22 items were included in the "Representative List" and 3 items were included in the "List of Urgent Protection"

76 projects, including Argentina's tango dance, Japan's elegant music, Vietnam's Beinning Guanhe folk songs, and China's mulberry silk weaving skills, have been recently announced as the 2009 "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity".

At the fourth meeting of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Abu Dhabi from September 28 to October 2, a new representative list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind was reviewed and approved.

All 22 items declared by China, including mulberry silk weaving skills, Gesar, Qinghai Regong art, Tibetan opera, Xinjiang's "Manas" epic performance, Mongolian Humai and Mazu beliefs, etc., have been approved.

For specific project introductions, see the 4th edition of this newspaper today), becoming the country with the largest number of representative works of human intangible cultural heritage.

Japan is followed by 13, Croatia in 7, South Korea in 5, France in 3, and the rest of Belgium, Spain, Mali and other countries all have 1 or 2.

In addition, a total of 12 projects from 8 countries have been included in the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Protection" established for the first time, including traditional wooden arch bridge construction techniques in China, Chinese Lunar New Year celebration customs of the Qiang people, and traditional spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li people in Hainan.

Among them are listed.

This is a landmark event in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, and it is a major event with far-reaching impact for China, which has not been comprehensively protected for a long time.

This not only marks a substantial and significant progress in my country's government-led intangible cultural heritage protection work in recent years, but also reflects that China's intangible cultural heritage with 5,000 years of civilization and multi-ethnic culture has been widely recognized by the world.

It is also a concentrated expression of the continuous strengthening of China's cultural soft power in this increasingly international and modern era.

Many projects have unique significance and have received enthusiastic responses from all walks of life

Zhang Qingshan, Secretary of the Party Committee of China Academy of Art and Executive Deputy Director of China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said in an interview that the 22 projects selected by China are highly representative of the culture of the Chinese nation.

For example, mulberry silk weaving skills, as a great invention, are a cultural symbol recognized by the Chinese nation.

Over the past five thousand years, they have made significant contributions to the development of Chinese civilization and have had a profound impact on human civilization through the Silk Road; China calligraphy integrates people's thinking about nature, society and life with its unique modeling symbols and pen and ink rhythm, thus showing the unique way of thinking, personality spirit and temperament of China people.

As an artistic practice, it has become a representative symbol of China culture after more than 3000 years of development.

Multi-ethnic culture is a feature of China's culture.

Among the 22 projects, more than 7 projects involve ethnic minorities, reflecting my country's great importance to and effective protection of ethnic minority culture.

Among them, Xinjiang's "Manas" epic has become another project in Xinjiang that has entered the list of representative works of human intangible cultural heritage after Uyghur Muqam art.

According to Li Jilian, director of the Xinjiang Institute of Art and director of the Xinjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Research Center, in July last year, they received an application notice from the Ministry of Culture.

The Party Committee and the People's Government of the Autonomous Region immediately organized elite officers to form a team composed of the Ministry of Culture and the Autonomous Region Culture Department., Xinjiang's "Intangible Cultural Heritage" Center and other units participated in the "Manas" application work leading group and office, including going to the countryside to collect and shoot, Application work for multiple content such as the production of texts and films.

There has always been a saying in the West that traditional wood-structure building techniques flourished in ancient China, but in modern times, if you want to see this technique, you can only go to Japan and South Korea.

The "China's Traditional Timber Building Construction Skills" included in the list corrected this understanding.

The project description emphasizes that the buildings and spaces built by China's traditional wood-structure building techniques reflect China's understanding of nature and the universe, reflect China's traditional social hierarchy and interpersonal relationships, and influence China's code of conduct and aesthetic intentions.

It lasted for 7000 years and spread throughout the entire territory of China, and spread to East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.

It is a representative of ancient Eastern architectural technology.

This judgment was highly recognized by the judges.

In addition, successful applications for projects such as China Nanyin, Guangdong Cantonese Opera, and Mazu Shinsu are all of special significance.

Among them, China Nanyin is one of the oldest existing music types in China.

It is widely spread in the Minnan language area of Fujian, and is spread far and wide in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Southeast Asia and other places in my country.

It is a local pronunciation sung by overseas Chinese and compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and has become one of the spiritual bonds connecting people in southern Fujian around the world; Guangdong Cantonese opera is a project jointly applied by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

It is understood that in order to preserve and promote Cantonese opera, the governments of the three places have formulated plans, including continuing to study the history and genre of Cantonese opera, strengthening the promotion and popularization of Cantonese opera, and through performances and Education work to allow more people to have a deep understanding of Cantonese opera, and promote this "representative list" overseas through cultural exchanges.

When the news came that Mazu's beliefs and customs were included in the "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity", all walks of life on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were extremely excited and expressed congratulations one after another.

Zheng Mingkun, president of the Taiwan Mazu Association, participated in organizing a joint signature activity to support Mazu's belief and customs in applying for world intangible cultural heritage.

Hearing the news that Mazu had successfully applied for cultural heritage, he happily said that this was a success achieved through the joint efforts of both sides of the Taiwan Strait and a great joy for Mazu believers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The Mazu beliefs and customs are customs and culture spread in our country's coastal areas.

The holder of this declaration is the Mazu Ancestral Temple in Meizhou, Putian, Fujian.

It is recognized by believers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait as a place to pay homage to ancestors.

Lin Guoliang, executive vice president of the China Mazu Cultural Exchange Association, said that the successful application of Mazu's belief in customs for a "world heritage" will have a profound impact on the spread and inheritance of Mazu culture, on the cohesion of descendants of the Yellow and Yellow Emperor, especially on cross-strait cultural exchanges.

