Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 16.COM 7.a.14

The Committee,

  1. Having examined document LHE/21/16.COM/7.a,
  2. Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decisions COM 8.6 and 12.COM 8.c.8,
  3. Expresses its appreciation to China for submitting its second report on the status of the element ‘Hezhen Yimakan storytelling’, inscribed in 2011 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, which was initially due for submission by 15 December 2019;
  4. Takes note of the efforts described in the report submitted by China to safeguard the element, in particular through financially supporting its practitioners and reaching a significant increase in their number, integrating the element together with the Hezhen language in formal and non-formal education, and enhancing research and transmission, including through the practice and transmission centres;
  5. Invites the State Party to pursue its safeguarding efforts by providing continuous support to the practitioners of the element, improving the transmission facilities, enriching the archives on the element, integrating it and the Hezhen language in formal and non-formal education, and promoting it, including through online modalities;
  6. Further invites the State Party to raise awareness about the element to the general public through contemporary artistic works, and encourages the State Party to seek a balance between promoting artistic creativity based on the element and sustaining its practice and transmission;
  7. Further takes note of the proposed integration of the element in cultural tourism activities, recalls the importance of addressing the risk of potential decontextualization of the element and respecting customary practices related to its performance, and further encourages the State Party to regularly consult with the Hezhen people on the functioning of the planned Cultural Ecology Reserve of the Hezhen;
  8. Requests that the Secretariat inform the State Party at least nine months prior to the deadline of 15 December 2023 about the required submission of its next report on the status of this element.

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