June 03, 2006:

[achtung! kunst] *heritage* : First “National Cultural Heritage Day”
 
     
 

Speech By Mr. Sun Jiazheng, Minister of Culture

May 25, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning, it is a pleasure to meet friends from the press today. I’d
like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the
media for your long-time interest in and support to the protection of
cultural heritage in China.

Today I will brief you on the First “National Cultural Heritage Day” and
China’s endeavors of protecting cultural heritage.

In December 2005, the State Council issued the Circular on Strengthening
the Protection of Cultural Heritage, and established the National
Leading Taskforce on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, a team of 15
ministries and departments led by State Councilor Mdm. Chen Zhili,
aiming to strengthen the administration of cultural heritage protection
nationwide. According to the Circular, since 2006, the second Saturday
of June of every year will be designated as China’s “National Cultural
Heritage Day”. Henceforth, the coming date of June 10 will mark the very
first Cultural Heritage Day of China. For this matter, the National
Leading Taskforce on the Protection of Cultural Heritage convened many
meetings to arrange the events surrounding this date, and the theme of
this first National Cultural Heritage Day has been decided as
“Protecting Our Cultural Heritage, Safeguard Our Spiritual Homeland”. As
for the detailed arrangements of the occasion, you may refer to the
background papers available here. Now I would like to give a brief
overview of the protection of cultural heritage in China.

China always attaches great importance to the protection of cultural
heritage and the promotion of fine traditional cultures. Strenuous
efforts have been made in this regard. Since the establishment of the
People’s Republic of China, particularly after the reform and open-up
policies, protection of cultural heritage has also entered a brand new
era in China, producing many achievements as mainly in the following:

(1) With a series of intensified legislative efforts, a fairly complete
framework of laws and regulations on cultural heritage protection has
been forged. In 1982, China issued the Law of the People’s Republic of
China on the Protection of Cultural Relics, which was revised in October
2002. The Implementation Regulations of this Law was then issued and
enforced by the State Council. In the meantime, the Ministry of Culture
also published some 30 regulatory documents and administration
regulations in the form of Minister’s Orders. For the time being, the
Law on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage has been listed on
the legislative agenda of the National People’s Congress in 2007, and a
number of sector and local protective regulations have been released by
related departments and local governments. In addition, China has joined
a number of international conventions concerning the protection of
cultural heritage, including Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of
Cultural Property (1970) and Convention for the Safeguarding of
Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003).

(2) Local governments at all levels put much value on cultural heritage
undertakings; and the working mechanism for the protection of cultural
heritage has been improved gradually. In accordance with the planning of
the central government, local governments at all levels have integrated
cultural relics protection into their economic and social development
plans and constantly upgraded the social status and overall levels of
cultural heritage undertakings. As a result, expenditures on cultural
relics protection have been substantially increased; the central
government’s budget earmarked for cultural relics protection increased
from 129 million yuan in 1994 to 534 million yuan in 2005. During the
“Tenth Five Year Plan”, the total central input for cultural heritage
protection has reached 1.736 billion yuan (excluding budget for some
special projects). This is 1.006 billion yuan more than, and 138 percent
over that in the “Ninth Five Year Plan”. During the same period, local
input for cultural heritage protection amounted to 6.153 billion yuan,
making the total number of national input 7.889 billion yuan. In 2003,
China launched the “Project for the Protection of Ethnic and Folk
Cultures in China”, adding more impetus to the protection of intangible
cultural heritage.

(3) Large-scale censuses for cultural heritage have been carried out,
and effective results have been achieved in the rectification and
documentation of cultural heritage resources across the nation. In terms
of cultural relics census, a group of key projects such as the building
of inventories for key state-level protection sites and first-class
museum collections of cultural relics have been launched. The country’s
cultural relics resources have been initially ascertained and
information on the quantity, quality, distribution and protection
situation of state-owned unmovable cultural relics and museum
collections of moveable cultural relics have been basically acquired. In
regard to intangible cultural heritage census, a standard-setting
Working Handbook for Census has been compiled, and training for census
personnel is carried out, paving the way for the nationwide census for
intangible cultural heritage resources.

