Online cultural heritage database on the way

The Ministry of Culture and Baidu Baike, China's Wikipedia counterpart, made a joint announcement Wednesday to build the country's biggest online knowledge database of intangible cultural heritage in 2018.

The planned database will use artificial intelligence, augmented reality technology and other technical approaches to enable users to have in-depth understanding of intangible cultural heritage. Efforts from national-level and province-level conservation centers of ICH items will also be included in this project to better promote traditions among the public.

Baidu Baike has included 1,379 entries in 26 major categories on national-level ICH in the past two years, and it has become a channel for some traditional art forms attracting new blood.

For example, in 2015, shortly after traditional ventriloquism was included on Baidu Baike, its inheritors were invited to release videos on this online encyclopedia, and more people applied online to learn the skills, though it was hardly noticed by young people before.