Authorities yesterday pledged action, and legislators sought earlier legislation, for better protection of intangible cultural heritage, especially by stopping treasures being spirited away from the country.

"Some foreigners have been collecting traditional costumes and ornaments, rare utensils and other articles in China's ethnic minority regions; they have procured so much that some even say that we have to go to their countries to study Chinese folk culture," said Vice-Minister of Culture Zhou Heping.

The ingenious craftsmanship, especially the skills passed on from generation to generation, inherent in these cultural symbols have made apparel and utensils an integral part of China's intangible cultural heritage, the official told China Daily.

Intangible cultural heritage is defined by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization) as "the practices, representations, expressions, as well as the knowledge and skills, that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage."

For example, Zhou said, the unique attire and adornments of the Miao ethnic minority in Southwest China's Guizhou Province have been taken away by foreign visitors "in large numbers" in recent years.

Since the 1980s, some foreign scholars have been fascinated by the traditional Miao costumes with rich designs and silver adornments in the remote southeastern part of Guizhou. They took home some pieces, generating great interest overseas in the clothing.

A "procurement corps" has gradually formed, with middlemen purchasing the apparel in the province paying a nominal price which is a fortune for the poor folk according to Ministry of Culture sources.

A private museum in France boasts a collection of at least 180 pieces of rare traditional Miao apparel, 108 of them from southeast Guizhou, Chongqing-based Times & Truth News reported.

"The loss of such treasures constitutes a threat to preserving our minority and folk culture," Zhou said. "It must be checked."

To preserve intangible cultural heritage, experts have chosen 501 examples from more than 1,300 contenders throughout the country, including craftsmanship and festive rituals, to be put on a State-level protection list to be announced soon, the vice-minister said.

Regulations are needed to ensure that stipulated items on the list are forbidden from being taken out of the country, he said.

"It needs the joint efforts of the ministry, the customs and public security, as well as increased awareness of society to help stem the losses," Zhou added.

Li Kuinan, a national lawmaker, said yesterday that a provisional rule must be put into place as soon as possible to curb further outflows of the "treasures."

Ultimately, the country has to make a law on safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage at the earliest possible time, said Li, a deputy to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, which ends its session tomorrow.

Li told China Daily that she and 30 other deputies had submitted a legislation proposal in which they called for special departments at State and local levels to be created, and funds earmarked, to prevent increasing globalization and modernization from eroding such legacies.

Individuals who contribute to collecting, maintaining and popularizing intangible cultural heritage should be rewarded, the lawmakers said in their proposed bill.

Both Zhou and Li said special attention must be paid to rural areas, which is the natural habitat of most of the country's intangible heritage, when China implements a massive revival strategy for the countryside.

"By no means should the rural regions commit the same error as the cities where development was achieved mostly at the cost of many traditions fading away and legacies eroded," Zhou said.

(China Daily March 13, 2006)