'Our living legacy must be guarded'

CHINA / Weekly Roundup

'Our living legacy must be guarded'

By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-13 05:30

Call it "tangible" progress: Authorities yesterday pledged action, and
legislators sought earlier legislation, for better protection of
intangible cultural heritage, especially by stopping treasures being
spirited away from the country.

Vice-Minister of Culture Zhou Heping [Xinhua/file]
"Some foreigners have been collecting traditional costumes and ornaments,
rare utensils and other articles in China's ethnic minority regions; they
have procured so much that some even say that we have to go to their
countries to study Chinese folk culture," said Vice-Minister of Culture
Zhou Heping.

The ingenious craftsmanship, especially the skills passed on from
generation to generation, inherent in these cultural symbols have made
apparel and utensils an integral part of China's intangible cultural
heritage, the official told China Daily.

Intangible cultural heritage is defined by UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization) as "the practices,
representations, expressions, as well as the knowledge and skills, that
communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of
their cultural heritage."

For example, Zhou said, the unique attire and adornments of the Miao
ethnic minority in Southwest China's Guizhou Province have been taken
away by foreign visitors "in large numbers" in recent years.

Since the 1980s, some foreign scholars have been fascinated by the
traditional Miao costumes with rich designs and silver adornments in the
remote southeastern part of Guizhou. They took home some pieces,
generating great interest overseas in the clothing.

A "procurement corps" has gradually formed, with middlemen purchasing the
apparel in the province paying a nominal price which is a fortune for the
poor folk according to Ministry of Culture sources.

A private museum in France boasts a collection of at least 180 pieces of
rare traditional Miao apparel, 108 of them from southeast Guizhou,
Chongqing-based Times & Truth News reported.

"The loss of such treasures constitutes a threat to preserving our
minority and folk culture," Zhou said. "It must be checked."

To preserve intangible cultural heritage, experts have chosen 501
examples from more than 1,300 contenders throughout the country,
including craftsmanship and festive rituals, to be put on a State-level
protection list to be announced soon, the vice-minister said.

Regulations are needed to ensure that stipulated items on the list are
forbidden from being taken out of the country, he said.

"It needs the joint efforts of the ministry, the customs and public
security, as well as increased awareness of society to help stem the
losses," Zhou added.

Li Kuinan, a national lawmaker, said yesterday that a provisional rule
must be put into place as soon as possible to curb further outflows of
the "treasures."

Ultimately, the country has to make a law on safeguarding of intangible
cultural heritage at the earliest possible time, said Li, a deputy to the
10th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature,
which ends its session tomorrow.

Li told China Daily that she and 30 other deputies had submitted a
legislation proposal in which they called for special departments at
State and local levels to be created, and funds earmarked, to prevent
increasing globalization and modernization from eroding such legacies.

Individuals who contribute to collecting, maintaining and popularizing
intangible cultural heritage should be rewarded, the lawmakers said in
their proposed bill.

Both Zhou and Li said special attention must be paid to rural areas,
which is the natural habitat of most of the country's intangible
heritage, when China implements a massive revival strategy for the
countryside.

"By no means should the rural regions commit the same error as the cities
where development was achieved mostly at the cost of many traditions
fading away and legacies eroded," Zhou said.

(China Daily 03/13/2006 page1)

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