Wenzhong Bridge in Taishun county, Zhejiang province. ZHUANG TONG/FOR CHINA DAILY
In a remarkable display of conservation success, China's dedicated efforts have revitalized and safeguarded three endangered cultural treasures, leading to their inclusion on the UNESCO-endorsed Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The three items — the Li ethnic group's traditional textile techniques of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidering; the Qiang New Year festival, a traditional annual event of the Qiang ethnic group in China; and traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges — have all been elevated to this prestigious status.
The decision was reached on Thursday during the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asuncion, Paraguay.
Previously listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009 due to the looming threat to their survival, these cultural gems have now been rescued and restored to ensure their continued existence.
"The transition means China has achieved significant progress in the protection of intangible cultural heritage and collected precious experience," Pan Lusheng, vice-president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, was quoted as saying by Shanghai-based news portal ThePaper.cn.
"It signifies the number of inheritors has reached a certain scale, and the once nearly extinct skills or practices can now be naturally passed down and developed," he added.
A Chinese wooden arch bridge in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. ZHANG GUILAN/FOR CHINA DAILY
Zhong Xiaobo, director of the Wenzhou Covered Bridge Culture Society in Zhejiang province, who has devoted over two decades to preserving wooden arch bridges, expressed immense excitement upon hearing the news.
He said that since around 2004, when these bridges were on the brink of extinction, the local people initiated efforts in Taishun county, Zhejiang, to rediscover and support inheritors in revitalizing this craft."This recognition validates our years of hard work," Zhong added.
The wooden arch bridges are mainly found in northern Fujian and southern Zhejiang. Built out of interlocking short beams with wooden sunmao (mortise-and-tenon) joints to create an especially stable arch without nails or rivets, these bridges are the crystallization of the wisdom of people in the mountainous areas of the two provinces, said Lu Zeqi, an expert in cultural heritage in Pingnan county, Fujian, where such bridges are often seen.
