Source:

06-07-2007 16:55

The Chinese government has established a national "Cultural Heritage Day" to be celebrated annually on the second Saturday of June, Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng said on May 26, 2006.

Sun said the first "Cultural Heritage Day" would fall on June 10, with the theme "Protecting cultural heritage and safeguarding the spiritual homeland". "The celebration will include a series of performances and exhibitions," Sun said. It would feature an exhibition of ancient Chinese books and a selection of the best folk art.

The State Administration of Culture Heritage would undertake a nationwide review of cultural heritage protection work, while the National Library and Academy of Social Sciences would host seminars and forums and offer advice to the public on cultural heritage.

Sun called on museums, memorial halls and relic sites at all levels to open free to public on the first "Cultural Heritage Day". He said Chinese legislation included more than 30 laws and regulations on cultural heritage protection in which the government had invested 7.89 billion yuan (900 million U.S. dollars) over the last five years. People from all walks of life had come to realize its importance.

China has 2,351 historic sites and 518 articles of intangible cultural heritage. Nearly 400,000 fixed relics have been registered on the mainland and another 20 million movable relics in museums.

Sun noted that China holds four of the 19 "masterpieces" of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity listed by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO). They are the 500-year-old Kunqu Opera, known for its graceful movements and poetic lyrics; the 3,000-year-old guqin seven-string zither; the Twelve Mukams, a 12-part suite of ancient Uygur music;and the Pastoral Song sung by a Mongolian ethnic group.

On June 2nd, the Chinese State Council announced that the Spring Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture, The Legend of Madame White Snake and Shaolin Kungfu would be included in the country's first intangible cultural heritage list.

The list contains 518 items in 10 categories, including folk literature, folk music and dance, traditional opera, ballad singing, cross-talk, acrobatics , folk fine arts, traditional handicraft, traditional medicine and folk customs, the State Council announced on its website on Friday.

The 518 items were selected by a jury organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Academy of Arts of China (AAC) from more than 1,300 traditions across the country. However, experts say the protection of heritage in China is a race against time. "Intangible cultural heritage in China is facing a rigorous challenge in its battle against urbanization and globalization," said Tian Qing, a member of the jury and director of the Intangible Culture Heritage Research Center under the AAC.

An old artwork, handicraft or folk song is likely to disappear and an old house is likely to be demolished every second in China. Few Chinese media covered UNESCO's listing of Kunqu opera as a "masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity" in 2001, while the Japanese media acclaimed the listing of the Nogaku theater, said Tian. "The Chinese government's attention to intangible heritage was fueled by the public," he said.

A seminar would be held in the near future to discuss academic questions on the protection of intangible heritage, Tian said.

The condition of the intangible cultural heritage is widely linked to social and economic developments, Tian said, and some people in scenic spots were turning intangible heritage into stunts to entertain tourists.

"It mainly depends on the heritage holders to protect, pass down, develop and invigorate intangible cultural heritage," he said. "I believe the intangible cultural heritage list issued by the State Council will help the public reconsider their traditions. Their heritage will become a memory unless the public increases protection awareness," he said.

 

Editor:Liu Fang