What motivates the preservation of endangered intangible cultural heritage? Aesthetic attraction versus cultural identity-a case study of Liaoxi Puppet Opera.

As a living witness to human cultural diversity, the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) carries a certain type of historical memory and emotional genes of specific ethnic groups and serves as the link to maintain the national spiritual homeland (). However, under the double impact of globalization and modernization, the living space of traditional culture is under unprecedented pressure (). Especially for traditional performing arts that rely on Oral transmission and practical demonstration, they not only face the death of physical form, but also face a profound crisis of social function degradation and intergenerational audience disconnect (). Against this background, the paradigm of ICH protection is shifting from the early rescue documentation to more sustainable living transmission (). It is essential to rebuild the spiritual connection between ICH and modern people and to make it return to the real life of contemporary audiences (). In China, puppetry is known as a living fossil that helps us trace the origins of regional culture. It refracts stable genes of folk traditions for thousands of years, concretizes historical allusions and folk beliefs through unique artistic programs, and deeply interprets the spiritual connotation and aesthetic pursuit of the Chinese nation (). It is said in , “Cultural heritage not only vividly describes the past, but also profoundly affects the present and the future” (). As an outstanding representative of puppetry in northern China, Liaoxi Puppet Opera occupies an irreplaceable position in China’s ICH map. Geographically, “Liaoxi” refers to the region west of the Liao River in Liaoning Province (encompassing modern-day cities such as Jinzhou, Chaoyang, and Huludao), and this puppetry art form is the quintessential cultural expression of this specific area. It originated from the tide of immigration and trade in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is the product of a deep integration of puppet skills from all sides and regional culture in Liaoxi Corridor, a crucial geographical and cultural bridge between North and Northeast China, filling the gap in northeast puppet art. From a historical perspective, it has high academic value and revolutionary heritage: it once gave birth to the first national puppet team in New China - the Puppet Team of Liaoning Cultural and Industrial Troupe. Its core members later were assigned by central government to construct Chinese National Puppet Art Troupe, laying the foundation for the development of contemporary Chinese puppet art. The history of rises and falls of Liaoxi Puppet Opera in its development is a microcosm of the tenacious survival of Chinese folk arts in the changing times over the last hundred years. From artistic dimensions, Liaoxi Puppet Opera carries a unique regional aesthetic gene, which partially strengthens the people’s sense of geographical, cultural and social belongings, and becomes an important symbol for maintaining the cultural memory of the integration of Central Plains and Northeast China. However, despite its extremely high historical and cultural value, the Liaoxi Puppet Opera has faced with a severe existential crisis in contemporary times. As a national ICH, it is still troubled by insufficient participation under the siege of digital media and modern entertainment (). On the one hand, the crisis of succession has become increasingly prominent. The appeal of traditional master-apprentice model has significantly waned in the face of market economy pressures, which results in lack of young practitioners, posing a severe risk to the preservation of core skills (). On the other hand, the loss of audiences makes matters worse. Under the impact of short videos, the younger generation lose their interests in puppetry, and the similar traditional artistic genres have gradually been replaced by foreign animation videos, resulting in the collapse of the intergenerational transmission chain of Cultural Identity (). The lack of social participation has made this art form, which was once active in the rural society, gradually disappeared from people’s daily life (). This dilemma shows that it is far from enough to reverse the decline only relying on government support, and there is an urgent need to explore an endogenous primary predictor to push the audiences to actively participate in protection (). In response to the protection of ICH, the existing literature mostly focusses on the discussion of the supply side, such as historical verification, description of artistic characteristics or policy and system design (), while from the demand side (audience perspective), there is a relative lack of empirical research on quantitative analysis of participation motivation. We still do not know how the external visual aesthetics (Stimulus) of Liaoxi puppetry, which has both visual wonder and cultural depth, is transformed into internal psychological experience (Organism), and then is associated with participation intention (Resp