Government and Policy

'Cultural assets must be protected'

By Lin Shujuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-24 07:27

BEIJING - The country will tighten control over the commercialization of its intangible cultural heritage, under its first draft law on the protection of the asset.

Folk artists in Shche county, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, play traditional songs of the 12 Muqams on July 10. Shche is renowned as the hometown of the 12 Muqams, which are ethnic music and songs on the national intangible cultural heritage list. [China Daily]

The draft was submitted on Monday to the country's top legislature for its first reading.

The draft law proposes lists of national and local intangible cultural heritage items to safeguard assets that are of historic, literary, artistic or scientific value.

It also specifies the procedures for investigating and certifying an item of intangible cultural heritage and makes it clear that governments at all levels have the responsibility to offer funding and support to protect the items.

Legislators and cultural researchers said the draft law should also stipulate that preservation comes before the commercial use of cultural heritage items, especially amid the rush by local governments to promote cultural heritage for economic benefit.

China embraced the notion of its "intangible cultural heritage" in 2006. Since then, there has been a significant increase in efforts to nominate and list items of intangible cultural heritage in the country.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Intangible Cultural Heritage list has included 29 entries from China, ranging from music performances and folk arts to rituals and oral literature.

The country also established an inventory of 1,028 items on its national-level list toward the preservation of such heritage.

"Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for the listings might not necessarily always serve the cause of preservation," said Qi Qingfu, a researcher with Minzu University of China.

Qi cited a recent case in June, when the country was preparing to celebrate Duanwu, or the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The tradition commemorates the life and death of famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan.

At a news conference, Qi said he heard of a top official from Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, revealing ambitious plans "to turn the local Duanwu festival into a carnival for tourists from home and abroad".

"We should never call the Duanwu festival a carnival," Qi said.

"The festival is not designed for shopping and entertainment. Rather, it has to do with paying homage to historical figures, as well as raising public awareness of personal hygiene and healthcare in summer."

Qi said this was just one example of how local governments tend to promote cultural heritage for economic benefit over preservation.

The Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports of the NPC has also recognized the problem, pointing out in its review that it is important for the draft law to include articles to curb and prevent such situations in the future.

Over the past few decades, China has formulated and enacted various laws and regulations to protect and preserve its cultural heritage.

The Ministry of Culture and the NPC's Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports drafted the Law on the Protection of Folk and Ethnic Traditional Culture and referred it to the National People's Congress for review in August 2002.

In August 2004, the country officially joined the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. In light of the country's commitment to international conventions, the draft law on the Protection of Folk and Ethnic Traditional Culture has been renamed the Law on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage.