Beijing's breeding ground for culture

The Qianmen area in the heart of Beijing is set to become the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Exposition District by 2016. Photos Provided to China Daily

The capital is building an incubator in historic Qianmen to devise inventive systems to preserve intangible heritage. Wang Kaihao reports.

Beijing's new National Intangible Cultural Heritage Exposition District aspires to innovate upon traditional culture in the same way Silicon Valley develops information technology.

The ambition is to update ancient folk culture's software to better operate in the circuit board of contemporary society.

Authorities of the 400,000-square-meter park will select 200-300 representative intangible cultural heritage inheritors to publicize traditional techniques, train disciples and develop brands.

The project was officially announced at the 5th International Forum of NGOs in Official Partnership with UNESCO in Beijing last week.

About 24 billion yuan ($3.9 billion)－half of which comes from Dongcheng district's government－has been invested in the project, says Li Yongjun, board chairman of the exposition district's main developer, Yongxin Huayun.

Part of the project will open in October. All construction is slated for completion by 2016.