Hunan's 9 Intangible Cultural Heritage Items Join UNESCO List

China's traditional tea-making was added on November 29 to the intangible cultural heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Hunan's Qianliang tea, Fuzhuan brick tea, and Junshan Silver Needle tea making skills were included as three items of national intangible cultural heritage.

Chinese tea producers have developed six categories of tea: green, yellow, dark, white, oolong and black teas. Junshan Silver Needle tea-making in Hunan's Yueyang was the only yellow tea-making skill joining the list this time.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Zhejiang Provincial Government will jointly host a ceremony and also the first Tea Culture Conference on December 11. Hunan will set up sub-sessions in Yiyang's Anhua County and Yueyang's Junshan Island on that day, and organize related activities.

China now has 43 items on the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO, continuing to be the most enlisted country in the world.

With the three newly-added tea-making items, Hunan has 9 items joining the UNESCO list, in the front rank nationwide. The other items on the list include: the Kunqu Opera of the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe; shadow puppet play of the Hunan Puppetry and Shadow Puppet Art Protection and Inheritance Center and the Hengshan County Cultural Center; Dragon Boat Festival folk customs along the Miluo River; and, 24 Solar Terms celebrations ("Ganfenshe" spring ploughing ceremony in Anren and "Ganqiu" autumn greeting ceremony of Miao people).

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn