Online shopping festival in sight for Chinese intangible cultural heritage buffs

China's homegrown e-commerce giants will join hands to promote products of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) on the country's annual Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which falls on June 12 this year.

The festival will feature the country's major e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Vip.com as well as video-sharing platform Douyin. They will roll out online sales promotions, such as livestreaming sales, flash sales and group buying.

The shopping festival aims to help lock in the gains in the country's poverty alleviation campaign, boost consumption and promote traditional culture.

Intangible cultural heritage has played an important role in China's poverty alleviation efforts. More than 2,200 ICH workshops have been built nationwide since 2018, generating nearly half a million jobs.

The online shopping festival in 2020 has proved successful in helping restore business and boost consumption in the post-COVID-19 era in addition to preserving the ICH resources, according to a statement of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, ICH products are gaining ground in China," the statement read.

An offline ICH shopping festival will be organized at the same time. Exhibitions and sales will be held at tourist sites and historical zones to showcase traditional handicrafts and help them reach more customers.

China started to celebrate cultural heritage day on the second Saturday of June in 2006. In 2017, it was renamed Cultural and Natural Heritage Day.