People take an inaugural ride during a "dragon eye dotting" ceremony of Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Central Park in New York, the United States, on July 20, 2023. A "dragon eye dotting" ceremony was held in New York City, the United States, on Thursday as a prelude to the 2023 Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, which is scheduled for next month.(Photo: Xinhua)

On Monday, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the approval and publication of the country's first standard in the field of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) - Digital Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Digital Resource Collection and Cataloging. 

"Establishing a set of norms for the digital preservation of ICH has groundbreaking importance in the field of ICH protection in China," said Wang Fuzhou, director of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, at a press conference.

The standard was drafted by the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center and primarily serves to guide and standardize the collection and cataloging of digital resources for various categories of representative ICH projects in the country. 

It sets clear overall requirements for the collection and cataloging of ICH digital resources, including categories such as folk literature, traditional music, traditional dance, traditional theater and folk customs. 

He noted that the formulation and implementation of this standard will play a crucial role in several areas, such as guiding the dissemination and utilization of ICH digital resources and assisting in constructing an ICH big data system. It will aid in the training and development of professionals in the ICH domain, as well as enhance the public's awareness and understanding of ICH. 

The ministry also announced that assessments for the sixth batch of national-level inheritors of ICH is now underway. 

In a bid to strengthen the line-up of ICH inheritors, refine the ICH preservation and inheritance system, and ensure it is passed on from generation to generation, the ministry launched the procedure for recognizing the new batch of national-level ICH inheritors in May 2022. An official notice was issued by the ministry to kick-start the identification and recommendation efforts. 

The ministry emphasized the importance of the representativeness and leadership of the nominees. The selection process takes into account the unique features of the related ICH projects and aims to balance the ages of national-level ICH inheritors. 

Up to now, local governments and agencies have recommended a total of 1,407 individuals. The evaluation process, which has already completed the review of application materials, the establishment of review criteria, and the creation of an expert database, is currently underway.