The Committee,
- Having examined document ITH/17/12.COM/8.c,
- Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decision 4.COM 14.02,
- Expresses its thanks to China for submitting its report on the status of the element ‘Qiang New Year festival’, inscribed in 2009 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding;
- Takes note of the continued efforts undertaken by China to safeguard the element and, in particular, to support representative bearers of the festival in all areas, to encourage local inhabitants to revitalize the traditional festival activities, to clarify the viability of resuming the festival activities after the earthquake, to rebuild the training centre for the element and generally improve the mechanism for its transmission;
- Invites the State Party to continue providing financial support for representative bearers, restoring the damaged or destroyed cultural spaces where the festival was enacted, introducing teaching of the festival components into schools and textbooks, financing and publishing research works on the festival, and fostering the safeguarding network that has been built among multiple participants;
- Encourages the State Party to continue to address the ongoing challenges, and in particular to strengthen intergenerational transmission, which is affected by the advanced age of most of the bearers;
- Further encourages the State Party to meet the deadline of 15 December 2017 about the required submission of its next report on the status of this element.