(4) Fundamental work on the protection of cultural relics has been
stepped up, and efficiency of administration on cultural relics affairs
constantly improved. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of
China, the State Council has designated 1271 cultural units in five
groups as “Heritage Sites under State Protection”, and the sixth group,
which is 1081 sites in total, has just been designated and reported for
review to the State Council. With concern to the “National Inventory of
Intangible Cultural Heritage”, the first group of items, 518 in total,
has been recommended for the State Council to review and publicize.
Priorities have been given to projects for the restoration and
protection of key state-level protection sites such as the Potala Palace
in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the Forbidden City in Beijing and a
large number of other key state-level protection sites. As a result, key
state-level protection sites have been basically lifted out of threats
of serious damages. A protection and planning system for large-scale
remains has been initially established. Visible progress has also been
made in the team-building for cultural heritage protection, scientific
research on cultural relics, solicitation and collection of precious
cultural relics, combat against pirate excavation, robbing, smuggling of
cultural relics, as well as international cooperation and exchange in
this field.

(5) Museum construction and development have been boosted steadily. In
December 2005, the Ministry of Culture issued Administration Methods on
Museums, making specific stipulations on the function, nature,
management and other matters related to museums. Up to date, a total of
some 2300 museums have been set up nationwide, presenting nearly 10,000
displays and exhibitions and receiving about 150 million visitors from
home and abroad annually. Large-scale museums such as Shanghai Museum,
Capital Museum and China Science Museum have undergone rapid upgrading
in infrastructure, research and display, management and operation, and
service for the general public, thus reaching or approaching levels of
advanced museums abroad. Since 2004, museums of all kinds and all levels
across the nation have also followed the requirements of related
documents from the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of
Cultural Heritage to offer free entrance or preferential prices for such
social groups as minors, receiving gratifying results.

Nevertheless, we have the clear awareness that with the acceleration of
economic globalization and modernization, China’s cultural ecology has
undergone dramatic changes. The prospect for the protection of cultural
heritage in China brooks no blind optimism, and a lot of work still
needs to be done. On the one hand, we need to further strengthen the
leading role of the government, which shall take more forceful measures
to protect cultural heritage; on the other hand, there is a need for the
entire society to raise awareness for cultural heritage protection,
which should become a voluntary practice for each and every citizen. In
this respect, we hope our media can contribute to this undertaking by
helping to inform, mobilize and guide the general public towards the
protection of cultural heritage.

In today’s press conference we also have my colleagues Mr. Zhou Heping,
Vice Minister of Culture and Mr. Shan Jixiang, Head of the State
Administration of Cultural Heritage. Now, my colleagues and I would like
to take up your questions.

http://www.china.org.cn/e-news/news060525-1.htm


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Protection of Cultural Heritage in China

May 25, 2006

China enjoys a world-acclaimed ancient civilization. Over the sweep of
history, Chinese people of all ethnic groups have jointly created
valuable cultural heritage resources with such a multitude of types,
diverse forms and rich contents that are exceptional in the world.
China’s cultural heritage reflects unique spirits, values, ways of
thinking and imagination and embodies vitality and creativity of the
Chinese nation, thus being cherished as treasures of human civilization.
Cultural heritage, in a unique role, has invisibly influenced the
Chinese people’s ideas and concepts and made special and important
contribution to the continuation and evolution of the Chinese civilization.

The Chinese Government has always attached great importance to the
protection of cultural heritage and drawn up a series of major policies
and plans. In the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the
Protection of Cultural Relics, a protection guideline is prescribed
featuring “emphasis on protection, rescue first, reasonable utilization
and reinforced administration”. In December 2005, the State Council
issued the Circular on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural
Heritage, stipulating that people’s governments at all levels and
relevant departments, with a strong sense of responsibility to the
nation and history and from a perspective of safeguarding cultural
safety of the nation, should fully recognize importance of protecting
cultural heritage, further enhance their sense of responsibility and
urgency and work hard to better protect cultural heritage. It is also
stipulated in the Circular that the second Saturday of June is
designated as the National Cultural Heritage Day since 2006.

Cultural heritage resources in China

China’s cultural heritage consists of both tangible and intangible
cultural heritage. Tangible cultural heritage refers to cultural relics
with historical, artistic and scientific values, including movable and
unmovable cultural relics.

1. Movable cultural relics include ancient cultural remains, ancient
tombs, ancient architectures, grotto temples, stone carvings, murals,
and important remains and representative buildings in the history of
modern China.

There are nearly 400,000 registered sites of unmovable cultural relics
in mainland China so far. Administration by levels is exercised on the
protection of unmovable cultural relics in China. Important unmovable
cultural relics are classified as sites under protection at county &
municipal, provincial or state levels. In China, there are so far 2352
sites under the state-level protection, 9396 sites under the
provincial-level protection and 58,300 sites under the county or
municipal-level protection. Moreover, 103 cities are designated as
“Historically and Culturally Famous City”.

Since 1985 when China joined the Convention Concerning the Protection of
the Cultural and Natural Heritage, 31 cultural and natural heritage
sites in China have been inscribed in the World Heritage List, among
which there are four natural heritage sites, four cultural & natural
heritage sites, one cultural landscape and 22 cultural heritage sites.

