Chinese legal experts are turning to the rules of intellectual property (IP) protection to safeguard the value of the country's crafts, folk medicine, and even plant genes against what they say is foreign exploitation.

The Guizhou Provincial Regulation on Traditional Knowledge Protection, the first government-level statute, will help the owners of folk arts, traditional knowledge and genetic materials to safeguard their rights, said Yao Xin, an official with the Rule, Regulation and Law Department under the State Intellectual Property Office.

Examples of potential IP issues vary widely.

Japanese and Korean companies have been analyzing the molecular make-up of guanyin cao, a type of grass, used by generations of Miao ethnic people in Guizhou to cure colds and bronchial diseases. Chinese drug makers could suffer large economic losses if foreign researchers patented therapies based on this plant.

Another tradition is the Miao ethic dress, which some in China view as "wearing history" or a "wordless history book". These garments, famous for their elegant design and delicate needlework techniques passed down from generation to generation, have become a popular collectible among foreign art hunters.

More than 180 magnificent Miao garments are on display in a private museum in Paris, including 15 rare pieces used for sacrificial rites. That's larger than the collection in the garment's hometown of Guizhou, according to Lei Xiuwu, researcher of Miao and Dong ethnic culture in southeastern Guizhou.

Within 100 years, said Lei, "Chinese people may have to go abroad if they want to study the Miao ethnic culture."

Plants are at issue, too. Gene "hunters" and folk art collectors are among those looking to profit from China's unique flora, fauna and cultural reserves.

Of the 20,140 plant resources that the United States was said to have imported from China as of June 30, 2002, there were 4,452 varieties of soybean, including 168 wild strains.

However, only 2,177 plants were approved for export by the Chinese authorities as of that date, and wild soybeans were not even on the list, according to Wu Xiaoqing, deputy head of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

That explains why China, the native home for soybeans and more than 90 percent of the global wild soybean resources, is now the world's largest importer of the crop. Other countries have patented the majority of China's soybean resources.

In addition, Japan has patented 210 prescriptions listed in two ancient Chinese medical books.

To curb these practices, which many in China consider to be a form of theft, experts from the Provincial Academy of Social Sciences and local universities have spent nearly two years in the field doing research in more than 40 counties while they drew up the rules.

The draft is now subject to comments and revisions before it is submitted to the local legislature for approval in the second quarter of next year.

The regulation stipulates that any foreign organization or individual who studies, uses or develops traditional knowledge concerning genetic material without the approval of the owners, must pay between 50,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan (13,500 U.S. dollars) in compensation.

The regulation is aimed at protecting Chinese traditional technologies, folk literature and art, and biological traditional knowledge that has been passed down through the generations but now holds commercial value.

It also has clear rules concerning the development, administration, and profit distribution of traditional knowledge and punishment for IP infringement.

"Guizhou has made a significant attempt toward slowing the outflow of China's valuable traditional heritage," said Yao.

Even if the regulations pose unanticipated problems, the exercise can still be a good lesson for other local and even state-level authorities when it comes to future legislation, said Yao.

Some national authorities are studying the feasibility of a national law to protect traditional knowledge.

The provincial regulation will improve the awareness of IP protection among the custodians of traditional knowledge and help those living in underdeveloped regions to win reasonable benefits, according to An Shouhai, vice director with Guizhou Provincial Intellectual Property Rights Bureau.

Many developing countries have been trying to protect their traditional knowledge based on the IP system -- for example, Thailand, India and Egypt have passed local or state-level laws.

But some people in developing countries say modern laws aren't much good when it comes to protecting informally transmitted traditional knowledge. Instead, they have advocated binding international agreements to protect these arts and technologies.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2007)