What is the most endangered species in our socio-ecosystem?

For anyone familiar with the situation on the ground, the answer is clear: folk artists, traditional opera singers and anyone else who still practices an "intangible cultural heritage".

The issue has attracted high-level attention. Wang Wenzhang, a CPPCC member and the director of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Centre, has called for legal protection for artists and the fast-disappearing arts they have mastered.

He floated the idea of enacting a new law for artists at a group discussion on Wednesday. Acknowledging that progress had been made, Wang urged his fellow CPPCC members to pay close attention to the threats facing China's intangible heritage - a category that covers all expressions of the country's traditional culture.

"A much-valued part of our cultural heritage is disappearing at an alarming speed," he said. "Nearly 360 different genres of traditional Chinese opera existed in the 1960s. Now only 260 of them can still be performed."

Wang cited the Spring Festival, the largest of all traditional Chinese festivals, as an example of how traditional culture is being threatened.

"Fireworks and family gatherings have been replaced by shopping and traveling," he said.

He acknowledged that change was unavoidable and said the arts needed legal protection.

"A lot has been done to research the existing forms of intangible cultural heritage and to raise public awareness of them. But at the end of the day, we need a law to enforce protective measures and stop traffickers smuggling antiques out of the country," he said.

However, he said drafting such a law would be complicated.

"A great deal of consideration has been given to categories, for example, minority languages and folk religions that we believe belong to intangible heritage," he said.

The United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has addressed this issue by protecting not only ancient epic poems, but also the language in which they were narrated.

China has invested 236 million yuan ($32 million) over the last five years to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Ministry of Culture allocated a special fund of 6 million yuan for intangible cultural heritage protection in 2003. That rose to 20 million yuan in 2004, and then 90 million yuan last year.

Kunqu Opera, a 500-year-old example of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity listed by UNESCO in 2001 for its graceful movements and poetic lyrics, has received 50 million yuan in subsidies.

In recent years, local governments have been highlighting local traditions in their areas, mainly to attract tourists. This has led to the establishment of cultural heritage theme parks, where ethnic song and dance performances are staged and folk artifacts sold to tourists.

"These could not possibly be authentic because the performers don't feel the way they must have felt dancing on their own farmland," Wang said. "That is why we need a law."

(China Daily March 7, 2008)