Nomination file No.

Decision

Periodic reporting

Submitting State has to report every 4 years after the inscription of an element on the Urgent Safeguarding List. Read more on periodic reports.

Concepts

Threatening factors

Periodic reporting

2022
2018
2014

Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding

A. Cover sheet

A.1.

State Party

Name of State Party

China

A.2.

Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

This information is available online.

Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

2004-12-02

A.3.

Element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List that is the subject of this report

Name of element

Qiang New Year festival

Inscribed in

2009

Submitting State(s)

China

A.4.

Reporting period covered by this report

Please indicate the period covered by this report.

Reporting period covered by this report

01-01-2017 - 30-06-2021

A.5.

Other elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, if any

Please list all other elements from your country inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, together with the year of inscription; for multinational elements, please indicate the other States concerned.

Other elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, if any

Hezhen Yimakan storytelling (2011)

Meshrep (2010)

Watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks (2010)

Wooden movable-type printing of China (2010)

A.6.

Executive summary of the report

Please provide an executive summary of the report that will allow general readers to understand the current status of the element, any positive or negative impacts of inscription, the implementation of safeguarding measures during the reporting period and their possible update for the following years.

Executive summary of the report

Qiang New Year festival is a traditional annual event of the Qiang ethnic group in China. It is called “rrmea jea” in the Qiang language, meaning an auspicious and joyous festival. It is mainly transmitted and practiced by the Qiang people in Wenchuan, Li, Mao, Songpan and Heishui counties of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County and Pingwu County of Mianyang City, and Nanbaoshan Town of Qionglai District of Chengdu City in Sichuan Province. It takes place on the first day of the tenth lunar month and usually lasts three to five days, during which the Qiang people reunite with families, hold sacrificial rituals to worship ancestors and gods of heaven, pray for happiness and drive away the evil and dirty, and celebrate harvest. Passed down from generation to generation, the element has fully demonstrated the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, man and environment, and man and society. It not only embodies the Qiang people’s notions of time, world view and development concept transmitted from generation to generation, but also witnesses cultural diversity and human creativity.
Since the inscription of the element, the Chinese governments and cultural authorities at all levels have supported the communities and other actors to respond actively to the challenges arising from reconstruction after 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, globalization and modernization, and take localized actions to ensure the viability of the element. During the current reporting cycle, the following objectives proposed for the previous reporting cycle have been achieved:
Firstly, inter-generational transmission capacity has been enhanced. The traditional mode of transmission, particularly represented by “Shbi” taking apprentices, has been consolidated and contributed to enhancing the overall foundation of inter-generational transmission. Through the educational courses of Qiang culture offered at primary and secondary schools in relevant communities, more teenagers of the Qiang group have engaged more actively in the transmission and practice activities of the element.
Secondly, the cultural space and social environment necessary for the practice of the element has been maintained in a sustainable approach. The construction of the experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology has been further advanced and the cultural ecology of the festival has been brought under holistic safeguarding, which has promoted the inclusive social and economic development and strengthened the young generation’s awareness of the safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and its significance, as well as their sense of responsibility.
Thirdly, a community-centered cooperative network of diverse actors, including governments at all levels, academic institutions, media and NGOs, has been consolidated. In general, the element has gradually restored its vitality through sustained and effective implementation of the safeguarding measures.
The expected goals of the safeguarding plan for the next four years are as follows:
—to consolidate the traditional mode of transmission and successive talents for bearers, and improve the sustainability of the inter-generational transmission of the element;
—to proceed with the establishment of national Qiang cultural and ecological reserves to incorporate the festival and related ICH elements, as well as their surrounding natural, cultural and ecological environment and traditional villages into overall safeguarding, with a view to improving resilience of the element and its cultural space, and enhancing the visibility; and
—to strengthen the community-centered cooperative network of multiple actors and promote synergy among them.

A.7.

Contact person for correspondence

Provide the name, address and other contact information of the person responsible for correspondence concerning the report.

Title (Ms/Mr, etc.)

Family name

Xiang

Given name

Kui

Institution/position

Sichuan Academy of Arts, China / Research Fellow

Address

No. 11, Ximianqiao St., Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China, 610041

Telephone number

0086-13628005298??

