Research on the Inheritance, Innovation, and Popularization Pathways of the Ulan Muqi Spirit in the New Era

Abstract

The Ulan Muqi is a unique grassroots "red" cultural and artistic carrier specific to Inner Mongolia, as well as a vital cultural platform for cultural development in Northern Xinjiang and for fostering a strong sense of the Chinese national community. Over nearly seventy years of development, the Ulan Muqi has achieved historic milestones in spiritual heritage preservation, the dynamic protection of intangible cultural heritage, and grassroots public cultural services; however, against the backdrop of deepening digital transformation, accelerated integration of culture and tourism, and evolving audience aesthetics, it also faces multiple structural challenges, including constraints on talent recruitment and institutional mechanisms, intergenerational gaps among audiences, conflicts in funding and operational management, and lagging digital dissemination. This study takes the Ulan Muqi of Qingshuihe County as its core field research sample and, drawing upon Marxist theories of people-centered literature and art, theories on fostering a strong sense of the Chinese national community, and theories on grassroots public cultural services, constructs a three-dimensional integrated analytical framework based on "inheritance – innovation – popularization." From four dimensions—upholding the spiritual core, innovating artistic forms, providing targeted popularization services, and ensuring collaborative support by multiple stakeholders—the study proposes systematic optimization pathways, aiming to provide theoretical references and replicable practical models for the high-quality development of the Ulan Muqi initiative and for enhancing the quality and efficiency of grassroots public cultural services in ethnic regions in the new era.