By the end of 2016, China had 39 items on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage List (including the "List in Need of Urgent Safeguarding"), making it the country with the largest number of intangible cultural heritages in the world.
The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:
Adopted in 2001: the Kunqu Opera;
Adopted in 2003: the art of the guqin;
Adopted in 2005: the art of Xinjiang Uygur Mukam and the Mongolian folk songs in long tones;
Adopted in 2009: the Chinese silk weaving technique of silkworms and mulberry trees, the Nanyin folk music of Fujian, the cloud brocade of Nanjing, the Xuanpian paper of Anhui, the Guizhou folk song, the Chinese traditional folk song, the Chinese traditional folk song, the Chinese traditional folk song and the Chinese folk song. Yunnan brocade, Anhui rice paper, Guizhou Dong ethnic song, Guangdong Cantonese opera, Gesar epic, Zhejiang Longquan celadon, Qinghai Rhegong art, Tibetan opera, Xinjiang Manas, Mongolian huomei, Gansu flower children, Xi'an drum music, Korean nongle dance, calligraphy, seal-carving, paper-cutting, carving and printing, traditional wooden structure construction techniques, Dragon Boat Festival, Mazu beliefs and customs;
Adopted in 2010: Peking Opera, Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Acupuncture.
Adopted in 2011: shadow puppetry.
Passed in 2013: beadwork.
Passed in 2016: twenty-four solar terms.
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding:
Included in 2009: the Qiang Nian (Year of the Qiang), the traditional spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery techniques of the Li ethnic group, and the traditional construction techniques of Chinese wooden-arch bridges;
Included in 2010: the Meshirev of Xinjiang, the Chinese watertight compartmentalized Fukushima shipbuilding techniques of Fujian, and the Chinese movable-type printing technique.
Included in 2011: Herzhe Imakan Rap.
Roster of Outstanding Practices of Intangible Cultural Heritage:
Included in 2012: Fujian Puppetry Inheritor Training Program.
Expanded InformationAccording to the Law of the People's Republic of China on Intangible Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China*** and the State of China: Intangible cultural heritage refers to the various traditional cultural expressions handed down from generation to generation by the people of all ethnic groups and regarded as part of their cultural heritage, as well as the objects and places associated with the traditional cultural expressions.
Currently, with the globalization of the economy and the modernization of society, the living environment of China's cultural heritage is deteriorating, and the current situation of protection is worrying. In order to further strengthen the protection of China's cultural heritage, inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, and promote the construction of advanced socialist culture, the State Council decided that the second Saturday of June each year from 2006 onwards will be China's "Cultural Heritage Day".
On December 23, 2017, Minister of Culture Luo Shugang made a report on the State Council's work on cultural heritage at the 31st meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress. The report disclosed that the Grand Canal and the Silk Road are now on the World Heritage List, bringing the total number of China's world heritage sites to 52, ranking second in the world.
And with the bead counting, the 24 solar terms, and acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine all inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the total number of intangible cultural heritage-related lists in China has reached 39, ranking first in the world. And over the past five years, more than 1,000 projects on restoration of movable cultural relics and preventive conservation of museum collections have been completed, with more than 40,000 pieces of cultural relics restored.Since 2013, Customs*** has seized more than 12,000 pieces of illegally imported and exported cultural relics.
Reference Baidu Encyclopedia - World Intangible Cultural Heritage