On the surface, it seems unnecessary to discuss the concept of "cultural relics value".
But from the perspective of political economy, "value is the general human labor condensed in commodities", while "commodities are labor products for exchange".
That is to say, only the exchangeable labor products have value, can we produce surplus value through exchange, and can we produce what we call "economic benefits" every day.
Article 23 of the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Cultural Relics clearly stipulates: "It is forbidden to sell cultural relics of museums, libraries and other units owned by the state"; As for the state-owned immovable cultural relics, although the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Cultural Relics does not prohibit the sale, Article 15 clearly stipulates that "memorial buildings or ancient buildings that are approved as cultural relics protection units and belong to the state can be used for other purposes except museums, storage places or sightseeing places, and should be reported to the local cultural administration department for approval according to the level of cultural relics protection units.
In fact, according to this clause, state-owned immovable cultural relics cannot be sold.
In this way, the problem comes out:
Question 1: Even if the cultural relics in the collection and the national immovable cultural relics cannot be bought or sold, they are not commodities.
From the perspective of political economy, these cultural relics that are not commodities have no value, but do they still have "cultural relics value"? Do they still have "historical, artistic and scientific value"? If the answer is yes, what is the value here?
Question 2: Since the cultural relics in the collection and the state-owned immovable cultural relics cannot be exchanged as commodities, they have no value and cannot produce economic benefits.
Then, why can cultural relics or museums such as Badaling, the Ming Tombs, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum of Qin Shihuang and the Palace Museum have a huge social impact and achieve considerable economic benefits? If these movable or immovable cultural relics do not produce economic benefits, what are the economic benefits of these places?
Second, in the theory of political economy, another concept closely related to "value" is "use value".
Cultural relics are worthless. Is there any use value?
Use value refers to the availability of things and the effectiveness of things to meet people's needs.
Maslow once divided people's needs into five kinds, in short, they can be divided into material needs and spiritual needs.
Can cultural relics meet people's needs? Is it to meet people's material needs or spiritual needs? Or both? To understand this, it is necessary for us to do some research on the role of cultural relics in the original and today.
The cultural relics we are talking about today have a certain role in history, that is, they have a certain use value.
Generally speaking, cultural relics are divided into movable cultural relics and immovable cultural relics. The former is calligraphy and painting, while the latter is palaces, temples and sites.
In order to facilitate understanding, we also analyze the ancient and modern functions of cultural relics according to this classification method, that is, the use value.
First of all, look at immovable cultural relics: they can be roughly divided into three categories:
The first category is the place of production, life and residence.
For example, Tonglushan mine site, Banpo site, the Forbidden City, and the former residences of some celebrities.
Today, the use value of these buildings can be divided into two types: one is to continue to use their original functions as production, living or living places, such as Chongli residential buildings; The other is to open cultural attractions or museums to the public to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the public.
The second category is altars and temples or places for religious activities.
Such as ancestral temple, Temple of Heaven, Baita Temple, Baiyun Temple, Da Gao Xuan Hall, etc.
Today, the use value of these buildings can be divided into three types. One is to open cultural attractions or museums to the public to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the public, such as ancestral temples and the Temple of Heaven. The other is some units that are used as offices or residents, such as Da Gao Xuan Dian and Maha Temple. Third, it is still used as a place for religious activities, such as Guangji Temple and Xihuang Temple.
The third category is mausoleum buildings or ancient sites.
For example, the Ming Tombs, the Tian Yi Tomb and the Shuiguan of Jinzhong Ferry.
These buildings, except those that have not been repaired and opened, are generally repaired and turned into cultural attractions or museums to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the public.
Movable cultural relics can also be roughly divided into three categories:
The first category is weapons, production tools or daily tools, such as iron-edged copper cymbals and stone mills, which are mainly used to meet people's material needs.
Today, although we can continue to use these items as tools for production and life, that is, to meet the needs of material life, it is actually impossible for us to use them according to their original use value. Instead, we should study the production and living conditions of human society at that time as cultural relics and appreciate and study them from the perspective of artistic aesthetics.
The second category is religious, sacrificial and funeral supplies, such as Qin terracotta warriors and horses, Si Muwu Ding, Buddha statues and so on.