2. Movable cultural relics refer to important artifacts, artworks,
documents, manuscripts, publication materials and representative
artifacts of different historical periods which are categorized into
valuable cultural relics and common cultural relics. Valuable cultural
relics are classified as first-class, second-class or third-class. So
far, a total of some 20 million pieces or sets of movable cultural
relics are collected in museums of mainland China.

China’s achievements in the protection of cultural relics

Since the founding of new China in 1949, especially since the policy of
reform and opening up was launched, remarkable achievements have been
scored in the protection of cultural relics in China. Since the Ninth
Five-Year Plan was implemented, as the country’s economic power and
comprehensive national strength has been substantially enhanced, China’s
cultural relics undertaking has embraced a brand new era of development
and new accomplishments have been achieved as follows:

Legal system building has been constantly improved and a system of laws
and regulations on cultural relics protection has been basically
developed. In 1982, China issued the Law of the People’s Republic of
China on the Protection of Cultural Relics, the country’s first law in
the field of cultural relics. The Law was revised in October 2002.
Within the framework of the Law, the Ministry of Culture and the State
Administration of Cultural Heritage have drawn up some 30 regulatory
documents and administration regulations, and a number of local
regulations have been released. In addition, China has joined the four
international conventions concerning the protection of cultural
heritage, including Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of
Cultural Property (1970).

Local governments at all levels put much value on cultural heritage
undertakings. In accordance with the planning of the central government,
local governments at all levels have integrated cultural relics
protection into their economic and social development plans and
constantly upgraded social status and overall levels of cultural
heritage undertakings. As a result, expenditures on cultural relics
protection have been substantially increased; the special fund for
cultural relics protection earmarked from the centrally controlled state
revenue increased from 129 million yuan in 1994 to 534 million yuan in
2005. Since 2005, the Government of Beijing Municipality has invested
120 million yuan annually in the protection of cultural relics.
Moreover, some provinces and cities have reinforced the building of
administration authorities and law enforcement personnel involved with
cultural heritage.

Remarkable achievements have been scored in the surveying and inventory
building of cultural relics resources in China. Key projects such as the
building of inventories for key state-level protection sites and
first-class museum collections of cultural relics have been launched.
The country’s cultural relics resources have been initially ascertained
and information on quantity, quality, distribution and protection of
state-owned unmovable cultural relics and museum collections of moveable
cultural relics have been basically acquired.

Basic work on the protection of cultural relics has been further speeded
up. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has conducted surveys
on basic conditions of the country’s protection organizations and
museums. Priorities have been given to projects for the restoration and
protection of key state-level protection sites such as the Potala Palace
in Tibet and the Forbidden City in Beijing and a large number of other
key state-level protection sites. As a result, key state-level
protection sites have been basically lifted out of threats of serious
accidents.

A protection and planning system for large-scale remains has been
initially established. The state has earmarked a special fund for the
protection of large-scale remains, which has remarkably facilitated the
establishment of regulations on and protection projects, facilities and
display areas of large-scale remain sites. Protection facilities for the
Emperor Qin’s Mausoleum Remains and the Daming Palace Remains in Shaanxi
and Koguryo Remains in Jilin and Liaoning have taken shape, which have
provided examples for large-scale rescue, protection and utilization of
other large-scale remains.

Construction of museums has been constantly speeded up. A total of some
2300 museums have been set up nationwide, which present nearly 10,000
displays and exhibitions and receive about 150 million visitors from
home and abroad annually. The renovation and expansion project for the
National Museum of China has been launched and a number of large-scale
museums have been completed and open to public. Large-scale museums such
as Shanghai Museum, Capital Museum and China Science Museum have
undergone rapid upgrading in infrastructure, research and display,
management and operation, and service for the general public, thus
reaching or approaching levels of advanced museums abroad.

Exchange and cooperation with other countries and regions in the field
of cultural relics have maintained a good momentum. Some 60 exhibitions
on cultural relics are organized abroad annually and active exchange and
cooperation have been conducted in archeological survey and excavation,
cultural relics protection, personnel training and academic intercourse.
China has actively participated in and offered aids to the protection
and restoration of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Bogd Khan Palace in
Mongolia, and successfully hosted the 28th World Heritage Conference and
the 15th ICOMOS General Assembly.

