Intangible heritage committee set for its first meeting today
The government's consultative committee on intangible cultural heritage meets for the first time today.
Headed by Thomas Chow Tat-ming, director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the committee will offer advice on which traditional festivals and rituals celebrated in various districts might be defined as intangible cultural heritage. It will monitor the compiling of an inventory of intangible cultural heritage, expected to take two years.
Committee members include Ding Xinbao, the former chief curator of the Museum of History, and Siu Kwok-kin, of the department of Chinese literature at Chu Hai College.
The inventory is being compiled in response to the UN Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was ratified by China in 2004 and came into force in April 2006. The mainland has added 1,018 items to its national inventory, and Guangdong has launched a province-wide survey to assess the significance of intangible heritage to the public.