E-mail address

xkyws@126.com

Other relevant information

https://www.ichsichuan.cn/

B

B. Status of element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List

Refer to the nomination file or to previous reports, if any, as the basis for reporting on the current status of the element, and report only on relevant changes since the date of inscription on the List or since the previous report. Nomination files, specific timetables and earlier reports, if any, are available at https://ich.unesco.org or from the Secretariat, upon request.

The State Party shall pay special attention to the role of gender and shall endeavour to ensure the widest possible participation of the communities, groups and, where applicable, individuals concerned as well as relevant non-governmental organizations during the process of preparing this report, and is asked to describe how it has done so in point D below.

B.1.

Social and cultural functions

Please explain the social and cultural functions and meanings of the element today, within and for its community, the characteristics of the bearers and practitioners, and any specific roles or categories of persons with special responsibilities towards the element, among others. Attention should be given to any relevant changes related to inscription criterion U.1 (‘the element constitutes intangible cultural heritage as defined in Article 2 of the Convention’).

Social and cultural functions

Qiang New Year festival is not only comprehensive cultural practice for demonstrating folk beliefs, oral traditions, performing arts and traditional handicrafts, but also a cultural space bearing with social practices, life experience, traditional knowledge and ethical norms of the Qiang people. Through festive activities, the Qiang people express their respect and worship towards nature and all creatures, maintain the historical memories and emotional belonging of themselves with their ancestors and the motherland, embody their aspiration for harmony between man and nature, regulate community actions and personal behavior, and promote inter-generational communication and family and social harmony. The traditional consultation mechanism for community management is well preserved in A’er Village, Bazhou Township of Wenchuan County. In the intervals of rituals, feastings and performances, Shbi and the elderly gather for discussion and consultation on village business, underscore village rules and declare the enrollment of male newborns on the clan’s pedigree that year. Qiang New Year festival is a legal holiday in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, with all counties there having seven days off for the festival. The element has become an open holiday for multi-ethnic groups such as Qiang, Han, Tibetan and Hui peoples, and thus has greatly promoted social inclusion.
The festival consists of three parts: the sacrifice to the holy mountain, the communal rejoicing and the sacrifices held in the families. The transmission and practice of the element feature wide participation of the communities, involvement of diverse actors and widespreadness. All the community members are the practitioners of the festival. Shbi, the priest, directs the sacrifice to the holy mountain. He is proficient in scripture chanting and sacrificial rituals. He’s not only an ordinary laborer, but also the creator, bearer and teacher of Qiang traditional culture and folk arts, who therefore shoulders a special responsibility for the festival and plays a key role in coordinating social relations and promoting community harmony. The elders of each clan in the village take turns to organize the festivities by drawing lots. The heads of families preside over family worship during which sacrifices are made to the family gods, offerings in sign of gratitude are presented to the god of fire and a feast is held for family reunion. All villagers, men or women, young or old, dance Salang dance and sing songs collectively and entertain a dinner party to express happiness over an abundant harvest and their sincere piety towards the gods. In addition, as the festival is featured with diversified expressions of the Qiang people’s folk culture, folk dancers, singers, musicians, craftsmen, traditional sports lovers and others all take their own responsibilities for the transmission of the element. Women are responsible for making traditional Qiang costumes that are worn for the celebrations and for brewing the “sipped” wine (zajiu) used for the festivities.

B.2.

Assessment of its viability and current risks

Please describe the current level of viability of the element, particularly the frequency and extent of its practice, the strength of traditional modes of transmission, the demographics of practitioners and audiences and its sustainability. Please also identify and describe the threats, if any, to the element's continued transmission and enactment and describe the severity and immediacy of such threats, giving particular attention to any strengthening or weakening of the element’s viability subsequent to inscription.

