China raises concern on intangible cultural heritage protection

“This will avoid the long process, complicated steps and unreasonable deduction during the fund transfer. Meanwhile, we have adopted various measures to strengthen the supervision on the performance of those inheritors who have received the subsidies. For example, in some provinces, annual work reports, work plans and periodically evaluations on inheritors’ performance are required to encourage inheritors to fulfill their duty of promoting intangible cultural heritage,” noted Ma.

To ensure the most effective use of the subsidies, Ma added the Ministry will go on supervising the fund in light of requirements to the State Council and the central government.

Ma said, “We will try to increase the subsidies when the condition allows us to. We hope the local governments also provide more support and help the inheritors in their cultural heritage promotion activities.”

According to official figures, 295 out of 1,986 inheritors of national-level intangible cultural heritage have passed away and half of those living are above the age of 70. To prevent the practices from being forgotten, the Ministry of Culture in 2015 started to collect detailed records of the practices and their leading inheritors. In 2016, the skills of 300 inheritors will be recorded.

According to Ma, the ministry also launched a training plan in 2015. Some universities, colleges and institutions with research ability on intangible cultural heritage are entrusted to carry out the plan. In 2016, more than 10,000 inheritors, apprentices and common staff in the field will be covered in the plan.