Guizhou marks national Cultural and Natural Heritage Day

Traditional singing, dancing and operas from Guizhou's ethnic groups are presented in celebration of the national Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. [Photo/ddcpc website]

An activity to celebrate the national Cultural and Natural Heritage Day was held on June 12 in Guiyang's Qingyan Ancient Town, in Southwest China's Guizhou province, with a shopping festival for handicrafts held the same day.

The Cultural and Natural Heritage Day was debuted in 2006 and falls on the second Saturday of June every year.

The activity was also held online to help raise the public's awareness of the need to protect and pass on to future generations the skills for handicrafts and other forms of intangible cultural heritage, such as opera and dance. Visitors were able to take in various performances and exhibitions in Qingyan Ancient Town.

At the activity, a bazaar organized for over 70 intangible handicraft workshops to bring about 4,000 products and sell them there. The bazaar was also livestreamed to social media apps, for online sales.

The Guizhou provincial department of culture and tourism issued certificates to inheritors of national and provincial intangible cultural heritage – masters of the handicrafts and other cultural artforms – at the activity.

Rich in cultural and natural heritage, Guizhou has two items listed on UNESCO's Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as 159 national intangible cultural heritage sites and 1,025 provincial intangible cultural heritage sites.

It also has more than 1,300 inheritors of municipal and prefecture-level intangible cultural heritage and 6,800 inheritors of county-level ones.

Guizhou also has 724 villages listed on the national protection list for traditional villages and 312 villages selected as national villages with ethnic group features – both ranking first in China.