Chengdu to host World Intangible Cultural Heritages Festival

Photos

sichuan opera

see larger image

uploaded by CDpanda

• 

  uploaded by CDpanda | add comment

• 

  uploaded by CDpanda | add comment

• 

  uploaded by CDpanda | add comment

• 

  uploaded by CDpanda | add comment

• 

  uploaded by CDpanda | add comment

Since 1970s, when China's reforms and opening-up policy started, the country allowed in more and more western culture, which mixed with the Chinese culture and form a multiplex cultural atmosphere in China. On the other hand, while some of China's own intangible cultural heritages (ICHs) were preemptively registered by other countries like South Korea, China came to realize the importance of the ICHs, which were ignored for a long time.
In 2007, aiming to form a platform of international culture exchange and cooperation, and to pave the way for approaches to understanding, protecting and respecting Chinese cultural heritage, the 1st International Festival of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the only of this kind in the world, was held in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, from May 23 to June 10.

Two years later, after Chengdu was hit by the mass earthquake in 2008, the 2nd International Festival of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will be held again in Chengdu from June 1 to June 13. This time, in addition to above purpose for ICH showcase and protection, the festival has more meanings: to promote the disaster-relief spirit, to show people's will to rebuild their homeland, as well as their achievement in the salvage of ICH during the quake and the post-disaster cultural reconstruction work.
The international festival, which is approved by the State Council, is sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Ministry of Culture and the Sichuan provincial government, and is cosponsored by the Chengdu municipal government, the Sichuan provincial department of culture, and the China national center of ICH protection.

What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?
According to UNESCO, intangible culture heritage, also known as living heritage, refers to practices, expressions, knowledge, skill, as well as instruments, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith.
In view of the great importance of ICH, UNESCO held a convention on safeguarding traditional culture and folklores and drafted relevant documents in 1989.
In 2001, UNESCO announced the first 19 world intangible cultural heritage. China’s Kun Opera, the progenitor of many traditional Chinese operas including the famous Beijing Opera is one of them. In 2003, Chinese zither, the oldest traditional music instrument which is still played in the present day, was listed among the second batch of world intangible cultural heritages. And among the third batches of list released in 2005, Xinjiang Uygur Muqam performance and Mongolian Long Tune were included. Currently, China is the country with the largest number of world intangible world cultural heritages.

In 2008, the State Council released the second batch list of national intangible cultural heritages. Among the 510 items, 35 are from Sichuan. Plus the first batch list published in 2006, Sichuan totally has 52 out of 1028 items.

Festival in Chengdu
Main activities include a grand opening ceremony and parade, an ICH expo, a forum on cultural heritage protection, a closing ceremony, and series of performances and activities. It is estimated that more than six million people will participate in the Festival.

The opening ceremony and parade will be held in June 1. During the parade, 32 domestic and 13 overseas teams, totaled nearly 3000 actors and actresses, will take part in performances divided into five stages. The foreign teams come from Russia, Australia, Scotland, Israel, South Africa, Pakistan, Colombia and Madagascar.
From June 2 to 3, Chengdu ICH Forum will be held. During the forum, 36 countries' ambassadors in the UNESCO, 7 countries' consulates in Chengdu, and 30 domestic experts for ICH protection will attend the discussion with the subject of "disaster and ICH protection". The "Chengdu Consensus", which will be generated from the forum, describes the mechanism for the ICH protection during the disaster. It will be inscribed in stone and placed inside the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Park in Chengdu.
During the festival, the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Park will also hold an ICH expo, in which selected 90 items of UNESCO’s world ICHs together with over 1300 ones from China will be displayed. The key theme of the expo is the post-disaster protection of ICH, which showed Chengdu's work in salvaging, protection and preservation of ICH during and after the quake.

Chengdu, a City Brands itself through Different Ways
Chengdu is a city with a history of more than 2,300 years. It is the sole city in China that has never changed its name, and still locates where it was throughout the years. Chengdu is also a popular tourism city. On February 8, 2007, Chengdu was rated as one of the three best tourism cities in China (BTCC) by World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

Chengdu has many historical sites and tourist attractions, namely tangible cultural heritages, including Jinsha Relic, where the famous gold sunbird motif (the icon of China Cultural Heritage ) unearthed, Kuangxiangzi Alley, a typical Chinese old street, Wu Hou Ci, a temple worshiping China’s greatest prime minister, Zhuge Liang, and the phenomenal Dujiangyan, a functioning irrigation system built 2,000 years ago. The Sanxingdui Site, which is 30 km from Chengdu, is a city of the ancient Shu State. It is the largest one in area, longest one in time span and richest one in cultural connotation in the Southwest China.
In addition, Chengdu is also well known for its rich intangible cultural heritages. Du Jiang Yan Water Discharge Festival, Shu Brocade, Shu Embroidery and Chengdu Lacquer are listed among the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages. Plus the other three items in the expanded directory and ten items in the second batch, Chengdu now has 17 items in the national ICH list.
At the same time, the Chengdu municipal government has initiated many programs to raise the general public’s awareness on ICH and many protective measures of ICH have been taken as well. In November 2006, Chengdu announced its first list of 41 items of municipal-level intangible cultural heritage, while in February 2008 Sichuan Province also released a list of 10 categories and 189 items provincial-level intangible cultural heritage items, of which 26 are from Chengdu. In December 2008, Chengdu announced its second list of 39 items of municipal-level intangible cultural heritage, pushing the total to 80.