The first batch slated for protection was released in June 2006, including horse tail embroidery, the writing system and the Dragon Boat Festival of the Shui ethnic minority. Sandu Shui Autonomous County of Guizhou Province in southwest China is one of their major habitations. The Shui writing system is the core of this minority’s culture, used to record astronomy, a calendar system, philosophy and various religious matters. It constitutes one of the few living ancient pictograph systems in the world, a rare cultural heritage item in China and the entire world. In the Shui-inhabited regions, only a few elderly people can understand Shui pictographs. Each such teacher, as they are known, is a living treasury. In 2010, the Shui Ethnic Research Institute of the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Sandu Shui Autonomous County carried out a survey of more than 30 teachers of their writing system, and collected valuable oral material by recording them reading the Shui classics and interpreting 100,000-plus pictographs.

The horse tail embroidery features hair of the horse tail used in the embroidery and has been passed on for generations by Shui women. Song Shuixian, a folk artisan in Sandu County, is an inheritor of the craft and has integrated two Shui intangible cultural heritages into modern masterpieces by embroidering the classics of Shui pictographs. Song Shuixian learned this in childhood from her mother. Based on her study of the traditional master works of horse tail embroidery, she created a series of exquisite and unique art works. According to Song, due to the demands of the material and the art’s refined procedures, a horse tail embroidery needs several months to a year to complete.

From 2007 to 2009, the Ministry of Culture assessed and released three batches of 1,488 representative inheritors of arts under national protection. Subsequently, various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities also designated 6,332 representative inheritors of provincial intangible cultural heritage. Beginning in 2008, the central treasury earmarked special funds to representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage: RMB 8,000 per person per year. Since 2011, this standard was adjusted upwards to RMB 10,000.

In 2008, the Beijing Municipal Government formally introduced an accreditation rule for art masters and folk handicraft masters of various traditional arts, crafts and techniques, stipulating that they tutor two or more apprentices for a monthly allowance of RMB 100, 300, 500 or 800 based on four different ranks. Economically developed Jiangsu Province held trials for inheritors seeking apprentices, and the provincial treasury granted RMB 10,000 to 30,000 to every inheritor based on their specific plans for tutoring apprentices and measuring their progress. Meanwhile, local governments also provided representative inheritors with training sites, assisted them to hold classes, and offered various other types of support.

Rational Development Brings Vitality

Protecting production and development processes is another form of preservation. For such arts as woodblock New Year paintings, rice paper making and traditional Mongolian and Tibetan medicine, all with market potential, a set of competitive enterprises have been established. In the long run, under the umbrella of preserving the original nature of core crafts, rational utilization of them can attract more funds and also push forward their development in a market environment, making their roles in the Chinese economy as vital as their roles in society.

Adopting traditional techniques in production maintains the authenticity and integrity of the resulting items and performances, and is the key to unfading prosperity of some old enterprises with time-honored brands. Shanxi Mature Vinegar Group Co., Ltd. has always stuck to its traditional vinegar making procedure of “steaming, fermenting, smoking, sprinkling and maturing,” and its core techniques of “sun-drying in summer, freezing in winter, and allowing enough time for maturing.” As of now, its annual vinegar output has reached 50,000 tons with a value up to RMB 200 million. The process of making donkey-hide gelatin in Dong’e Donkey-Hide Gelatin Co., Ltd. involves 50-plus steps which are all finished manually. The corporation achieved sales revenue of RMB 1.24 billion in the first half of 2011, and a profit of RMB 367 million. The bone-setting therapy of practitioners of traditional Mongolian medicine at the Inner Mongolia International Mongolian Hospital involves the traditional treatment of “manual rectification, fixing by splint, pressing with sandbags, liquor massage, diet adjustment and functional training.” Imperial brick-making in Linqing, Shandong Province, requires selecting and crushing the earth as well as traditional mud brick baking.

Skill-inheritance also instills vitality to the old handicrafts. Hengshui Xisan Inside Painting Co., Ltd. established the Xisan Secondary School of Arts and Crafts, recruiting handicapped members to study the craft of rendering scenes inside small crystal or glass bottles. The company also developed painted cosmetic cases, jewelry boxes and small portraits. The company has also set up three museums to exhibit the works to the public.

Jing Yongxiang, a craft inheritor in Linqing imperial brick production base, has recruited 40-plus apprentices, and cultivated 90-plus craftsmen. Dong’e Donkey-Hide Gelatin Co., Ltd. pays attention to the health of its veteran pharmacists, and tries to train new inheritors. It has established the China Donkey-hide Gelatin Health Promotion Cultural Center to propagate and exhibit the ancient technology.

Mianzhu woodblock prints in Sichuan Province are one of the earliest folk handicrafts whose production process is protected. After years of development, a large-scale systematic method of creating and selling woodblock prints has come into being. Three years ago, after the Wenchuan Earthquake, the local government established Mianzhu New Year Picture Village by merging workshops doing the same products. The village has become a folklore tourism attraction and a production and marketing base for Mianzhu woodblock prints, and was named a national 4A scenic area. It employs 700 to 800 people, with an annual output value of RMB 20 million. With the average annual income of each workshop reaching RMB 400,000 - 500,000, the income of the local people has been significantly improved. The local government has offered support policies in the form of preferential taxes, and constructed infrastructure enabling each printing workshop to produce, design, sell and exhibit their works amidst the post-disaster reconstruction.

Qicaiqing Tu Ethnic Folklore Cultural Products Development Co., Ltd. in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, Qinghai Province follows the operation mode of “company + base + farmer” to develop the Tibetan and Qiang embroidery. Professor Yang Huazhen, a master embroider herself, has assisted women from 300 rural families in 18 neighboring counties to make the embroidered products, and contracted 200 artisans, with an annual output of more than 6,000 works of coiled embroidery, valued at RMB 1.8 million. Each artisan has an average annual income of RMB 4,000.

To effectively protect its intangible culture heritage, China has investigated, assessed and registered intangible cultural heritage, gathered basic information on these arts, and introduced measures to transfer the skills of existing masters to those who will inherit the techniques and carry forward those living cultures that are currently scattered among communities and in danger of disappearing.