Local economic and cultural development has been increasingly benefited
from endeavors for the protection of cultural heritage. In areas with
rich cultural heritage resources such as Beijing, Xi’an, Chengde, Qufu,
Pingyao and Lijiang, some of their heritage sites and museums have
become world-famous tourist destinations—the Forbidden City, Dunhuang
Research Institute and Emperor’s Qing’s Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses
Museum, to name a few. More and more heritage sites and museums have
been regarded by general public as ideal venues for knowledge learning,
leisure and traveling.

Challenges facing the protection of cultural heritage in China

The protection of cultural heritage in China is now in a critical stage,
facing the growing trend of urbanization and tremendous challenges and
pressures posed by the construction of large-scale infrastructure
projects. It is a significant challenge to guarantee the smooth
construction of the country’s key large-scale infrastructure projects
while putting cultural relics under good protection

1. The Chinese Government attaches vital importance to the protection of
cultural heritage in the construction of infrastructures and demands
that surveys by cultural heritage administrations be conducted before a
construction project is launched and the project bypass verified
unmovable cultural relics as possible as it can. If unmovable cultural
relics are discovered in areas that an infrastructure project has to go
through, cultural heritage administrations must decide to protect them
in their original sites or conduct rescue excavation for the convenience
of the project construction. Over the past decade, Chinese archeological
professionals have conducted successful rescue excavations involved with
the construction of a number of large or medium-scale infrastructure
projects, including the Xiaolangdi Reservoir over the Yellow River, the
Three Gorges Dam over the Yangtze River, the transmission of natural gas
from west to east China, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the
double-tracking railway between Langzhou and Baoji.

During the construction of the Three Gorges Dam project, the State
Administration of Cultural Heritage mobilized some sixty institutes,
organizations and universities specialized in the field of archeological
studies, restoration of ancient architectures and cultural heritage
protection to conduct rescue investigations, surveys, excavations and
conservations. As a result, 1087 sites of unmovable cultural relics were
discovered in the inundated area. Before the water storage project was
launched, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized
large-scale excavations in the inundated area, achieving a number of
significant archeological discoveries and unearthing a multitude of
samples and exquisite artifacts with high research values.

Rescue and protection of cultural heritage involved with the project of
water diversion from south to north China will be a key priority in the
protection of cultural relics in China in years to come. The State
Administration of Cultural Heritage has already mobilized professionals
throughout the country to conduct surveys and protection prior to the
construction. Along the middle and east routes of the project which go
through seven provinces and municipalities under the administration of
the central government, a total of 710 heritage sites are involved in
the project’s first-phase construction. After repeated coordinations
with water conservancy departments, most important unmovable cultural
relics have been bypassed in the planning of the project and proper
measures have been adopted to better protect ground cultural relics. On
the basis of comprehensive surveys of underground cultural relics,
archeological excavation will be conducted in planned scales. It is
planned to excavate an area of nearly 1.7 million square meters, with an
estimated expenditure of 1 billion yuan.

2. To improve people’s living quality while protecting historical cities
in the accelerated process of urbanization is an issue that the Chinese
Government determines to properly deal with.

The Chinese Government has continued to reinforce the protection of
cultural relics in the process of urbanization and has taken a series of
measures to establish protective areas, buffer zones or controlled belts
in the neighborhood of significant historical buildings, sites and
monuments. As a result, initial achievements have been made in
protecting cultural heritage itself and its surroundings. In addition,
major explorations have been conducted in the following three aspects:

A) Improve the legal system concerning the protection of cultural relics
and their surroundings, continue to strengthen the law enforcement and
further speed up theoretical studies so as to make sure that legal means
and theoretical studies will play a bigger role in the protection of
cultural relics. Meanwhile, more efforts need to be made in working out
national standards and technical specifications concerning the
protection of cultural relics and their surroundings.

B) Speed up the compilation of plans for the protection of cultural
relics so that they can be given proper protection under the guidance of
protection plans. Meanwhile, more efforts should be made in facilitating
protection plans to be integrated into overall urban development plans,
urban system plans and economic and social development plans, and in
working out measures to implement protection plans on the dimension of
country administration. Those efforts aim to achieve effective,
scientific, reasonable and well-planned coordination between cultural
relics protection and local economic and social development, thus
realizing integral protection of values of cultural relics.

