Facilitating Daily Practice in Intangible Cultural Heritage through Virtual Reality: A Case Study of Traditional Chinese Flower Arrangement

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:
  The authors highlight significant challenges in the daily practice of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) using traditional methods, such as difficulties in obtaining materials and tools, lack of cultural atmosphere in practice environments, and inability to continuously reflect and improve on creations. These challenges are especially critical for learners of Traditional Chinese Floral Art (TCFA). Furthermore, traditional learning methods (e.g., apprenticeship) are often constrained by time, location, and financial factors, making it difficult for younger generations to sustain their engagement in practice.

• Importance:
  The essence of ICH lies in the transmission of living knowledge and skills across generations. Preserving ICH is not only about safeguarding cultural forms but also about maintaining the cultural knowledge conveyed through these forms. Daily practice, as a key avenue for reviving ICH, can deepen learners' knowledge, skills, and cultural understanding over time.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:
  While many cutting-edge studies have utilized digital technologies (e.g., AR, VR, and motion capture) to record and represent ICH, most focus on single experiences, with few supporting learners' long-term daily practice. Innovative solutions are needed to integrate ICH artistic practices into modern daily life, making them more accessible and sustainable.

Solution

• Proposed Method or Solution:
  The authors designed a virtual reality (VR) system called FloraJing, which innovatively addresses key challenges faced by TCFA learners in daily practice by creating a culturally immersive environment, simplifying the practice process, and supporting the preservation and creative modification of works.

• Innovative Features:

  1. Integrating TCFA's philosophical and aesthetic principles into the VR system's virtual environment to provide learners with flexible cultural immersion experiences.
  2. Allowing users to save and modify virtual floral creations, overcoming the limitations of consumable materials in reality and promoting continuous reflection and improvement.
  3. Removing the physical gravity constraints in traditional flower arrangement, enabling creators to focus on artistic expression rather than technical issues.
  4. Offering a mixed reality mode to connect virtual creations with real-world environments, enhancing the potential for experiential transfer.

• Implementation Steps and Key Technologies:

  1. Cultural Environment Design: A virtual Chinese tea room was created, incorporating traditional Chinese music and stylized decorations to provide a cultural atmosphere.
  2. Interaction Mechanism Design: Natural interactions such as virtual trimming and material grabbing were achieved through gesture recognition technology.
  3. Practice Optimization: A variety of virtual floral materials and cleaning functions were provided to reduce the burden of material preparation and cleanup.
  4. Preservation and Output: TCFA creations can be saved in 3D formats and displayed through Passthrough mode (mixed reality), connecting virtual creations with real-world scenarios.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:

  1. In a single-session experiment, all participants reported that FloraJing significantly improved their floral arrangement skills, cultural understanding, and learning motivation.
  2. In a 7-day longitudinal experiment, participants engaged in sustained daily practice, reflected on and improved their creations, and some even transferred virtual creations to real-world practice.

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:
  FloraJing not only focuses on technical skill training but also inspires cultural interest and learner creativity. By eliminating environmental constraints and external burdens in reality, the system makes ICH practice more convenient and immersive.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  1. User Experience and System Usability: FloraJing significantly reduced the time required for material preparation and cleanup, increased learning fluency (short-term familiarization time of 6 minutes), and demonstrated significantly lower mental and physical workload in NASA-TLX measurements.
  2. Emotional and Physiological Feedback: Participants reported feeling highly relaxed during VR practice, with EDA and heart rate data supporting this phenomenon.
  3. TCFA Learning Outcomes: Participants noted improvements in composition, color distribution, and understanding of philosophical aesthetics and cultural context through FloraJing.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  1. Sensory Simulation Deficiency: The current system lacks tactile and olfactory feedback. Future work could explore integrating more multimodal perceptions, such as mixed reality environments.
  2. Experimental Context Limitations: Experiments were primarily conducted in laboratory settings rather than real-life home environments. Future studies could extend testing to scenarios closer to daily life.
  3. Small Sample Size: The initial user study involved a small sample size, which may limit the generalizability of the results. Expanding the participant pool is recommended for future research.
  4. Expert Needs: Advanced artists and professional learners require higher fidelity gravity simulations. Future work could optimize system modules tailored to users at different skill levels.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates the significant potential of VR technology in supporting ICH daily practice, not only for skill training but also for fostering cultural understanding and emotional connection. Through case studies, FloraJing has been shown to significantly enhance TCFA learners' daily practice and contribute to cultural revival. This research provides valuable insights for the future design of VR systems aimed at supporting ICH practice, with expectations for further exploration into high-fidelity, multimodal, and long-term applications.