Since 2006, China has been able to identify 11,042 provincial-level and 1,372 national-level intangible cultural heritage items. (Photo : Getty Images)
China’s rapid urbanization and modernization has led to the slow death of most of the country’s traditional lifestyles and practices, according to an article by China Daily.
However, a group of cultural experts have banded together to keep Chinese practices alive through a slew of initiatives.
The Culture Ministry has also released a new blueprint for preservation during the 10th anniversary of China releasing its first list of intangible cultural heritage items last week.
Since 2006, China has been able to identify 11,042 provincial-level and 1,372 national-level intangible cultural heritage items.
It's an impressive collection, but previous plans in preservation were mostly geared on individual inheritors than the expansion of traditional techniques, according to Li Xiong, director of the ministry's ICH department.
Although each registered item is backed by one of few top-level artisans who receive government aid, a bigger group of artisans and craftsmen weren't subjected to equal treatment.
"The living spaces of many ICH items, like traditional villages, have been severely compressed," said Li in an interview with China Daily. "Some fine handicrafts have also been replaced by machine production."
The registry of ICH items has also been more prioritized than follow-up products, as was stated in a report released by the Culture Ministry last January.
Among the ministry's new policies for preservation is the expansion of a current project that involves the nationwide training program of Chinese craftsmen across the country.
This year, the project will open its doors to 57 institutions such as the China Academy of Art, Tsinghua University, and the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
"The program is mainly to offer basic, fine-art theories to ICH inheritors to complement the traditional master-apprentice pedagogy," said Ma Shengde, part of a panel of the Culture Ministry's program.
The program is not limited to ICH inheritors as all artisans are welcome to participate.
"The training program doesn't claim to replace the original masters," said Ma. "We are here to improve people's capacity to understand old crafts and are looking at ways to make them easily acceptable among today's youth."
"Intangible cultural heritage items shouldn't be destined for the museums and archives," he added. "They need to live among the people."