At the beginning, this kind of articles were mainly used to meet people's spiritual needs, but today, their original use value no longer exists, and they are also used as witnesses to study the production and living standards of human society at that time, and are appreciated and studied from the perspective of artistic aesthetics.
The third category is originally produced as works of art, such as calligraphy and painting, bottle identification and so on.
At that time, it was produced to meet people's spiritual aesthetic needs, and this function has not changed today.
So far, we can draw two conclusions: First, the so-called "cultural relics value" refers to the use value of cultural relics, while the "historical value", "artistic value" and "scientific value" mentioned in the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics in People's Republic of China (PRC) also refer to the use value in the theory of political economy, not the concept of value.
Second, except for the cultural relics that are used by units or residents for their own use or still used as places for religious activities and those that are not open, the use values of immovable cultural relics and movable cultural relics today are mainly used for scientific and historical research to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the public, which is what we call the three major values of cultural relics in daily life.
Third, the theory of political economy tells us that all valuable goods must have use value, that is, goods must have use value, but goods with use value are not necessarily goods, only exchange can be valuable.
Since cultural relics have the use value to meet people's spiritual and cultural needs, this use value may be exchanged and produce economic benefits.
Today, there are many cultural products that meet people's spiritual and cultural needs and are used for exchange, such as books, audio-visual products and even online products.
It is worth noting that people are willing to spend money on books and audio-visual products because they are willing to obtain intangible information attached to paper and plastic CDs through exchange to meet their spiritual and cultural needs, rather than just buying a few pages of paper or plastic CDs.
That is to say, because the intangible information attached to these papers and CDs can meet people's spiritual and cultural needs, people can have the desire to buy these papers and CDs and complete the exchange process.
From the analysis here, we can draw the conclusion of the value, use value and economic benefit of cultural relics.
People are willing to buy tickets to visit cultural relics or museums to meet their spiritual and cultural needs.
What people spend money on is not the cultural relics themselves, but the rich historical and cultural information attached to them.
By consuming these intangible information, people are spiritually satisfied.
Although cultural relics themselves are not used as commodities for exchange, because people have aesthetic, research and understanding needs for historical and cultural information attached to cultural relics, they also have the desire to exchange or buy these historical and cultural information attached to cultural relics, and these historical and cultural information attached to cultural relics will become commodities and enter the market for exchange, thus generating economic benefits.
At this point, we can draw a conclusion that the great economic benefits generated by cultural relics and museums such as Badaling, the Ming Tombs, the Terracotta Warriors Museum and the Palace Museum are not generated by selling cultural relics, but by the audience buying and consuming intangible historical and cultural information attached to these ancient buildings and cultural relics.
Here, the cultural relic itself is just a carrier, because the rich historical and cultural information attached to it can meet people's spiritual and cultural needs, enter the circulation field, and generate economic benefits as commodities through market exchange.
Another concept related to the value of cultural relics is cultural relics resources.
The slogan "cultural relics are resources" has been put forward in the cultural relics system for several years and has recently been questioned.
I'm afraid this suspicion mainly stems from the fact that some people use cultural relics for free and destructively develop and utilize them under the guise of "cultural relics are resources".
Are cultural relics resources? I think the definition of cultural relics as resources is good, but it is not enough to limit it to "cultural relics as resources", because this expression is not comprehensive, it is easy to cause ambiguity, and even people with ulterior motives use it to destroy cultural relics resources.
However, it is also wrong to say that cultural relics are not resources.
In the understanding of cultural relics, both tendencies are unacceptable.
The definition of "resources" in Ci Hai is: "The source of assets generally refers to natural financial resources".
Allen Randall, an American economist, put forward in his Economics of Resources that resources can be divided into two categories: one is natural resources endowed by nature, and the other is various resources created by human labor in human society.
The latter is the resource provided by human beings themselves through labor.
(2) Cheng Enfu put forward the concept of "cultural resources" in the book "General Theory of Cultural Economics", arguing that "cultural resources are all kinds of resources that people use or can use for cultural production or cultural activities.
""Cultural resources refer not only to material wealth resources, but also to spiritual wealth resources.
This shows that resources can be transformed into wealth and can generate value.