C) Try our utmost to guarantee the implementation of significant
protection projects such as large-scale remains in cities, complete a
number of model projects for the protection of key heritage sites,
gradually develop a good natural, cultural and ecological environment
for the protection of cultural relics, achieve harmonious and
sustainable development of local communities and natural environment and
upgrade living standards of local people.

http://www.china.org.cn/e-news/news060525-2.htm


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Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China

May 25, 2006

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

China is a unified multi-ethnic country with time-honored history and
splendid ancient civilization which has endowed the Chinese nation with
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 in the 1950s, China began to establish
the protection system of cultural heritage. At present, a relatively
complete protection system of tangible cultural heritage has already
been formed. In recent years, great efforts have been made by the
Chinese government in protecting the 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, shadow play, etc.; 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. All concerned departments and institutions have also done a
lot of work and have made remarkable achievement. 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 disappear
one after another; 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; 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 handle
the relationship between protection and utilization. We should realize
the rational utilization under the precondition of efficient protection,
and prevent the misunderstanding, distortion and misuse of intangible
cultural heritage. On the basis of scientific acknowledgement, efficient
measures have been adopted so as to make intangible cultural heritage
get recognition, respect and promotion in the society. In the meantime,
the government also pursues the working principle of “government
leadership, social participation, clarification of duty &
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, with the efforts from
all walks of life in China, take gradual steps to establish a
full-fledged system of Chinese characteristics on the 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.

Recent years have witnessed a long standing development of the
protection work of intangible cultural heritage, mainly reflected as
follows:

1. Legislation

Since 1998, the Ministry of Culture and Committee of Education, Science,
Culture, Health and Sports of National People’s Congress have been
actively engaged in the research and survey of domestic and foreign
legislations and on this basis organized the drafting of Law of the
People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Folk and Ethnic
Traditional Culture (Draft), and referred it to the National People’s
Congress in August 2002. In August 2004, China officially joined the
UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage after ratification of the Standing Committee of National
People’s Congress. In light of our commitment to the international
conventions, the draft law has been renamed as Law of the People’s
Republic of China on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage. At
present, a legislative leadership panel composed of personnel from the
National People’s Congress, Department of Publicity of the CPC Central
Committee and Ministry of Culture has been established to further work
on the draft law. At present, statutes on the protection of folk and
ethnic traditional culture were also promulgated one after another by
Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,
Xiangxi county of Hunan province, Enshi county of Hubei province, Suzhou
city of Jiangsu provice, etc..

2. Working mechanism

In the year 2003, the leadership panel of the project of protecting folk
and ethnic culture with the members from the Ministry of Culture,
Ministry of Finance, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, China
Federation of Literary and Art Circles and some other related
departments set up the expert committee composed of experts from various
fields. Besides, the leadership panel offices and research center were
also set up respectively under the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese
Art Research Institute.

In 2005, the Inter-ministerial Joint Committee on the Protection of
Intangible Cultural Heritage was founded. The joint committee is
composed of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of education, the
State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry
of Construction, the State Bureau of Tourism, the Bureau of Religious
Affairs and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

In 2006, in order to implement the Circular on Strengthening the
Protection of Cultural Heritage issued by the State Council, on the
basis of the nine departments, the general office of the State Council
took the lead to include the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry
of National Land Resources, the General Administration of Customs, the
State Administration of Forestry, Legislative Affairs Office of the
State Council, and some other departments into the joint committee and
formed a national leadership panel of cultural heritage protection
composed of 15 departments, which has strengthened the coordination and
cooperation among different departments. At present, all the related
protection work of intangible cultural heritage is under steady development.

3. Related documents

In keeping with the spirit of the 16th CPC Party Congress on “supporting
the protection of important cultural heritage and fine folk arts” and to
perform China’s obligations after its accession into the Convention for
the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, the
Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance issued in collaboration
the Circular on the Implementation of the Project of Protecting China’s
Ethnic and Folk Culture. On March 31st 2005, the General Office of the
State Council promulgated the Recommendations on Intensifying the
Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China, a directive in
furthering the protection of intangible cultural heritage in China. On
December 23, 2005, the State Council promulgated the Circular on
Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, proposing
that, since 2006, the second Saturday of every June will be designated
as the National Cultural Heritage Day in China, which has provided a
strong guarantee for the intensification of cultural heritage protection.

4. The application and identification work of the first group of
national masterpieces of intangible cultural heritage

In the spirit of the Recommendations on Intensifying the Protection of
Intangible Cultural Heritage in China, which pointed out the necessity
to develop an inventory system of intangible heritage masterpieces on
state, provincial, municipal and county levels according to examination
and assessment criteria and scientific identification, in order to
rescue and protect valuable national cultural heritage, to promote the
best of ethnic and traditional cultures and substantiate the socialist
advanced culture, the Ministry of Culture began to organize the
application, assessment, publication and investigation work of the first
group of items on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List. With
strong support from the members of the Inter-ministerial Joint Committee
on the protection of the intangible cultural heritage, the local
governments and the related departments as well a lot of experts and
scholars, the first group of 518 items has been finally determined into
the list of recommended candidature out of 1315 items applied by the 31
provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and related departments of
the central government. After the investigation and approval by the
Inter-ministerial Joint Committee on the protection of the intangible
cultural heritage, the list of recommended candidature is now ready for
submission to the State Council.

