The Encyclopedia of China's Intangible Cultural Heritage was
published Friday, introducing many national intangible masterpieces
including the Spring Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture and
Shaolin Kungfu, using more than 3,000 pictures and 600,000 Chinese
characters.
"The book provides very rare data for protection and study of
intangible cultural heritage, and will significantly raise
awareness of the need to protect China's heritage," said Vice
Culture Minister Zhou Heping on Friday.
The State Council, China's cabinet, included 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, on June 2 last year.
The items included in the book were selected by a jury organized
by the Ministry of Culture and the Academy of Arts of China
(AAC).
The encyclopedia, published by the Culture and Arts Publishing
House, shows the distribution, history, status and cultural value
of the items.
"We still have a lot of work to do to protect our heritage, such
as better recording and study and training of staff," said Fang
Lili, member of the National Expert Committee for the Intangible
Cultural Heritage Protection Work.
UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity has listed
four items from China since 2001. 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.
(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2007)