China mulls over candidates for world ICH

China is reviewing more candidates for the world's intangible cultural heritage (ICH) list, and a new preliminary list will be compiled this year, from which the Chinese government will make a final selection and recommendations to the United Nations, according to Vice-Cultural Minister Zhou Heping.

　　"Each provincial government can introduce two candidate items to the preliminary list, which aims to better protect heritages from the impact of urbanization and globalization," said Zhou at Tuesday's national conference of cultural departments.

　　According to UNESCO, "intangible cultural heritage" refers to practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.

　　As a member of the UNESCO 18-member inter-governmental committee to safeguard ICH, China has been strengthening efforts in ICH protection in the past few years.

　　Since 2001, Kun Qu, one of the oldest forms of opera in the country, Chinese zither, the Guqin, a solo musical instrument dating back 3,000 years, Xinjiang Uygur Muqam, a blend of song, dance, folk and classical music, and Long Song, a type of Mongolian lyrical chant, have been proclaimed by UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

　　The Chinese State Council published last June its first batch of state-level intangible heritages, including the Spring Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture, the Legend of Madame White Snake and Shaolin Kungfu.

　　Editor: Xu Shenglan