The Committee,
- Having examined document LHE/24/19.COM/6.a,
- Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decisions 6.COM 8.6, 12.COM 8.c.8 and 16.COM 7.a.14,
- Expresses its appreciation to China for submitting, on time, its third 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;
- Takes note of the efforts undertaken by the State Party to safeguard the element, in particular by providing support to the bearers and learners of the element to sustain its practice and transmission, developing educational programmes and digital tools to engage youth in learning the element and the Hezhen language, advancing research, documentation and archiving on the element, and strengthening its visibility and viability;
- Encourages the State Party to pursue its aforementioned efforts to support the practice and transmission of the element, and to ensure community engagement in implementing, assessing and planning safeguarding measures;
- Further takes note of the integration of the element in local economic development and the planned elaboration of ethical guidelines for tourism and other commercial activities associated with the element, and invites the State Party to address through this initiative the risk of decontextualization of the element and the respect of customary practices governing its performance and access to it;
- Notes also the development of the provincial-level cultural ecological reserve of the Hezhen ethnic group, to safeguard the environment for the element, and further invites the State Party to continue reporting on this safeguarding measure;
- Also takes note of the improved viability of the element and the desire expressed by communities concerned for a transfer of the element from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.