A country with a long history and rich culture, China, by 2018’s end, had 40 elements listed as UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritages (ICH).

Many of these are in need of urgent safeguarding. How can we best do this? How can we increase public awareness of the issue? These are problems facing many countries.

Thanks to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, adopted in 2003, there is now widespread recognition of the importance of safeguarding living practices, expressions, skills and knowledge.

To better safeguard ICH, the Chinese government and UNESCO signed an agreement in Beijing in 2012 to establish a professional institution – the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP) – to give countries in the region the capacity-building service under the framework of the 2003 Convention.

In this video interview, Liang Bin, Director-General of CRIHAP, talks about safeguarding ICH and gives suggestions on raising awareness and promoting the spirit of the Convention.

“I think we might as well take the youth as one of the foci of our future trainings, involving them in our training courses. By doing so, more young people will take part in the cause of ICH safeguarding,” he said.

Guest: Liang Bin
Reporter: Fu Rui
Camera: Fu Rui
Editing: Fu Rui
Subtitles: Yang Xiaoyu
Executive Producer: Feng Minghui