5. National exhibition on the achievement of the intangible cultural
heritage protection and special evening gala and events

From February 12 to March 16, 2006, the Ministry of Culture, the
National Commission of Reform and Development, the Ministry of
Education, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Finance,
the Ministry of Construction, the State Administration of Tourism, the
Bureau of Religious Affairs and the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage co-held the “Exhibition on the Achievements of Intangible
Cultural Heritage Protection in China” in the National Museum, and in
the meantime, presented a special evening gala of the Exhibition in the
Ethnic Cultural Palace. All these efforts have extensively materialized
the guidelines and policies of the Chinese government in protecting
intangible cultural heritage and comprehensively presented the
achievements made by the Chinese government and all social circles in
the work of protecting the intangible cultural heritage. The state and
CPC leaders like Mr. Li Changchun, Mr. Liu Yunshan and Mdm. Chen Zhili,
leaders from relevant departments, as well as some representatives and
members of the two sessions (NPC and CPPPCC) visited the exhibition. The
exhibition and performing gala received great attention and acclamation
from various social circles. According to incomplete statistics, the
number of visitors to the exhibition exceeded 350,000.

6. General investigation

In order to obtain full knowledge of the types, number, distribution,
living environment, current situation of protection and existing
problems related to the intangible cultural heritage of different
regions and ethnicities, the Ministry of Culture especially issued the
Circular on the General Census of Intangible Cultural Heritage,
requiring the local governments to follow the guidance of the Handbook
on the Census of China’s Ethnic and Folk Culture Protection and conduct
the general census on the basis of existing investigation results and
their local situations. The Ministry of Culture entrusted the research
and protection center of the China Art Research Institute to arrange the
national training workshop of general census for twice. At present, the
general census work is under steady development across the country.

7. A series of activities about the National Cultural Heritage Day

According to the Circular of the State Council, the Ministry of Culture
and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, on the basis of the
opinions solicited from relevant departments, promulgated the action
plan for the 2006 Cultural Heritage Day as follows: a. A grand cultural
heritage exhibition and performance evening gala show themed as
Protecting Our Cultural Heritage, Safeguard Our Spiritual Homeland; b. A
special exhibition about the National Cultural Heritage Day, exhibitions
on the precious ancient Chinese documents and their protection,
exhibitions on the precious cultural heritage of the ethnic minorities,
exhibitions on the protection of China’s traditional medicine,
exhibitions on the excellence of China’s ethnic costumes and some themed
exhibition about the cultural heritage protection; c. Lectures about the
protection of cultural heritage, knowledge popularization and academic
exchange activities like the special forum on the protection and
development of Chinese local dramas; d. On the cultural heritage day, it
is planned that conditionally-suitable public cultural facilities such
as cultural heritage units, museums and memorials shall be open to the
public for free.

8. The establishment of archive data base

In light of the guideline of the State Council that is “to use a variety
of means such as text, sound recording, video recording and digital
multimedia to make an authentic, systematic and comprehensive record of
intangible cultural heritage, and establish archives and databases”,
database and website of national level intangible cultural heritage are
now being set up.

9. Intensification of the theoretical study on intangible cultural heritage

In order to promote the theoretical building about the protection of the
intangible cultural heritage, further clarify the related definition
about the intangible cultural heritage, study on the means and ways of
protecting intangible cultural heritage and intensify the research,
identification, preservation and dissemination of the intangible
cultural heritage, the Ministry of Culture organized several occasions
for various cultural units, scientific and research institutions, high
educational institutions and schools as well as experts and scholars to
discuss over some important theories about and practical problems faced
by intangible cultural heritage.

10. Active application for UNESCO Proclamation of “Masterpieces of the
Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”

Since the launching of the application work of the oral and intangible
heritage masterpieces of humanity by the UNESCO in 2000, China’s Kunqu
art, Guqin art, Uygur Muqam art of Xinjiang Autonomous Region and the
Mongolian ethnic Long Song have been proclaimed as “Masterpieces of the
Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO since 2001.

