A three-day International Symposium on the Preservation of
Intangible Cultural Heritage started on Tuesday in Beijing.
High on the agenda was preservation and policies that would
safeguard this kind of heritage in a scientific, comprehensive and
systematic way.
"As we continue to apply to UNESCO for recognition of China's
diverse cultural treasures ... we should establish China's own
list," said Zhou Heping, vice minister of culture.
To date, UNESCO has listed China's Kunqu opera and
guqin as "masterpieces of oral and intangible cultural
heritage."
"The intangible cultural heritage of different countries and
different ethnic groups is the cultural treasure of humanity," said
Wang Wenzhang, president of the Chinese Academy of Arts.
Besides Kunqu opera and guqin, a total of 39
different cultural genres such as the Uygur 12 muqum,
nanyin, Tibetan drama and some traditional folk crafts
have been listed by China's own preservation center, said Li Ke,
deputy director of the National Center of Preserving Intangible
Cultural Heritage?that was set up in Beijing in February
2003.
The center will also give regular training courses on intangible
culture preservation.
In 2002, the Chinese Academy of Arts launched a project to
identify and preserve intangible cultural heritage, which brought
local individual projects into the fold of a national system.
(China Daily November 17, 2004)