be generally improved, the importance of folk culture will be significantly increased, folklore will be in the future development of social sciences by due attention.