Beijing is building a new National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Exposition District in the historic Qianmen to devise inventive systems to preserve intangible heritage and innovate upon traditional culture.
Authorities of the 400,000-square-meter park are planning to select 200-300 representative intangible ICH inheritors to teach and train people in traditional techniques, as well as develop brands around folk culture. The goal is to make ancient folk culture more relevant to contemporary society.
According to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO defines ICH as "traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts."
The project was announced at the 5th International Forum of NGOs, which was done in official partnership with UNESCO, in Beijing.
According to Li Yongjun, board chairman of Yongxin Huayun, the main developer of the district, about 24 billion yuan ($3.9 billion) has been invested in the project. Half of the investment comes from the government of Dongcheng District.
While part of the project will open in October of this year, the construction is expected to finish by 2016.
The project will serve as a cultural industry hub that will also host auctions, expositions, trade fairs and tourists.
Li said that he is sure the investment will turn profits, as the park will serve as an incubator for ICH inheritors' businesses.
"Publicizing folk-art techniques isn't enough to preserve tradition. We must put ICH into the DNA of everyday life," Li said.
Yongxin Huayun has plans to build between 15 and 20 similar projects affiliated with each other over the next decade. Plans for domestic branches include Qingdao in Shandong Province, Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Sanya in Hainan Province. Internationally, the plans include France and Los Angeles.
According to Wang Wenzhang, director of the China Art Research Institute, there are people that have learned the techniques regarding cultural practices yet are not qualified to preserve ICH because they have not immersed themselves sufficiently in the history of the origins of these traditions.
Wang believes that it is important for folk arts to adapt to modern aesthetics and commercial operations to keep the interest of young people and be preserved.
Ma Wenhui, deputy director China's ICH protection association, said that "countries like France don't use the term ICH as often as China. That's because they've successfully merged traditional craftsmanship into modern design to create globally leading luxury brands. French people take ICH for granted as part of life."
Currently, China has the most ICH elements inscribed by UNESCO, with 38 elements accounting for 9.2 percent of the world's ICH elements. Some of these include Chinese shadow puppetry, wooden movable-type printing and the Peking Opera.