Sanjiang Dong county, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region held a 3rd Dong Ethnic Literature and Territory and Dong Village World Heritage Application Seminar, Nov 22 – 23, at the Sanjiang Hotel, with assistance from the county’s literary federation, world heritage application office and Guangxi Dong Ethnic Research Association.

There were nearly 60 Dong experts, scholars and literature lovers from the Guangxi cities of Longsheng and Rongshui, Hunan province’s Tongdao and Huitong, Guizhou province’s Liping and Rongjiang taking part in the seminar where they discussed the Dong culture and world heritage application.

Dong ethnic group seminar, Sanjiang Dong autonomous county, Guangxi, Nov 22 - 23 [Photo/Xinhua]

This “Literature and Territory” Seminar had its first meeting in 2012 and has been held every year to improve the Dong ethnic group’s literature, with the cooperation of Dong writers and those from other ethnic groups. It is also a place to learn more and discuss various topics for people from Guangxi, Guizhou and Hunan.

The ethnic customs, buildings and landscape of Sanjiang are all sources for Dong writers and the Sanjiang county Wind and Rain Bridge journal has been around for many years as the designated journal of the National Dong Literature Society. And the county has produced many famous writers, such as Wu Hao and Zhang Zezhong.

Sanjiang first applied for cultural heritage designation for its Dong Village in January 2012 and has followed a principle of “Protection, rational utilization, management”. Originally, it chose six Dong villages to apply for the designation and the application had the help of Peking University and the School of Architecture and Planning of Shanghai’s Tongji University. The county also drafted a Measure for the Protection of Dong Village Culture, and established a monitoring station to protect the ecology and environment of local villages.