The so-called resources not only refer to the actual economic benefits that have been generated, but also refer to the potential economic benefits that can be generated but has not yet been generated.
In other words, resource is a dynamic concept, and its meaning develops with people's understanding and utilization of it.
For a substance, when people have not realized or fully realized its use value, it may not be used, but this does not mean that it will never produce economic benefits.
In ancient times, people did not regard oil as a resource, but when people realized its use value and widely used it, oil became an important resource.
According to the discussion of the concepts of resources and cultural resources, combined with the above analysis of the use value and value of cultural relics, we can see that cultural relics are a kind of resources that people use or can use for cultural production or cultural activities.
This kind of resource does not refer to the cultural relic itself, but refers to the historical and cultural information attached to the cultural relic, which has existed since the cultural relic came into being.
Cultural relics are a special kind of resources, which need to be explored and developed.
When the level of science and technology is low or people don't understand some cultural relics, or they can't be developed and utilized for various reasons, such cultural relics resources are only resources, not assets; When its development can't bring certain economic benefits to people, we can't regard this resource as an asset.
When we say cultural relics resources, we don't mean that cultural relics resources will inevitably become assets and enter the market as commodities, but that they may become assets, enter the market and produce economic benefits through a special form.
This special form is to bring all kinds of intangible information attached to cultural relics into the market to meet people's spiritual and cultural needs.
Only by consciously exploring and developing cultural relics resources can economic benefits be produced.
Fifth, let's discuss the carrier transmission of historical and cultural information attached to cultural relics.
Cultural relics are carriers of historical and cultural information, which can generate economic benefits, exchange and value.
Then, if these historical and cultural information is attached to another carrier, can it continue to produce economic benefits? We said, yes.
After "intangible historical and cultural information" is separated from cultural relics, it can be made into a catalogue for sale if it relies on paper; According to different magnetic media, it can be made into video tape, CD-ROM and CD-ROM. . It can also spread through the internet.
These catalogues, videos, CDs, CDs and even images on the Internet can bring economic benefits to manufacturers and sellers.
What buyers buy is not paper, video tape and CD without any content, but intangible historical and cultural information attached to these carriers.
Without these "intangible historical and cultural information", the producers and sellers of these media can't get economic benefits.
Therefore, we say that the carrier on which "intangible information" depends can be transferred, which can also meet people's spiritual and cultural needs and meet people's aesthetic needs.
Therefore, it can produce economic benefits, that is, "intangible historical and cultural information" can still be used, exchanged and produced value after it is transferred from the original carrier of cultural relics to another carrier.
However, after the carrier is transferred, "intangible historical and cultural information" will be greatly attenuated. Therefore, people's spiritual and cultural needs can only be partially met. Compared with relying on cultural relics, people's satisfaction will be reduced, that is, the use value of "intangible historical and cultural information" will be reduced, and the economic benefits it can create will also be reduced. In other words, this "intangible historical and cultural information" will be reduced.
An obvious example is that even if a cultural relic landscape or cultural relic is copied one by one according to the original, its attraction to tourists or spectators will be greatly reduced, which is also the reason why some artificial antique scenic spots are unsuccessful.
At the same time, this is why museum exhibits are generally required to be original, and copies are generally not allowed.
The problem of cultural relics resources is only to discuss the use value of cultural relics and the possibility of obtaining economic benefits, or the possibility of entering the market for exchange, becoming a commodity and generating value.
Next, we discuss the value of cultural relics.
The utilization value of cultural relics resources lies in meeting people's spiritual needs. The development and utilization of cultural relics resources can make cultural relics resources into commodities and generate value.
According to the theory of political economy, value refers to the general human labor condensed in products and the socially necessary labor time consumed.
Starting from this definition, the value of cultural relics resources should include the following three aspects: first, the labor paid by workers when building an ancient building or making an artifact (that is, today's cultural relics); Second, an ancient building or a cultural relic can be preserved to this day, and people have worked hard to protect it; Third, today, people's efforts to repair, maintain or restore cultural relics.
These three aspects are the "general human labor" needed when cultural relics are formed as historical and cultural information carriers.
If we simply rely on these three aspects of "general human labor", cultural relics resources are not enough to produce value.
The value of cultural relics resources should also include the labor that people pay when developing cultural relics resources.