With the great importance attached by the CPC and the central
government, under the common effort of the whole society, China will
gradually establish a full-fledged system of protecting intangible
cultural heritage with Chinese characteristics so as to make
contributions to the transmission of the Chinese civilization, the
construction of the socialist advanced culture with Chinese
characteristics and the overall building of the well-off society.

http://www.china.org.cn/e-news/news060525-3.htm


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Action Plan of the 2006 National Cultural Heritage Day

May 25, 2006

I. Mission

According to the State Council Circular on Strengthening the Protection
of Cultural Heritage (SC [2005] 42), since 2006, the second Saturday of
June of every year will be designated as China’s “National Cultural
Heritage Day”. During this occasion, a series of publicity and
exhibition campaigns will be organized, so as to spread the knowledge
for the protection of cultural heritage, enhance the general public’s
knowledge about the importance of the protection of cultural heritage,
increase the general social awareness for the protection of cultural
heritage, and to create a favorable environment where every citizen is
encouraged to participate in the protection of cultural heritage.

II. Theme

Protecting Our Cultural Heritage, Safeguard Our Spiritual Homeland

III. Events

1. Large-scale events and exhibitions

(1) May 26, “Guardians of Civilization --- Exhibition of Precious
Collection of China’s Ancient Documents and Their Protection” (Sponsor:
Ministry of Culture, Presenter: National Library of China)

(2) June 5, Special Exhibition on Cultural Heritage (Sponsors: Ministry
of Culture, Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage; Presenters: National Museum of China, China Information
Inquiry Center for Cultural Relics)

(3) June 8, “Mountain Flowers” Prize Awarding Ceremony for China’s Folk
Arts and Culture, Henan Hall, the Grand Hall of the People (Sponsored
and Presented by: China Association of Folk Artists and Literati)

(4) June 9, Grand Gala Performance “Protecting Our Cultural Heritage,
Safeguard Our Spiritual Homeland” (Sponsors: Ministry of Culture, State
Administration of Cultural Heritage; Presenter: China Arts Research
Institute)

(5) June 10, Exhibition on Precious Cultural Relics of Ethnic Minority
Groups (Sponsor: National Commission on Ethnic Affairs, Presenter: China
Central Academy of Ethnicities)

(6) June 10, Exhibition on the Protection of Traditional Chinese
Medicines and Therapies (Sponsor: Bureau for the Administration of
Traditional Chinese Medicines and Therapies, Presenter: China
Traditional Medicine Research Institute)

(7) June 10, Grand Exhibition of “Selected Artifacts of Chinese Ethnic
Costumes and Decorations” (Sponsor: Museum of Ethnic Costumes and
Decorations, Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology)

(8) June 10, special-themed exhibitions in all major museums in Beijing
and across the nation (Coordinator: State Administration of Cultural
Heritage)

2. Law Enforcement Inspections

During the “National Cultural Heritage Day”, in the spirit of the State
Council Circular, law enforcement inspections on the protection
situation of cultural heritage will be made nationwide (Coordinator:
State Administration of Cultural Heritage)

3. Lectures and Forums

(1) During the “National Cultural Heritage Day”, historical and cultural
lectures oriented to ministerial-level officials will be held with the
theme of “Protecting Intangible Cultural Heritage”. (Sponsors: Working
Committee for the Central Government Departments, Ministry of Culture,
China Academy of Social Sciences; Presenter: National Library of China)

(2) During the “National Cultural Heritage Day”, lectures will be held
on the protection of cultural heritage. (Sponsor: State Administration
of Cultural Heritage, Presenter: Beijing Municipal Administration of
Cultural Heritage)

(3) Forums on the Protection and Development of Chinese Local Opera
(Sponsor: Ministry of Culture, Presenter: China Arts Research Institute)

(4) Forums on the Research and Protection of China’s Ethnic Costumes and
Decorations (Sponsor: Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology,
Presenter: Museum of Ethnic Costumes and Decorations, Beijing Institute
of Clothing Technology)


4. Inquiry Services

During the “National Cultural Heritage Day”, a variety of inquiry
services will be held on topics related to the protection of cultural
heritage. (Coordinators: Ministry of Culture, State Administration of
Cultural Heritage)

5. Other Initiatives

On June 10, heritage sites, museums, memorials, etc. under all levels of
protection across the nation, if equipped with adequate resources,
should open to the public free of charge in accordance with their
respective situations. All levels of administrations on culture and
cultural relics should stipulate preparatory schemes for the free
entrance and publicize the scheme to the public in advance.
(Coordinator: Ministry of Culture, State Administration of Cultural
Heritage)

http://www.china.org.cn/e-news/news060525-4.htm


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Background and Latest Development of the UNESCO Proclamation of
‘Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’

May 25, 2006

I. Background

With economic development and social changes, particularly the
increasing trend of economic globalization, accelerated urbanization,
tremendous expansion of modern communication network and advancement of
information technology, as well as the fast growth of tourist industry,
a large number of traditional and folk cultures is facing different
degrees of damage, some even facing extinction. Compared to tangible
heritage, intangible heritage is encountered with even more severe
challenges.

