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CHINA'S INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGEIn 2006, China embraced the notion of 'intangible cultural heritage' with all the enthusiasm and publicity once only reserved for a new economic reform measure. In this issue we return to the topic of Intangible Cultural Heritage, previously the focus of our Second Issue (June 2005). In the first half of 2006, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), the massive bureaucracy under the Ministry of Culture once known as the State Cultural Relics Bureau, issued two lists of more than 500 cultural heritage items, embracing folk tales, ethnic festivals, regional musical, dramatic and storytelling art forms, handicrafts and even sacrificial cults. Governmental and cultural organisations across China have also held numerous meetings, staged conferences and exhibitions, and received further nominations of 'intangible cultural heritage' items. For the central government, the UNESCO-sponsored concept of 'intangible cultural heritage' has enabled cultural bureaucrats to sidestep uncomfortable talk of history and tradition, and it has provided conservationists with new notions for discussing and extending heritage protection. In our Editorial we look at the new approach to the past that these listings make possible, and in our Features section also examine SACH's preliminary listings in detail ('A Tale of Two Lists'). For reference purposes, we append and translate the two lists issued by SACH in PDF format. National, local and even international political interests often find themselves in conflict regarding the provenance and ownership of cultural items. In Articles, we examine 'The Rehabilitation and Appropriation of Great Wall Mythology', focusing in particular on the listing of the legend of Meng Jiangnü and Chinese ancient 'soccer' as intangible cultural heritage items. We also include a recent oral history interview by the writer Sang Ye under the title 'Living with the Past', in which he talks with a retired caretaker at Jade Gate Pass at the westernmost point of China's Great Walls. The need to document and define items of cultural heritage nominated by SACH, as well as by the other ministries and cultural authorities of central, provincial and local governments, represents a massive intellectual undertaking. Little solid new scholarship on intangible cultural heritage items actually exists. In Intellectual News, we review one of the few contributions to this new field of studies of intangible cultural heritage that has recently appeared, Li Yun and Zhou Quangen's study of Tibetan opera. In this issue, we also continue to provide an overview of other heritage issues through our regular digest of archaeological and heritage news briefs, and Jeremy Clarke SJ reviews the recent exhibition of Qing imperial treasures in the Musée Guimet in Paris. |
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