Assessment of its viability and current risks

During this reporting period, the scope of the practice has been expanded to two more Qiang villages relocated to Nanbaoshan Township in Qionglai City, Chengdu due to changes in their living environment after the earthquake. Every year on the first day of the tenth lunar month, the festival is held as scheduled voluntarily by the Qiang people in their villages, and 19 villages hold the complete activities in the traditional way. The number of the Qiang people voluntarily participating in the festival remains at around 200,000, and the number of the Han, Tibetan, Hui and other local ethnic groups involved in the festival has grew by about 20% compared with the previous reporting period. More teenagers and children, as well as those who have returned to their hometown for employment have engaged in the transmission and practice of the festival. At the same time, the element has attracted the attention of outsiders whose participation in the festival celebrations has boosted the community members’ awareness of the element and their sense of identity. As an important occasion of interaction and exchange for the communities, the annual festival has drawn wide attention from the community members, forming a social basis for extensive participation and resulting in the sustained viability of the element.
However, subject to the process of globalization and modernization, especially the lifestyle changes and migration due to urbanization, the viability of the element is still confronted with multiple challenges:
Firstly, the sustainability of inter-generational transmission has not been fundamentally addressed. Take Shibi for example. During this reporting period, 2 Shbi has passed away; 19 were 71 years old on average and 9 of them were already 67 years old on average who are proficient in epic chanting and capable of presiding over the sacrificial rituals. Besides, it is hard to learn the classical epics and the sacrificial rituals. The epics are always lengthy and mostly in ancient Qiang language. It usually takes an apprentice at least three years or as long as ten years to complete the apprenticeship with pitiable pay. Therefore, The sustainability of inter-generational transmission remains a challenge. Secondly, it the young generation’s awareness of the importance of Qiang culture and its transmission needs to be further enhanced, and the holistic safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology be further consolidated.

B.3.

Implementation of safeguarding measures

Please report on the safeguarding measures described in the nomination file, and previous report, if any. Describe how they have been implemented and how they have substantially contributed to the safeguarding of the element during the reporting period, taking note of external or internal constraints such as limited resources. Include, in particular, information on the measures taken to ensure the viability of the element by enabling the community to continue to practise and transmit it. Include the following detailed information concerning the implementation of the set of safeguarding measures or safeguarding plan:

B.3.a.

Objectives and results

Indicate what primary objective(s) were addressed and what concrete results were attained during the reporting period.

Objectives and results

During this reporting period, the following objectives have been achieved:
The inter-generational transmission capacity has been boosted. In this reporting period, representative bearers have taken 70 apprentices, 20 of which have finished their apprenticeship, representing an increase compared with the previous reporting period. In Wenchuan and Mao counties where the customary rule that Shbis are restricted to internal transmission has been broken. 40 apprentices have been taken from outside the clan. More Qiang teenagers were actively involved in the transmission and practice of the element through education programs offered at primary and secondary schools in relevant communities.
The sustainability of the transmission and practice of the element has been maintained. The comprehensive construction of the experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang culture ecology has been continuously advanced. Both intangible and tangible cultural heritage, and their cultural space and ecological environment in the zones have been brought under safeguarding in a holistic approach. The improved local settlements and perfected infrastructure have sustained the cultural space and natural environment necessary for the practice of the element. The overall safeguarding of the festival and other relevant ICH elements of the Qiang people, such as sheepskin-drum dance, Salang dance and Qiang embroidery, has boosted local employment and generated income for the local communities, promoted the inclusive social and economic development, and enhanced the awareness of safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and its significance, and sense of responsibility among the younger generation.
A community-centered cooperative network of diverse actors, including governments at all levels, academic institutions, media and NGOs, has been strengthened. A rotation mechanism has been set up among relevant communities in Wenchuan, Mao, Li counties and Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County (hereinafter referred to as the four counties of Qiang-inhabited area). The four counties have taken turns to host the festival and invite people from other Qiang communities to celebrate the Qiang New Year together. Digital documentation has been fostered by research institutes and governments at all levels. Interdisciplinary research, methodology study in particular, has been steadily advanced and publication of monographic research findings published successively.

B.3.b.

Safeguarding activities

List the key activities that were carried out during this reporting period in order to achieve these expected results. Please describe the activities in detail and note their effectiveness or any problems encountered in implementing them.

