Guangdong takes the lead in exploring the identification of non-genetic inheritance groups at the provincial level and improving the "exit mechanism"

Nandu News Reporter Wang Meisu Correspondent Guangdong Cultural Tourism Propaganda Reporter learned from the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province that in order to inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture and effectively protect and inherit intangible cultural heritage, the Measures for the Identification and Management of Representative Inheritors of Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Provincial Level in Guangdong Province (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") will be officially implemented on January 1, 2022. A total of 27 articles, valid for 5 years.

The Measures provide detailed provisions on the rights and obligations of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level, and clarify six situations in which the qualifications of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level in Guangdong Province are cancelled.

Up to now, Guangdong has identified a total of 837 representative inheritors of provincial intangible cultural heritage in six batches, of which 700 are alive.

At the provincial level, the national level took the lead in exploring the identification of inheritance groups

In order to implement the "Exploration and Identification of Representative Inheritance Groups (Groups)" in the Opinions of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Further Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the bottleneck problem in the identification of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage in projects of collective inheritance and public practice is solved. The Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province took the lead in experimenting, including "groups" into the category of "representative inheritors of provincial intangible cultural heritage", and took the lead in exploring and innovating at the provincial level.

The Measures stipulate that "the representative inheritors of the intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level in Guangdong Province include individuals and groups. An individual is a single natural person. The group is composed of two or more natural persons, who each master the important links or core skills of the practice of a provincial intangible cultural heritage representative project, and are indispensable to each other, division of labor and cooperation, and jointly undertake the inheritance of the project."

Absorb the inheritors of Hong Kong and Macao to build a cultural bay area

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has the same cultural origin, close relationship and similar folk customs. Protecting, publicizing and making good use of the intangible cultural heritage in the Bay Area is a necessary move to jointly build a humanistic Bay Area. To this end, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, taking into account the practical requirements and specific characteristics of the identification and management of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province, as well as the construction needs of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cultural Bay Area, encourage Chinese citizens who have lived or worked in Guangdong for a long time and meet the declaration conditions for Hong Kong and Macao to apply for representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level in Guangdong Province, and write them into the Measures, which are in line with the actual conditions of Guangdong and have great characteristics of the Bay Area.

Improve the "withdrawal mechanism" for representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, and implement dynamic management

In the past, due to the difficulty of identification and management, there have been many problems such as inaction and inadequate inheritance work of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage throughout the country. Industry experts called for the introduction of the "exit mechanism" as a necessary move to optimize the team of inheritors and promote the active inheritance of the project. In view of this, the Measures provide detailed provisions on the rights and obligations of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level, and clarify six situations in which the qualifications of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level in Guangdong Province are cancelled. The Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province will regularly evaluate the inheritance activities carried out by representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level, and take the assessment results as the main basis for whether they continue to enjoy the qualifications and related rights and interests of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level. At the same time, archives of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level in Guangdong Province will be established to record the basic information of the inheritors, participation in study and training, inheritance activities, and participation in social welfare activities.

In addition, for the representative inheritors of provincial intangible cultural heritage who have lost the ability to inherit and are unable to perform their inheritance obligations, the Measures also give more detailed and humane provisions, and the inheritors who have made outstanding contributions will be listed as "honorary inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the provincial level in Guangdong Province", and local governments are encouraged to give certain preferential treatment.

In the next step, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province will, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Measures, launch a new batch of provincial-level representative inheritors of intangible culture in a timely manner, and at the same time, step up the formulation of provincial-level representative inheritors assessment standards and implementation rules, gradually improve the evaluation system, guide representative inheritors in the province to actively carry out inheritance activities, and more scientifically and systematically promote the high-quality development of the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.