In October 1998, the 155th Executive Board Meeting of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopted the
Regulations Relating to the Proclamation of “Masterpieces of the Oral
and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”, which formally put forward the
definition of “Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”, whose forms
include language, literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals,
customs, handicrafts, architecture and other arts.

The purpose of this program is to ensure better visibility of the
intangible cultural heritage and awareness of its significance among all
nations, so as to better facilitate the protection of intangible
heritage on a global scale. According to the procedure of the program,
proclamations are made every two years (proposal on even years,
proclamation on odd years), every country is invited to propose one item
each time, but multi-national and joint proposals are free from such
limitation.

In 2000, the UNESCO formally launched the project of Proclamation of
“Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”,
mobilizing all nations to prepare for proposals; in 2001, the first
group of masterpieces, 19 in total, were proclaimed; in 2003, the second
group of 28 masterpieces were proclaimed and on November 25, 2005, 43
masterpieces were proclaimed as the third group. All together there have
been 90 items proclaimed as masterpieces.

II. Latest Development

On November 3, 2003, the Convention on the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage was endorsed on the 32nd General Assembly
of the UNESCO. The Convention, 9 chapters and 40 articles in total,
include: General Provisions, Organs of the Convention, Safeguarding of
the intangible cultural heritage at the national level, Safeguarding of
the intangible cultural heritage at the international level,
International cooperation and assistance, Intangible Cultural Heritage
Fund, Reports, Transitional clause, and Final clauses.

According to Article 34 of the Convention, this Convention shall enter
into force three months after the date of the deposit of the thirtieth
instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. On
January 20, 2006, upon the receipt of the thirtieth instrument by the
Director-General of UNESCO, the Convention has entered into force since
April 20 of this year. Up to the end of April 2006, 47 countries have
formally ratified this Convention.

The effectuation of the Convention also marked the termination of the
project of Proclamation of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of Humanity”, consequently, the UNESCO will set up two new
lists according to the clauses of the Convention, i.e., “Representative
List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” and “List of
Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding”. The three
groups of Items already proclaimed as “Masterpieces of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity” will automatically be incorporated in
the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.

From June 27 to 29, 2006, the UNESCO will convene a general assembly of
State Parties, which will elect an intergovernmental committee of 18
nations on intangible cultural heritage. The major mandate of the
Committee will be the stipulation of criteria and related working
regulations on the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity” and “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need
of Urgent Safeguarding”.

China has been engaged in the entire negotiation process of this
Convention. The Convention was reviewed by the 11th Session of the 10th
National People’s Congress Standing Committee and ratified on August 28,
2004, making China the sixth nation to join this Convention.

III. China’s Participation in the Proclamation Project

China, with its long-standing history and diversity of ethnic groups, is
endowed with an abundance of intangible cultural heritage. Like many
other countries in the world, China is also facing the challenge of how
to effectively protect intangible cultural heritage while fostering its
economy. Since the first group of Masterpieces was proclaimed in 2001,
there has been an unprecedented surge of protective efforts for
intangible cultural heritage around the world, and China is no
exception. For instance, the Kunqu Opera, proclaimed in 2001 by UNESCO
on the Masterpieces List, was blessed with wide coverage by the media
across the country and heated response from the public, which in turn
kindled the enthusiasm of all levels of the government and civil society
for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in general.

The Ministry of Culture of China, as the overseeing authority for the
cultural sector as well as one of the co-representative agencies of
UNESCO National Commission, has always been responsible for China’s
communication and cooperation with UNESCO in cultural affairs. As the
chief coordinator for the Proclamation Project, the Ministry has headed
the proposal work for all the three groups of Masterpieces. During the
proposal process, in view of the overall situation of intangible
cultural heritage of China, we have used scientific assessment methods
and taken a priority-based perspective in selecting the most
representative and culturally and historically most valuable items to be
the candidate items for the Proclamation.

Thanks to the joint efforts of many sides, China has successfully
participated in the Proclamation of “Masterpieces of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. The art of Kunqu Opera, the art of
Guqin musical instrument and art of the Xinjiang Uygur Muqam has been
proclaimed as Masterpieces respectively in 2001, 2003 and 2005. The
Mongolian Long Song folk music, as a joint proposal with Mongolia, was
also proclaimed as one of the third group of Masterpieces. As one of the
few countries to have items on every Proclamation list, China has now a
sum of 4 items among the total 90 Masterpieces from around the world.

http://www.china.org.cn/e-news/news060525-5.htm

 

 

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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