Safeguarding activities

During this reporting cycle, communities, groups and individuals concerned collaborated with diverse actors such as NGOs and governments at all levels to carry out the following safeguarding activities:
1. The traditional mode of transmission and succession mechanism of bearers were further consolidated. Based on the previous reporting period, four new representative bearers were recognized, bringing the total number of the representative bearers at all levels to 48. They were continuously assisted to take apprentices and impart skills, and the supportive funds for transmission, training, promotion and dissemination were increased. Three Shbi training workshops and 14 Qiang language transmission workshops were held in the four counties, benefiting a total of 1,200 participants. In this reporting period, representative bearers took 70 apprentices, 20 of whom had finished their apprenticeship, representing an increase compared with the previous reporting period.
2. Practices and related educational programs were further promoted through formal education. More than 10 primary and secondary schools in the four counties, including July 1 Middle School, Longxi Primary School, Taoping Central Primary School and July 1 Vocational Middle School, incorporated the practice of the element, traditional singing and dancing, and embroidery into their school curriculum. About 3,270 teenagers were involved in the various forms of transmission and practice on campus. Mao County produced anime tutorials based on Qiang folktales. Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County incorporated Qiang embroidery into school textbooks. The Second Primary School in Wenchuan County complied teaching materials about Qiang paper-cutting art.
3.Overall construction of the experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology was further advanced. Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture & Tourism took the initiative to set up a joint meeting mechanism involving related communities, experts and governments. According to the Overall Plan for Establishing Experimental Zones for the Safeguarding of Qiang Cultural Ecology (Sichuan), the festival, other relevant ICH elements, and the surrounding natural and cultural ecology and traditional villages were brought under safeguarding in a holistic approach. First, a number of traditional villages such as Taoping Qiang Village in Li County, Heihu Qiang Village in Mao County, Jina Qiang Village in Beichuan County and Ancient Qiang City in Mao County were restored. Zhitai Village and Muti Village in Nanbaoshan Township of Qionglai City were established, and residential settlements and folk customs were under systematic protection. Second, the infrastructure was repaired, renovated and upgraded for Shibi cultural training centers, Wenchuan County A’er Qiang New Year Festival Transmission and Practice Center, Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County Wetland Park ICH Transmission and Practice Center and Yongchang Kindergarten ICH Learning Base in Sanlong, Qugu, Baixi, Yadu, Yonghe, Taiping and Heihu towns of Mao County. More than 30 relevant ICH elements, such as sheepskin-drum dance, Salang dance, Qiang embroidery and Qiang flute, were incorporated into the training of Taoping Transmission and Practice Center in Li County. Activities and training programs on the Qiang New Year festival and its related ICH elements including sheep-skin dance, Salang dance, Qiang embroidery were carried out all year around in the transmission and training centers. Third, a variety of measures were taken to promote inclusive social and economic development with full respect for the rights of communities, groups and individuals concerned and with their prior and informed consent. For example, people returning to their hometown for the transmission and practice of traditional skills related to the element were assisted to channel entrepreneurship guarantee loans, got vocational training and had their products promoted. Cooperatives and enterprises were encouraged to offer traditional skills training in order to boost local employment and generate income for the local Qiang people. The festival and other Qiang cultural elements were integrated into cultural and ecological tourism and featured rural tours, and bearers of Qiang singing and dancing and handicrafts were encouraged to demonstrate their performance and sell handicrafts to generate income during the Mountain Festival and the Qiang Women’s Festival.
4.Digital documentation and interdisciplinary research activities were strengthened. The working experience, transmission and practice and skills training of 7 Shbis such as Wang Zhisheng and Xiao Yongqing were recorded in audio-visual format or in photography and text forms. The public cultural service platform of “Travel in Sichuan” (http://www.tsichuan.com/) was set up to provide cultural resources services and information of the festival and related activities in Sichuan Province. Sichuan Academy of Arts, together with Sichuan University, Southwest Minzu University, Sichuan Institute of Ethnic Studies and Sichuan Association for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, carried out the Study on the Overall Layout and Development Strategy of Featured Cultures in Various Regions of Sichuan along the Tibetan, Qiang and Yi Cultural Corridor. The 13-volume collection of Qiang History and Culture was edited and published. Qiang New Year festival was included into the ICH volume and Folk Customs volume. In addition, a number of monographic research findings were published, such as Qiang New Year Festival Customs, Qiang New Year Festival Survey, Cultural Changes & Psychological Adjustment of Qiang Immigrants after 5.12 Earthquake and Research on the Protection and Development of Qiang Featured Villages Culture in the Process of Rural Revitalization.
5.The viability status of the element was constantly monitored and evaluated. Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Wenchuan County and Li County took turns to hold exhibitions during the festival to showcase the achievements made in developing experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology. Stakeholders ranging from community representatives, cultural departments at all levels in Sichuan Province, institutions for the safeguarding of ICH, to experts and scholars, gathered to carry out dialogues and discussions around the viability of the festival, threats and risks faced, and the effectiveness of the safeguarding activities. An observatory point was set up in Wenchuan County to track the viability status and changes of ICH elements including the festival and provide a reference for drafting safeguarding measures.

B.3.c.

