Protection of ICH in China

　　May 25, 2006

　　
I. Background of China's protection of intangible cultural heritage

　　China is a unified multi-ethnic country with a time-honored history and splendid ancient civilization which has endowed the Chinese nation with an extremely rich cultural heritage. This rich and colorful cultural heritage is the crystallization of the wisdom and civilization of the Chinese people, the fundamental component of Chinese culture, the bond of affections between all ethnic groups, the foundation of national unity, the important bridge to transmit and inherit Chinese civilization, and also the reflection of our aspiring national spirit.

　　Cultural heritage includes tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage. As early as the 1950s, China began to establish a system of protection system for cultural heritage. At present, a relatively complete protection system for tangible cultural heritage has already been formed. In recent years, great efforts have been made by the Chinese government to protect intangible cultural heritage. In 2004, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance issued information to formally kick off the implementation of the "National Project for the Protection of Folk and Ethnic Cultures." The scope of intangible cultural heritage covers: poems, fairy tales, epics, stories, legends and proverbs that have been spread orally among people for a long time; folk performing arts like traditional music, dance, drama, quyi, acrobatics, puppet show, and shadow play; folk practices like rituals, festivals, sports, competitions, production related and life related customs; folk traditional knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe; traditional handcraft skills; and cultural space related to the above-mentioned expressions. The CPC and the government attach great importance to the protection of cultural heritage. China is now making efforts in gradually establishing a relatively complete protection system.

　　However, with the acceleration of globalization and modernization, dramatic changes have taken place in China's cultural ecology: intangible cultural heritage is confronted with great challenges and a lot of orally and behaviorally transmitted cultural heritage is disappearing; a great deal of traditional craftsmanship is on the verge of extinction; a large number of precious objects and materials of historical and cultural values are destroyed, deserted or lost in foreign countries; and arbitrary misuse and excessive exploitation of intangible cultural heritage occur from time to time. Therefore, the protection of intangible cultural heritage brooks no delay.

　　
II. Progress on the protection of the intangible cultural heritage

　　In the protection work of intangible cultural heritage, the Chinese government follows the guiding principle of "protection as priority, rescue as primacy, rational utilization, and inheritance for development," persisting in maintaining the authenticity and comprehensiveness of intangible cultural heritage and properly handling the relationship between protection and utilization. In terms of acknowledgement, measures have been adopted to increase recognition of cultural heritage. In the meantime, the government also pursues the working principle of "government leadership, social participation, clarification of duty and responsibility, combination of forces, as well as long-term planning, implementation by steps, integrating priorities with entirety, and emphasis on effect and efficiency," and strive to take gradual steps to establish a full-fledged system of protection of intangible cultural heritage so that precious and endangered intangible cultural heritage of great historical, cultural and scientific values can be effectively protected, promoted and carried forward.