The Historical Framework of Cultural Taxonomy

Human civilization has always been a tapestry of intersecting cultural threads, but the systematic classification of these strands emerged as a distinct academic pursuit in the modern era. Professor Wang Yichuan of Beijing Normal University crystallizes this understanding by identifying four primary cultural modalities that shape contemporary societies: dominant culture, high culture, mass culture, and folk culture. This framework builds upon centuries of philosophical discourse—from Matthew Arnold’s 19th-century distinction between “sweetness and light” versus popular entertainment to the Frankfurt School’s critical analysis of mass media in the 1930s.

The late 20th century witnessed a paradigm shift as globalization and digitalization blurred traditional boundaries. China’s Reform and Opening-Up period (post-1978) created fertile ground for these cultural forms to interact dynamically, reflecting both universal patterns and unique local characteristics. The resulting ecosystem demonstrates how societies balance stability with innovation, tradition with modernity.

The Four Pillars of Cultural Expression

### Dominant Culture: The Glue of Social Cohesion
Emerging from Confucian statecraft traditions that date back to Han Dynasty’s “banning of hundred schools, revering only Confucianism,” dominant culture serves as society’s stabilizing force. Modern manifestations include propaganda films like Life and Death Choice (2000), where a mayor’s anti-corruption struggle embodies collective values. Unlike authoritarian impositions, effective dominant culture evolves—absorbing elements from other forms to transform didactic messaging into resonant narratives. The challenge lies in maintaining relevance without sacrificing core principles, as seen in China’s recent patriotic education campaigns that incorporate entertainment elements.

### High Culture: Society’s Conscience and Innovator
Representing the vanguard of artistic and intellectual expression, high culture thrives on three pillars: formal experimentation, social critique, and individual vision. Lu Xun’s A Madman’s Diary (1918) exemplifies this through its radical deconstruction of feudal norms, while Xu Zhimo’s poetry (“Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again”) demonstrates linguistic innovation. Historically, high culture has served as both mirror and scalpel—from Renaissance humanism to the May Fourth Movement’s intellectual ferment. Contemporary Chinese artists like Ai Weiwei continue this tradition, though often in tension with dominant cultural frameworks.

### Mass Culture: The Engine of Everyday Pleasure
Born from industrialization and urbanization, mass culture represents what Theodor Adorno termed the “culture industry.” Its Chinese incarnation—seen in Feng Xiaogang’s New Year films (A World Without Thieves, If You Are the One)—combines commercial savvy with local sensibilities. The genre follows global patterns of standardization and commodification but adapts to domestic contexts through guanxi-based production networks and censorship navigation. Digital platforms like Douyin (TikTok) now accelerate this culture’s viral spread, creating new cycles of imitation and exhaustion.

### Folk Culture: The Living Archive of Tradition
Distinct from mass culture’s mediated reach, folk culture thrives through oral transmission and communal participation. The Three Gorges Ballad (“Morning departs from Huangniu…”) exemplifies this—a work song transforming labor into lyrical expression. UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage program has recently spotlighted such traditions, from Uyghur muqam to Cantonese opera. Yet folk culture isn’t static; modern variants emerge in urban migrant communities, adapting ancient forms to new realities.

Cultural Cross-Pollination in Practice

The boundaries between these categories prove porous in reality. Consider three hybridization phenomena:

1. Mainstreaming the Margins: TV dramas like The Missile Brigade (2002) inject mass culture’s romantic subplots into military narratives, making ideological content more palatable.
2. Elite Appropriation: Novelist Chen Zhongshi’s White Deer Plain (1993) adopts magical realism (a high culture technique) while incorporating folk legends and commercial hooks (“married seven women”).
3. Commercialized Tradition: Ethnic minority festivals repackaged as tourist spectacles demonstrate folk culture’s adaptation to market logic.

This interplay reflects what Mikhail Bakhtin called “heteroglossia”—the coexistence of competing cultural voices within a single society. The results can be generative (Peking Opera’s modern adaptations) or contentious (online debates over cultural authenticity).

Toward Conscious Cultural Symbiosis

Merely acknowledging cultural pluralism proves insufficient. Professor Wang advocates “conscious multicultural symbiosis”—a proactive approach where:

1. Institutional Support: Policies like China’s “Excellent Traditional Culture” revival program attempt curated preservation rather than laissez-faire development.
2. Creative Mediation: Platforms like Bilibili facilitate intergenerational dialogue, where traditional puppetry meets anime aesthetics.
3. Critical Engagement: Cultural producers like Jia Zhangke films interrogate modernization’s costs while employing mass culture’s visual language.

The ultimate goal isn’t homogenization but what philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah calls “rooted cosmopolitanism”—a culture confident enough to absorb global influences while retaining distinctive character. For China, this means negotiating between Confucian collectivism, socialist modernity, and digital-age individualism.

The Living Laboratory of 21st-Century Culture

As algorithm-driven platforms reshape cultural consumption, the four-form model faces new tests. Viral Douyin challenges (mass culture) inspire museum exhibitions (high culture); AI-generated poetry blurs authorship boundaries; blockchain promises to decentralize folk art preservation. Yet core questions persist: How does culture bind societies without stifling creativity? Can traditions evolve without losing essence?

The answer may lie in recognizing culture not as fixed categories but as fluid processes—where a rural grandmother’s folktale, a netizen’s meme remix, and a national opera production all contribute to civilization’s unending conversation. In this light, Professor Wang’s framework offers not rigid taxonomy but a compass for navigating our complex cultural ecosystem.