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Int'l Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Chengdu

By Huang Zhiling (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-04 11:23

The Second International Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the theme "cultural diversity and spiritual homeland" is being held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Sichuan Opera performers show the stunt of fire spitting during the festival. [Zhu Dayong/China Daily]

Organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sichuan Provincial Government and the UNESCO, the 13-day festival which started on Monday is sponsored by the Chengdu Municipal Government.

One of the most spectacular events of the festival was the Tian Fu Road Show staged in the festival's opening ceremony held on Monday.

The road show had a length of 1,400 meters. Forty-five performance teams, including more than 3,000 performers from all around the world, gave their performances on the road in front of the Jinsha Site Museum.

The teams represented the unique culture of the places where they came from. Most of the cultures are included in the protection list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and they are the living fossils of human civilizations.

The festival is being held in different parts of the city including Anqing Town in Pixian, a county under Chengdu's administration.

Visitors to Anqing which is known as the hometown of Shu Embroidery can see 200 exquisite works of embroidery in the Shu Embroidery Museum which covers 2,000 square metres, and they can also see weavers doing their job on the spot.

The reason why Chengdu is the venue of the Second International Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage is that the city has set a good example in the world for its protection of ICH items, according to officials from the UNESCO

In 2004, the Chengdu municipal government set up the ICH protection office and a committee of ICH experts.

In 2005, it introduced the system of joint chiefs meeting combining efforts of all governmental departments for the protection of ICH.

In 2006, it published its first list of protected ICH items in the city and, in 2007 Chengdu ICH Protection Center was established.

During May 23-June 10, 2007, the city held the First International Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage which resulted in Chengdu Consensus, a landmark document on the world's ICH protection.

Traditional activities have seen a revival in recent years, such as the water discharge festival held every spring in Dujiangyan, a city under Chengdu's administration, the temple fair during the Spring Festival in Chengdu, the lantern festival and flower fair during the Spring Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival every summer.

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