Participation of communities, groups or individuals in the safeguarding activities

Describe how communities, groups or, if appropriate, individuals as well as relevant non-governmental organizations have effectively participated, including in terms of gender roles, in the safeguarding measures. Describe the role of the implementing organization or body (name, background, etc.) and the human resources that were available for implementing safeguarding activities.

Participation of communities, groups or individuals in the safeguarding activities

Communities, groups and individuals and NGOs concerned played a key role in the implementation of the safeguarding measures.
Bearers played crucial roles in the transmission, practice and safeguarding of the element. Shbis presided over the sacrificial rituals on the first day of the tenth lunar month, took apprentices, imparted skills, provided training, and cooperated on the recording and translation of Shibi classics. The bearers of Qiang singing and dancing presented performances during the festival, transmitted their skills to their disciples and got involved in skills training and promotional activities as well. The bearers of Qiang handicrafts, mostly women, practiced and transmitted related skills in their daily lives. They made festival costumes and sacrificial objects and promoted articles of daily use with Qiang characteristics through various channels. Under their guidance, the Qiang people have become more conscious and active to participate in the practice of the element.
Related associations, community organizations and cooperatives constitute major force for the safeguarding and transmission of the festival. For example, Wenchuan County set up an association for ICH safeguarding focusing on collecting Qiang oral folk literature. Beichuan County set up community-based organizations such as the Salang Team of Yongchang Primary School, the Sheepskin-drum Dance Team of Yuli Primary School, and the Qiang Embroidery Club of Leigu Primary School for the purpose of transmission, promotion and demonstration of Qiang culture among the young generation. These associations and civil organizations involved 3,886 people, including 1,938 women or nearly 50% of the total and 628 teenagers or 16% of the total. In Li County, cooperatives such as Hua’er Naji Qiang Embroidery Professional Cooperative and Yuanmeng Qiang Embroidery Cooperative were set up by bearers to provide skills training, create jobs and generate income for local women and people with disabilities.
The Expert Committee of Sichuan Association for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Sichuan Society of Ethnic Studies, Sichuan Society of Qiang Studies, Institute of Minority Culture and Art of Aba Normal University and Beichuan Research Center of Qiang Culture continued studies and surveys of the element in local communities to get deeper insight into the status quo of the safeguarding and transmission of Qiang culture, and worked out a number of monographic, comprehensive and interdisciplinary research findings to provide intellectual support for updating the safeguarding measures.

B.3.d.

Timetable

Indicate in a timetable when each activity was implemented.

Timetable

During this reporting period, regular safeguarding activities were carried out including recognizing and assisting representative bearers at different levels, incorporating practice programs related to the festival into formal education, and safeguarding Qiang cultural ecology in experimental zones. In terms of transmission and practice, over the past four years, the four counties of Qiang-inhabited area held three Shbi training workshops and 14 Qiang language transmission workshops with the audience of 1,200 participants, and 45 skills training workshops with an audience of 9,900. Regarding the folk customs, the Qiang communities carried out various festival activities in the traditional way in their villages. In addition, the four counties took turns to host the festival and invited people from other communities to celebrate the Qiang New Year together. Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County hosted the event in 2018, Wenchuan County in 2019, and Li County in 2020. They held the annual exhibition during the festival to showcase the achievements made in building experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology. The four counties also organized 98 folk events on the occasions such as the Mountain Festival, Budha’s Birthday Festival and Qiang Women’s Festival with 96,000 participants, 46 Qiang ICH exhibitions with 130,000 visitors, as well as 328 ICH performances with 240,000 viewers.
Other safeguarding activities:
The records of the national level representative bearer Wang Zhisheng was validated and included into the database in June 2018. National representative bearer Xiao Yongqing and provincial representative bearers Zhu Guangliang, Zhao Banglan and Mu Guangyuan were recorded in the same year. Provincial representative bearers Wang Wanlun and Yu Youcheng were recorded in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The public cultural service platform of “Travel in Sichuan” was launched in September 2020.
The Collection of Qiang History and Culture was published in June 2021. Research on the Overall Layout and Development Strategy of Featured Cultures in Various Regions of Sichuan along the Tibetan, Qiang and Yi Cultural Corridor was initiated in 2017 and was expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
Mao County produced the anime tutorials based on Qiang folktales and conducted promotional activities for the use of the tutorials in 2019.
Beichuan County held training workshops on the oral epics of the Qiang people, sheep-skin dance, Salang dance, and Qiang embroidery for the four counties in November 2018, and held a seminar on the safeguarding of Qiang culture at the same time. In July 2019, Biman Folk Song Festival was held in Pingwu County along with a seminar on Qiang Culture. In November 2019 and November 2020, Wenchuan County held the Shbi apprenticeship graduation ceremony in Yueli Village, Weizhou Town twice with an audience of 200 participants in total. In April 2021, Li County organized an ICH lecture with the theme of “Transmitting National Culture for Rural Revitalization”.

