China is rolling out a series of online and on-site activities in celebration of the Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which falls on June 13 this year.

From digital exhibitions and online shopping carnival to handicraft workshops and flea markets, local governments, cultural institutions, popular digital apps, e-commerce giants, and retail platforms are teaming up to stage diversified events under the theme of "cultural heritage and healthy life."

According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, more than 3,700 events are scheduled for a place in cyberspace and various places across the nation around this year's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day to disseminate intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and enhance protection of the traditional legacies.

Despite some on-site celebrations, more than 70 percent of ICH promotion activities are running online due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, while traditional ICH food, medicine, and sports that benefit health are in focus, said the ministry.

As digital techniques add new glamor to traditional legacies, more innovative and interactive events are being held to engage wide audiences, especially young generations.

Savor diverse charms of ICH on digital platforms

The ministry has launched a digital film exhibition from June 8 through 14 in cooperation with China Association of Performing Arts and the country's video streaming giants to display upwards of 1,600 ICH-themed documentaries and feature films for free with series of masters' classes of ICH inheritors opening online to the public.

Tencent Video is set to showcase its critically-acclaimed food docuseries such as "Breakfast in China" and "Flavorful Origins" for viewers to "take a bite of" authentic ICH food.

Youku has kicked off the second season of livestreamed shows titled "ICH Open Courses" with dozens of ICH documentaries, including "National Treasures 100" released to empower ICH protection, inheritance, and promotion with digital techniques.

Music streaming app Kugou launched an audio-visual program named "Hear ICH" to promote the spreading and inheritance of ICH music. Music lovers could check out special lists to explore pure ICH music and enjoy songs fused with ICH musical elements.

The National Library of China has specially planned a series of courses titled "They are Witnesses to Civilization: Open Course of ICH Films," which was released Saturday on multiple digital media platforms including Tencent, IQiyi, Youku and Bilibili.

"We have selected 20 documentaries about the outstanding achievements of national representative ICH inheritors, and invited experts to give their interpretation," said a library staff, adding that it will help the audience to understand the heritage more deeply to appreciate the significance of ICH protection while enjoying the films.

Leading short-video and livestream platforms Douyin and Kuaishou have invited ICH inheritors to introduce the crafts and present their skills by posting short videos with popular hashtags GetToKnowICH (#ZoujinFeiyi) and #MyICHCraft (#WoDeFeiyiShouyi).

Netizens are also encouraged to share their own stories and experience about ICH by posting videos with ICH-related hashtags on the two platforms mentioned above, as well as at the special column "My ICH Stories" on popular video-sharing app Bilibili.

"Online participation and interaction in diverse forms will be a major feature and highlight of this year's digital event," said the ministry's official, noting that "unfolding ICH in another way" will make traditional culture more accessible to netizens, especially young audiences.

More than an online shopping extravaganza 

Another highlight of this year's celebrations, online ICH shopping carnivals help introduce various ICH products to thousands of millions of Chinese households, promoting traditional legacies while boosting the economy.

Major e-commerce giants such as Alibaba, JD.com, Suning, and Meituan are joining hands to launch an online ICH shopping festival, selling a variety of quality goods and handicrafts from nearly 6,500 ICH units, enterprises, and workshops across the nation.

The initiative, under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Commerce and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, is combining online platforms with offline channels to help the time-honored brands and traditional crafts reach more customers.

Deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture and covering a wide variety of categories, the ICH-related products, especially traditional handicrafts, are full of unique charms and are in line with the current trend of diversified, personalized and customized consumption, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Additionally, some 20 provinces, municipals, and regions, including Hebei, Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangdong, will host ICH shopping carnivals this month, combing livestream e-commerce with unique on-site activities to present distinct cultural landscapes and local representative ICH items.

ICH also plays a significant role in boosting employment and fighting poverty, as many ICH workshops are located in old towns and remote areas.

In this sense, online shopping carnivals enable the small shops and old brands to go online and support ICH inheritors, enterprises and workshops impacted by the health crisis.

China now boasts a total of 55 sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and 44 World Intangible Cultural Heritage programs, ranking top in the world. Domestically, there are 1,372 representative ICH items under state protection.

To broadly disseminate its cultural heritage and raise public awareness of the protection of these priceless legacies, the country has honored cultural heritage day on the second Saturday of June since 2006, which was renamed Cultural and Natural Heritage Day in 2017.

(Cover: Poster for the celebration of the 2020 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. /Ministry of Culture and Tourism)

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