What are the World Intangible Cultural Heritage in China

Elected: 2001.

Reason for selection: Originated in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, Kunqu has a history of more than 600 years and has been called "the ancestor of a hundred operas, the master of a hundred operas", and many local operas have been nurtured and nourished by various aspects of the art of Kunqu.

Shadow play

Elected: 2011.

Reason for selection: Chinese shadow play is a form of drama in which colorful shadow puppets made of leather or paper are used to perform stories accompanied by music and singing. Shadow puppets are manipulated with wooden rods behind a curtain, and dynamic images are created by light shining on a translucent curtain. Shadow puppeteers have many skills, such as improvisational singing, falsetto acting, manipulating several puppets at once, and the ability to play many different instruments. Shadow art is passed down through families, theater groups, or masters and disciples.

Acupuncture and moxibustion

Elected: 2010.

Reason for selection: Acupuncture and moxibustion originated in China, is an important part of Chinese medicine, and is also a representative of China's outstanding national culture, and the successful declaration of this project is a recognition of China's traditional medical culture. Acupuncture and moxibustion is the embodiment of the wisdom and creativity of the Chinese nation, and its complete knowledge system and stable practical effects that have been continued through the generations have gained worldwide recognition, playing an important role in safeguarding the life and health of the relevant groups, and becoming an important symbol of cultural identity for its holders.

Cantonese Opera

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Cantonese Opera is a style of theater sung in Cantonese with a history of more than 300 years. It has absorbed a variety of musical and dramatic elements, perfectly combining the sounds of clappers and erhuai with the rhythms of the Cantonese dialect, creatively expanding the artistic expression of Chinese opera, and becoming a masterpiece of the art of northern and southern Chinese opera, which is very different from other Chinese opera genres.

Chinese Traditional Mulberry Silk Weaving Technique

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Silk weaving is a great Chinese invention and a cultural mark of Chinese national identity. This heritage includes the production techniques of mulberry planting, sericulture, reeling, dyeing and weaving, the ingenious and sophisticated tools and looms used in the process, as well as the colorful silk products such as damask, gauze, brocade and woof, and the related folk activities derived from this process.

Peking Opera

Elected: 2010.

Reason for selection: Peking Opera is characterized by programmatic and symbolic virtual performances, focusing on the integrated use of hands, eyes, body, techniques and steps, expressing the aesthetic ideals of drama in traditional Chinese society, and preserving elements of the country's cultural heritage that are widely recognized.

Chinese Korean Nongle Dance

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: The Chinese Korean Nongle Dance is a folk performing art that integrates playing, singing and dancing, reflecting the traditional farming production life of rituals and praying for blessings and celebrating the harvest. The dance is characterized by ecology, simplicity, roughness and harmony. The scene is warm and unrestrained, with distinctive national characteristics. Nongle Dance has been integrated into the bloodline of the Korean people in China and has become an artistic treasure in the social and cultural life, reflecting the diversity of the world's cultures and the creativity of mankind.

The traditional technique of making rice paper

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: papermaking is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. Xuan paper is an outstanding representative of traditional handmade paper, characterized by its tough texture, non-moth-eaten and non-corrosive. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has been the best carrier for calligraphy, painting and canonical printing, and still cannot be replaced by mechanism paper.

Beadwork

Elected: 2013.

Reason for selection: Bead counting is a method of numerical calculation using the abacus as a tool, and is regarded as China's fifth greatest invention, accompanying the Chinese people through more than 1,800 long years. It is known as "the world's oldest computer" for its simple calculation tools and unique mathematical connotations. With the development of computer technology, the calculation function of the bead calculator has been gradually weakened, but the ancient bead calculator still has a tenacious vitality.