B.3.e.

Budget expenditures

Provide the detailed amounts of the funds used for the implementation of each activity (if possible, in US dollars), identifying the funding source for each (governmental sources, in-kind community inputs, etc.).

Budget

According to incomplete statistics, the amounts of the funds used for the implementation of the safeguarding measures during this reporting period are indicated as follows:
Government resources: a total of 553,000 RMB of subsidies from both central & local governments for representative bearers at all levels in conducting the transmission and practice activities; 960,000 RMB from the central finance for the safeguarding of the festival as a representative ICH element in the national inventory; 8.5 million RMB in 2018, 9.1 million RMB in 2019, 7.3 million RMB in 2010 and 8.9 million RMB in 2021 from the central finance for the construction of the experimental zones for the safeguarding of the Qiang cultural ecology, with complementary 7.8 million RMB from the local finance; 400,000 RMB from the central finance for the recording of the bearer Xiao Yongqing; one million RMB for the recording of five representative bearers including Zhu Guangliang, and 10 million RMB for the construction and operation of “Travel in Sichuan” -- the public cultural service platform; 2.324 million RMB for introducing the festival to the formal education courses financed by the local governments; 4.3 million RMB from the local finance for the compilation and publication of the Collection of Qiang History and Culture; local financial support for various training and demonstration activities as 6 million RMB in 2018, 7 million RMB in 2019, 4.5 million RMB in 2020 and 8 million RMB in 2021; 300,000 RMB from the central finance for the Research on the Overall Layout and Development Strategy of Featured Cultures in Various Regions of Sichuan along the Tibetan, Qiang and Yi Cultural Corridor; 500,000 RMB for the Forum on the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture, and 240,000 RMB for field visits, research and analysis on the Report of Qiang New Year Festival Survey.
Inputs from communities, groups and individuals concerned: festive activities voluntarily organized in villages were mainly funded by villagers themselves. Associations, societies and civil organizations made in-kind or capital contribution to the transmission and practice of the element, as well as seminars and academic research.
Other inputs: Mao County Association for the Transmission & Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage and Qiang Culture, Wenchuan County Association for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Qiang Culture associations of Taoping and Puxi towns of Li County and Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County contributed 130,000 RMB, 45,000 RMB, 420,000 RMB and 98,000 RMB respectively to the festive activities organized by the Qiang people in the villages.

B.3.f.

Overall effectiveness of the safeguarding activities

Provide an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the activities undertaken to achieve the expected results and of the efficiency of the use of funds for implementing the activities. Please indicate how the activities contributed to achieving the results and whether other activities could have contributed better to achieving the same results. Also indicate whether the same results could have been achieved with less funding, whether the human resources available were appropriate and whether communities, groups and individuals could have been better involved.

