The second Saturday of June has been identified by the Chinese
government as 'National Cultural Day' and will be celebrated
annually, said Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng in Beijing at a press
conference on Thursday.
Sun said the first 'Cultural Heritage Day' would fall on June 10
with the theme being, "Protecting cultural heritage and
safeguarding the spiritual homeland".
"The celebration will include a series of performances and
exhibitions," Sun said. The event would feature an exhibition of
ancient Chinese books and a selection of the best folk art.
The State Administration of Culture Heritage would undertake a
nationwide review of cultural heritage protection work while the
National Library and Academy of Social Sciences will host seminars
and forums and offer advice to the public on cultural heritage.
Sun called on museums, memorial halls and relic sites at all
levels to open free to the public on the first ‘Cultural Heritage
Day’.
China has 2,351 historic sites and 518 articles of intangible
cultural heritage. Nearly 400,000 fixed relics have been registered
on the mainland and another 20 million movable examples are held in
museums.
Sun noted that China had four of the 19 ‘masterpieces’ of Oral
and Intangible Heritage of Humanity listed by the United Nations
Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), including the
500-year-old Kunqu Opera, known for its graceful movements and
poetic lyrics; the 3,000-year-old guqin seven-string zither; the
Twelve Mukams--a 12-part suite of ancient Uygur music and the
Pastoral Song sung by a Mongolian ethnic group.
According to Sun the legislation included more than 30 laws and
regulations on cultural heritage protection in which the government
had invested 7.89 billion yuan (US$900 million) over the last five
years. China had also launched a nationwide campaign in 2003 to
search out and protect cultural heritage. A law on the protection
of intangible cultural relics has been put on the drafting schedule
of China's top legislature. People from all walks of life had come
to realize its importance.
However, Sun said, cultural relics in China now faced great
challenges posed by economic globalization and urbanization. Many
historic cities and scenic spots had been destroyed. Illegal trade
and smuggling activities had not been curbed which had led to the
loss of national treasures overseas.
Worse was that many important cultural heritage sites had
declined or were difficult to maintain due to excessive exploration
and inappropriate use. And cultural relics held by minority ethnic
groups had lost their true meaning due to the changing lifestyles
of the people, Sun said.
"Therefore, we should keep our minds clear and take more
concrete steps to better protect cultural heritage and mobilize the
whole society to participate in this cause," he stressed.
In terms of new measures for preventing traditional Chinese
festivals from dying out Sun said, “We need to draw more attention
from people in all walks of life by including traditional festivals
in school textbooks, improving publicity and encouraging people to
celebrate them.”
Sun also mentioned that this month marks the 40th anniversary of
the launch of the tumultuous ten-year Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976) in China. The National Museum, the National Library and
other museums had collected a wealth of cultural relics and
materials relating to the Cultural Revolution which would be
conducive to further research on this period of history, he said.
?
Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage, said at the same conference that according to incomplete
statistics about 1 million Chinese cultural relics are kept at more
than 200 museums in 47 countries. The Chinese government was doing
its utmost to reclaim and collect the precious cultural relics lost
overseas and a database to help reclaim such items cultural relics
from abroad has been established.
China had signed the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of
Cultural Property and bilateral protocols with countries including
Peru and Italy on this matter. And the government was also seeking
international cooperation to retrieve the relics by liaising
closely with the International Criminal Police and the World
Customs Organizations, Sun said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2006)