County nurtures cultural heritage

More than 10,000 photos and 2,100 hours of video are part of an effort by Fenghuang county's intangible cultural heritage protection center since its establishment in December 2006 to seek potential intangible cultural heritage resources.

It has so far collected more than 2,600 clues for potential protection items, including handicraft skills, music and drama, folk tales, medicine and sports.

The county is already home to 77 recognized intangible cultural heritage items.

The center has opened six institutions to promote Fenghuang paperwork, blue calico, Tujia brocade, Miao silverware and Yangxi Opera, five intangible cultural heritage items in the county.

Led by the government with assistance from companies and local residents, the institutions train inheritors, collect and exhibit works and develop new products.

Some intangible cultural heritage items were traditionally passed down only to men, but this norm no longer applies.

Fifteen other items have entered local schools in the forms of music, sport and handicraft lessons.

The center is compiling books on intangible cultural heritage. Two, about local dramas and traditional Miao medicine, have already been published.

The local government has organized many festival activities and exhibitions to promote ethnic cultures and protect intangible cultural heritage items.

One of the biggest days for the Miao ethnic group is the eighth day of the fourth Lunar month, known as Yanu Festival. On that day, not only local residents, but also many Miao people from nearby provinces, dress up and gather in Fenghuang to sing and dance to commemorate their ancient hero Yanu.

(China Daily 10/22/2015 page15)