The declaration process has not been smooth

Initially, each country could only declare one application at a time.

Based on the suggestions of various countries, UNESCO revised it to multiple applications after discussion.

For a country like China with five thousand years of civilization history and multi-ethnic culture, it undoubtedly provides more opportunities.

However, to seize such an opportunity, the declaration work needs to be rigorous and orderly.

According to the relevant person in charge of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, if it is not approved after the formal application, it cannot be applied for the next four years, which requires that all application projects must have sufficient reasons to persuade the judges.

It is no accident that the 22 projects were approved in one fell swoop.

Behind them, a lot of efforts from leaders, experts and protection workers at all levels of the cultural department were gathered.

In addition to strictly complying with the requirements of the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted by UNESCO in 2003 that the project must be outstanding, representative and have significant influence, this review and approval work also fully takes into account the characteristics of my country's multi-ethnic country, pay special attention to minority projects, and actively mobilize cultural administrative departments at all levels to go all out and cooperate vigorously; Secondly, there is a preference for projects that are conducive to cross-Strait relations.

Mazu belief in customs and Guangdong Cantonese opera are based on this consideration; finally, projects that are related to national cultural security and shared with neighboring countries are given priority consideration, such as China calligraphy, traditional wood structure construction skills, etc., and apply for them in order to eliminate the relationship between "source" and "flow."

The application work is a boring material preparation work.

It not only requires the application staff to communicate with the holder of the "intangible cultural heritage" project and fully respect the application subject, but also strictly controls the materials.

According to Dr.

Luo Wei, director of the Theoretical Research Office of the Center for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China, the UNESCO application process is first of all "pre-examination." Before this process, it must first go through 4 to 5 rounds of discussions and decisions by national expert committees, followed by preparation and submission of information.

Materials must be prepared in accordance with UNESCO requirements.

For example, the project introduction text must be strictly controlled within 200 words.

"When I'm nervous, I often work day and night." After the "pre-trial", supplementary materials will also need to be submitted.

This requires coordinating with various localities, providing timely information, and inviting experts from various provinces and regions to review, write, and translate."The time is short, and sometimes it takes five or six films in a row and five or six discussions in a row."

Not all of the projects selected this time are independent application protection subjects.

According to Jiang Qinghe, director of the "Intangible Cultural Heritage" Center of Hubei Province, the "Dragon Boat Festival" declared this time consists of the "Dragon Boat Festival Customs in Qu Yuan's Hometown" in Zigui County, Hubei Province, the "Xisai Shenzhou Association" in Huangshi City, and the "Dragon Boat Festival Customs on the Miluo River in Miluo City, Hunan Province." Suzhou Dragon Boat Festival Customs "in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province constitute the main body of protection.

The application materials were coordinated and guided by China Academy of Art and China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center.

Hubei Province completed the joint "packaging" work among three provinces and four places and submitted to UNESCO.

"Years of hard work and expectation have yielded gratifying results." Jiang Qinghe couldn't help but be excited.

It is affirmation, vigilance and responsibility

Among the 90 "Representative Works List" previously published by UNESCO, China has become the country with the largest number of representative works, including Kunqu Opera, Guqin Art, Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam Art, and Mongolian long-tune folk songs jointly declared with Mongolia.

This time, the number reached 26, far ahead of other countries in terms of number.

Judging from the changes in number, this "heritage application" has achieved great success.

Zhang Qingshan believes that this success is due to several aspects:

The first is the huge impact of my country's achievements in the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

In recent years, my country's achievements in the protection of "intangible cultural heritage" have produced good results.

First of all, there is a national consensus that China's "intangible cultural heritage" protection work is relatively strong around the world.

This is inseparable from the government's strong leadership and the enthusiastic participation of society.

In 2006, the "China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Achievements Exhibition" was held."Intangible Cultural Heritage" and "original ecology" became popular words at that time, and the protection of "Intangible Cultural Heritage" quickly became a social consensus.

This consensus also prompted the publication of two batches of national-level intangible cultural heritage lists, three batches of representative inheritors of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, as well as the establishment of an intangible cultural heritage protection system and the construction of cultural and ecological reserves.

The advancement of work; secondly, the achievements of domestic "intangible cultural heritage" protection have had a huge impact on the international level.

When UNESCO officials visited China, they fully recognized and affirmed China's "intangible cultural heritage" protection work.

This time, 22 items in China were listed on the world's "intangible cultural heritage" list, which is a full affirmation of the international community's "intangible cultural heritage" protection in China.

Second, the leadership of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Culture attaches great importance to it.

Minister of Culture Cai Wu has repeatedly instructed the application and review work to be done well.

Vice Ministers of Culture Zhou Heping and Zhao Shaohua also put forward specific requirements for the application and review work.

Vice Minister of Culture and Director of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center Wang Wenzan personally organized the review work meeting, and the External Relations Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Department and other relevant departments of the Ministry of Culture and the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center implemented it one by one.

With the strong support of local cultural departments and bureaus, Only then can the smooth progress of application preparations be ensured.

Third, the international community also needs China, a country with a large population and a long history, to make more contributions to the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

Liu Kuili, deputy director of the Expert Committee on the Protection of China Intangible Cultural Heritage and president of the China Folklore Association, believes that of the 76 projects announced this time, China accounted for 22, which not only proves that China's rich intangible cultural heritage has been fully recognized by the international community, but also reflects China's responsibility and burden in protecting human intangible cultural heritage.

The inclusion of the project in the list is not only an affirmation of the protection of China's intangible cultural heritage, but also a commitment of China to the protection and inheritance of human intangible cultural heritage.

Entering the list is only one component of the protection work, and it will prompt China to work harder to protect these intangible cultural heritage of mankind.