Over 1,700 activities to launch on Cultural and Natural Heritage Day

The press conference about the upcoming 2017 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day was held at the Ministry of Culture, Beijing, May 23, 2017. [Photo by Li Hongrui/Chinaculture.org]

The Ministry of Culture announced that the upcoming 2017 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day will include over 1,700 activities at a press conference on Tuesday.

Wang Chenyang, deputy director-general of the intangible cultural heritage department under the Ministry of Culture, introduced the theme and important activities for this year's event.

Zhai Deyu, deputy director-general of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture, and Zhou Siyuan, director-general of the department of culture of Sichuan province, also released details on the 6th International Festival of the Intangible Cultural Heritage that will be held in Chengdu from June 10 to 18.

Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, focusing on the theme of dynamic intangible cultural heritage inheritance, will be held nationwide as a collective showcase of achievements on intangible cultural heritage protection since the 18th CPC National Congress. The festival in Chengdu will feature a series of exhibitions, international forums, competitions and performances.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture, each province and autonomous region will have their own activities to promote intangible cultural heritage protection, including a carnival in Shanghai and an intangible cultural heritage exhibition held by Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

The ministry will cooperate with China Central Television and China National Radio to create a series of special programs for Cultural and Natural Heritage Day.

Compared to events in previous years, this year's event will focus on the inheritance and promotion of traditional Chinese culture according to President Xi Jinping's speeches. And it will focus on many creative transformations and innovative developments of traditional culture, with more attractive and accessible activities. This event will also engage with more social participants, especially major media outlets that will contribute to the promotion of intangible cultural heritage safeguarding.

In 2006, the second Saturday of every June was marked as Cultural Heritage Day by the State Council. And the name of the festival was officially changed to Cultural and Natural Heritage Day in 2016. The Ministry of Culture has held a series of activities that center on intangible cultural heritage protection on that day in previous years.