China will enact a law to protect folk culture in the near future, said a senior official with the Ministry of Culture (MOC) in Beijing Tuesday.

Hong Yongping, deputy director of the ministry's Policies and Regulations Department, told Xinhua that the draft of the law has been submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and is likely to be passed next year.

As the first of its kind in China, the law aims to provide legal protection for such intangible cultural relics as dialects, traditional clothes, drama and folk culture, said Hong, attending a senior official meeting for the Asia-Europe conference on culture and civilization.

He said the draft included protection on cultural relics and related intellectual and economic interests.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2003)