We can understand this from two aspects: First, cultural relics and museums provide tourist services, exhibition services and explanation services for tourists and visitors to meet their spiritual and cultural needs, generate economic benefits and realize value.
Secondly, people's labor in the process of transferring "intangible historical and cultural information" from cultural relics carriers to other carriers, such as making cultural relics catalogues and audio-visual products.
To sum up, the value of cultural relics resources includes two aspects of "general human labor", that is, "general human labor" in the process of forming cultural relics resources and "general human labor" paid for developing cultural relics resources, both of which are indispensable.
Without the work of cultural relics and museum staff, the intangible information of cultural relics can not be well displayed to tourists and audiences, can not be recognized by tourists and audiences, and can not achieve economic benefits.
For example, when we watch some cultural relics in the wild, because there is no one to provide services, no one to sell tickets, and no one to show and explain the relevant tourism service facilities and systems, the intangible historical and cultural information contained in these cultural relics cannot realize its value.
On the other hand, if there are no cultural relics and "intangible information" attached to them, even if cultural relics and museum staff pay more labor, they will not be able to obtain the expected economic benefits.
The two complement each other.
In view of the theoretical discussion on "intangible information", cultural relics carrier and carrier transfer, we should pay attention to the following aspects in our current cultural relics work:
First, we should protect the original carrier of "intangible information", that is, cultural relics.
Cultural relics are to intangible information and its economic value, just like a chicken that lays golden eggs.
With the continuous improvement of people's material and cultural living standards and the increasing spiritual and cultural needs, the significance of cultural relics protection is even more important, because relying on it can become an important pillar of the tertiary industry and the fourth industry, and can produce unimaginable economic benefits.
Second, since cultural relics and museums relying on cultural relics can generate economic benefits through labor, cultural relics and museums can not only be satisfied with social benefits such as patriotism education and revolutionary tradition education for the public, but must also obtain economic benefits.
Based on this principle, it is not only possible but also inevitable for cultural relics and museums to realize economic benefits.
Thirdly, since "intangible information" can be transmitted, while protecting cultural relics, we must pay attention to the research, development and utilization of this "intangible information" carrier transmission, thus generating greater social and economic benefits.
Fourthly, because "intangible information" can produce economic benefits, it must be evaluated and protected.
It is a very urgent task for cultural relics workers to evaluate and protect cultural relics and their attached "intangible information", and we must attach great importance to it.
Fifth, we should correctly distinguish the two components of obtaining economic benefits through cultural relics.
Since people engaged in the transfer of "intangible information" (that is, those engaged in the development, production and sales of cultural relics catalogues, audio-visual products, computers and network products) can obtain economic income, and this income is composed of two parts, that is, the labor they pay and the value generated by "intangible information", then these two parts must be distinguished.
The remuneration these people get from their labor can be calculated by the socially necessary labor time. After deducting the remaining part, it should be the value generated by "intangible information", and this part of income should be included in the funds for cultural relics protection.
Distinguishing these two parts can avoid unfair distribution.
Some units and individuals only rely on a good cultural relics scenic spot to carry out their work, or control some cultural relics in their hands. Although they don't pay much labor, they can also get considerable economic income, which doesn't mean what they have paid. On the contrary, they have no funds to repair and maintain the cultural relics that they have gained economic benefits.
Theoretically speaking, this is the value generated by embezzling part of "intangible information" and it is unreasonable income.
On the issue of the value of cultural relics, there will also be many related problems. For example, the evaluation of the value of ancient buildings is helpful to standardize the implementation of the clause of "ordering compensation for losses" in the law, and at the same time it is helpful to study and formulate policies to attract social investment to repair and develop cultural relics and ancient buildings.
The research on the value of cultural relics will also help to clarify the relationship between cultural relics protection and tourism development, and provide another theoretical basis for strengthening the awareness of cultural relics protection in all aspects and increasing investment in cultural relics protection.
The research on the carrier transmission of "historical and cultural information" is helpful to mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties to develop cultural products and deepen the research on the protection of intangible assets of cultural relics.
The discussion on the value of cultural relics in this paper is only a preliminary consideration, and there are still many related problems at this level, which need to be discussed in depth.