Tibetan Opera

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Tibetan opera is a Tibetan drama with masks and storytelling through songs and dances, which was formed in the 14th century and spread on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The eight traditional Tibetan operas are often performed, and their contents are mostly myths and legends in the Buddhist scriptures to persuade the good and punish the evil. Tibetan opera was originally spread among the people, and was performed in squares or monasteries by artists who passed it on orally, but later professional troupes were established and stage performances appeared. Tibetan opera carries the bloodline of Tibetan culture, reflects the life outlook and thoughts and feelings of the Tibetan people, and is an important part of their cultural life.

Xi'an Drum Music

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Xi'an Drum Music is a kind of drumming and blowing music circulating in Xi'an and its neighboring areas. The orchestra is divided into two categories: percussion instruments and melodic instruments, and the performance form is divided into sitting music and traveling music. The music is still written in the Tang and Song dynasties in the form of a common character score.

Regon Art

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Rhegong art mainly refers to Buddhist plastic arts such as thangka, mural painting, pile embroidery, sculpture, etc., and is an important art school of Tibetan Buddhism. Originated in the 13th century, the content of Rakong art is mainly based on Buddhist nativity stories, historical figures and myths and legends. It carries the historical development of Rakugo culture and is an important part of the production life of the general public in the relevant communities.

Guqin Art

Elected: 2003.

Reason for selection: The guqin is the earliest stringed instrument, the oldest and purest native Chinese musical instrument, with deep national cultural colors, and is ranked as the first of the "qin, qi, shuqi and painting".

Nanyin

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Nanyin is a performing art that integrates singing and playing, and is one of the oldest existing musical genres in China. It is sung in the Quanzhou dialect and is mainly played by pipa, dongxiao, erxian, sanxian, patan and other instruments, and the music is written in the five Chinese characters "乂工六思一", which are the symbols of "乂工六思一". There are more than 3,000 ancient music scores in existence, preserving the repertoire of different categories from the Jin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.

Chinese Calligraphy

Elected: 2009.

Reason for election: Chinese Calligraphy is an artistic practice that uses pen, ink and paper as the main tools and materials, and through the writing of Chinese characters, while accomplishing the practical function of information exchange, it incorporates people's thoughts on nature, society and life with its unique stylized symbols and ink and brush rhythms, thus expressing the unique Chinese way of thinking, personality spirit and disposition and aspiration.

Humai

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Humai is a marvelous singing art created by the Mongolian people: a singer sings two parts of a voice at the same time purely with his or her own vocal organs. It is unique among Chinese folk songs of all ethnic groups.

Mazu Religion

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: A-Mazu is the most influential god of seafaring protection in China. In 987 A.D., Mazu of Meizhou Island, Putian City, Fujian Province, sacrificed her life to save the sea, and was worshipped by the people of that island in a temple and became the god of the sea. With the development of seafaring and the expansion of A-Ma's influence, successive dynasties named A-Ma as the Heavenly Concubine, Heavenly Empress, and the Holy Mother of Heaven.

Chinese Seal Engraving

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Chinese Seal Cutting is a unique engraving art that uses stone as the main material, the carving knife as the tool, and Chinese characters as the representations, and has developed from the ancient Chinese seal making technique, with a history of more than 3,000 years so far.

Longquan celadon traditional firing techniques

Selected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Longquan celadon traditional firing technology is a traditional handicraft with production, skill and art. It has a history of more than 1,700 years so far.

Chinese Traditional Wooden Structure Building Technique

Selected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Chinese traditional wooden structure construction technology is a technical system of building construction with wood as the main building material, mortise and tenon as the main combination of wooden components, and modular system as the means of scale design and processing and production. The building techniques are passed down from generation to generation through the teaching of masters and disciples.

Chinese paper cutting

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Chinese paper-cutting is a kind of folk art that uses scissors or carving knives to cut patterns on paper, which is used to decorate life or cooperate with other folk activities. Its inherited visual image and modeling format contains rich cultural and historical information, expresses the general public's social awareness, moral concepts, practical experience, ideals of life and aesthetic interests, and has multiple social values such as cognition, indoctrination, expression, lyricism, entertainment and communication.

