Theme park, festival for culture

After decades of neglect, China's intangible cultural heritage is set to take center stage at both a festival and a theme park, senior cultural officials said yesterday.

　　The China International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival will take place in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, from May 23 to June 10. The festival, the first to focus on intangible cultural heritage in China, will be an annual event, Ding Wei, assistant minister of culture told the press in Beijing.

　　The heart of the festival will be a parade of more than 30 musical troupes from around the country along a 3-kilometer shopping street. They will perform traditional music and operas inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list, which the Ministry of Culture published last June, said He Huazhang, vice-mayor of Chengdu.

　　Thousands of local people and visitors are expected to have their faces painted or wear colorful masks and take part in the carnival, he added.

　　During the festival, members of an inter-governmental commission for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, which is affiliated to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will hold a convention in Chengdu. More than 200 experts from 24 countries, including China, are expected to attend, said Qu Shengrui, deputy director of the cultural ministry's social culture department.

　　In a related development, a free theme park that will showcase the country's intangible cultural heritage is under construction in suburban Chengdu, said He.

　　China, which is known around the world for its Peking Opera, has produced many forms of art and music throughout its millennia-long history. Its national list of intangible cultural heritage has grown to include 518 items, from the Buddhist music at an ancient temple in Beijing, to the annual lantern fair by the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.

　　Efforts to protect the country's intangible cultural heritage have come into focus in recent years. The government has allocated special funds to preserve Chinese culture, and the public has been paying special attention to cultural issues.

　　However, Tian Qing, a researcher at the China Arts Academy, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, warned that local governments often use the banner of protecting intangible cultural heritage to develop their local tourism offierings, but then fail to input sufficient resources into culture.

　　Editor: Xu Shenglan