Duanwu Festival

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar and has a history of more than 2,500 years. The festival custom of driving away poison and avoiding evil spirits has given rise to rich and colorful folk activities such as rituals, amusement and health care in various places, which mainly include worshipping Qu Yuan, commemorating Wu Zixu, inserting mugwort, hanging calamus, drinking xionghuang wine, eating zongzi, dragon boat racing, and getting rid of the five poisons, etc. The festival is a traditional Chinese festival that contains unique characteristics. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival with unique national spirit and rich cultural connotations, which has a significant impact on Chinese folk life.

Gesa(s)er

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Gesar(s)er is a grand narrative epic about the sacred performance of the ancient Tibetan hero Gesar. It tells the heroic story of King Gesar who plunged down to the world to save the living beings, led the people of Ling country to subdue the demons, suppressed the strong and supported the weak, resettled the three worlds, accomplished the mission on earth, and finally returned to the heaven. With the rap of outstanding artists, the epic has been passed down for thousands of years, mainly in the vast pastoral areas and rural villages in the highland zone of western China.

The Great Song of the Dong People

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Dong Da Song is a general term for unaccompanied and un-conducted multi-voice folk songs of the Dong ethnic minority. It includes voice songs, narrative songs, children's songs, stamping songs, and road blocking songs. The principle of "low and high" is the traditional combination of voices, beautiful and harmonious is its distinctive artistic character, and the way of transmission for all people is the song master teaching and the song class singing. What it carries and transmits is the vital cultural information about a nation's way of life, social structure, human customs and wisdom.

Chinese Engraving and Printing Techniques

Selected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Engraving and printing technology is a special technology that uses knives to carve words or patterns on wooden boards, and then brushes, prints and binds them into books with ink, paper, silk and other materials, with a history of more than 1,300 years to date, more than 400 years earlier than that of movable-type printing technology.

Gansu Flowers

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Hua'er arose in the early years of the Ming Dynasty (around 1368 A.D.), and is a folk song that has been circulating among the Han, Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Bao'an, Sala, Tu, Yugu, and Meng ethnic groups***creating*** enjoying in the Gansu, Qingdao, and Ningxia Provinces (districts) of northwestern China. It is named because the lyrics compare women to flowers. It is sung in Chinese and musically influenced by the traditional music of the Qiang, Tibetan, Han, Tu and Muslim peoples.

Manas

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: The Kyrgyz epic Manas has been sung for thousands of years, and is one of the three major epics in China, with a wide variety of sung iso-writings and a grandiose length, the most famous of which is the genealogical legendary narrative of Manas and his descendants***8 generations of heroes, which is 236,000 lines long, reflecting the rich traditional life of the Kyrgyz people, and is the outstanding creation of the Kyrgyz people and the oral transmission of the "encyclopedia".

Nanjing Yunjin Weaving Technique

Elected: 2009.

Reason for selection: Nanjing Yunjin Weaving Technique survives the tradition of Chinese royal weaving and represents the highest level of Chinese brocade weaving technique. It applies the core technology of "through the warp and break the weft" to the large-scale loom with complex structure, operated manually by the upper and lower two people, and weaves luxurious fabrics, such as dragon robes, with silk threads, gold threads and peacock feather threads and other materials.

Xinjiang Uygur Mukam Art

Elected: 2005.

Reason for selection: "Xinjiang Uyghur Mukam Art" is a general term for various kinds of Mukams circulating in the Uyghur settlement areas of Xinjiang, and it is a large-scale comprehensive art form integrating songs, dances, and music, with the "Twelve Mukams" as its representative.

Mongolian Long Dance

Elected: 2005 (China and Mongolia jointly declared).

Reason for selection: Mongolian long tune folk songs have existed as early as the formation period of the Mongolian people, which are closely related to the steppe and nomadic way of life, and are the iconic display of the productive life and spiritual character of the Mongolian people. China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Mongolia are the most important cultural distribution areas of Mongolian long tune folk songs.