Overall effectiveness of the safeguarding activities

During this report period, all the safeguarding activities were carried out in an orderly manner. They were reasonably funded and well managed with high efficiency. The main results were achieved as follows:
Efforts were made to strengthen the support for bearers and encourage various forms of transmission and practice, especially transmission through Shibi apprenticeship, so as to create more favorable conditions and atmosphere to consolidate inter-generational transmission, ensure full respect for the bearers and enhance their sense of responsibility for the transmission and promotion of Qiang culture. Regular ICH-related activities on campus enabled Qiang teenagers to participate more actively in the festival and other folk practices, and raised their awareness of ICH safeguarding as well.
The construction of the experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology was constantly advanced and the viability of the element was further enhanced through overall restoration and safeguarding of the cultural and ecological environment of the festival. The renovation of traditional villages, the construction and upgrading of sacrificial sites, folk museums, and transmission and practice centers sustained the necessary spaces of the festival and other Qiang ICH elements, as well as their cultural ecological context. Festival practices were fully integrated into the overall ICH safeguarding of the Qiang people, and the oral traditions, performing arts, traditional handicrafts, and other folk activities related to the element were constantly enhanced. This not only strengthened the festival as an important occasion for showcasing Qiang culture, but also brought the public attention to other ICH elements, thus enhancing the awareness of and sense of responsibility for ICH safeguarding among the local people, especially the younger generation. While ensuring relevant communities and groups as the main beneficiaries, the creative potential of festival practices made active contributions to the development of sustainable tourism and festival economy, poverty alleviation and income increase for the local people. In December 2020, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism officially announced the experimental zones for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology as national cultural ecological reserves.
In terms of the efficiency of use of funds, the budget was prepared in advance for each safeguarding activity, and the management and use of funds were strictly implemented in accordance with relevant national laws, regulations and financial rules. The principles of unified management, hierarchical responsibility, reasonable arrangement and use of funds as earmarked were respected and the whole process for fund use was supervised. The competent cultural departments and ICH safeguarding agencies of each county collaborated with the local transmission and practice centers, villagers’ committees and community-based associations in implementing the safeguarding measures. This not only ensured the expected safeguarding results, but also saved money and enhanced communities’ sense of responsibility for and awareness of ICH safeguarding.

C

Zhu

C. Update of the safeguarding measures

C.1.

Updated safeguarding plan

Please provide an update of the safeguarding plan included in the nomination file or in the previous report. In particular provide detailed information as follows:

a. What primary objective(s) will be addressed and what concrete results will be expected?
b. What are the key activities to be carried out in order to achieve these expected results? Describe the activities in detail and in their best sequence, addressing their feasibility.
c. How will the State(s) Party(ies) concerned support the implementation of the updated safeguarding plan?

Updated safeguarding plan

In the upcoming four years, community-centered actors will continue their efforts in the transmission and development of the element with a view to achieving the following results:
The inter-generational transmission of the festival and the practice of rituals in particular will be consolidated. Efforts will be made to support the representative bearers in carrying out transmission and training activities, optimize the succession mechanism of Shibi apprenticeship, identify more young and middle-aged people with their informed consent proficient in sacrificial rituals as representative bearers, carry out regular transmission and training activities, and improve the curriculum design and textbook compilation of special courses about festival practices, oral epics, sheepskin-drum dance, Salang dance and Qiang embroidery at primary and secondary schools.
The construction of national reserves for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology will be further advanced. Efforts will be made to strengthen the overall safeguarding of the festival, related ICH elements and their natural and cultural ecology and relevant traditional villages, set up or upgrade a number of transmission and practice centers, ICH museums and exhibition halls, build experiential facilities such as ritual sites, transmission centers and educational bases within the reserves, consolidate and expand the transmission and practice of sheepskin-drum dance, Salang dance and Qiang embroidery, develop festival economy on the premise of fully respecting the rights of related communities, groups and individuals, and create conditions for the sustainable livelihood of local communities.
The community-centered cooperative network of multiple actors will be strengthened. The four counties will continue the rotation mechanism in hosting the festival event and inviting people from other counties to celebrate the New Year together. Digital documentation will be promoted and the rescuing recording efforts will be taken for more representative bearers. The viability of the element and the threats and risks faced will be assessed on a regular basis and the joint research on safeguarding methods and countermeasures, and the transformation and utilization of research results will be facilitated.
The Chinese government will continuously support the overall implementation of the updated safeguarding measures while fully respecting the wishes of communities, groups and individuals concerned. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and relevant local governments will formulate supportive policies and provide financial and intelligent support to maximize the participation of relevant communities, groups and individuals in the whole safeguarding process so as to ensure the viability of the element through current practices by community members.

C.2.

Timetable for future actitivies

Provide a timetable for the updated safeguarding plan (within a time-frame of approximately four years).

00302,00303,00304,00321,00322,00530

Timetable

The four counties will incorporate the special fund for positive & reverse incentives for bearers into their fiscal plans in 2022; they will study and formulate detailed rules for the implementation of these incentives and launch them starting from 2023.
From 2022 to 2025:
To provide annual funds to the representative bearers for their transmission and training activities; identify a group of young and middle-aged people proficient in sacrificial rituals of the festival as representative bearers; carry out ritual transmission activities, Qiang language transmission workshops, oral epic training workshops and training of other related skills such as sheepskin-drum dance, Salang dance, Qiang embroidery on a regular basis, and encourage the bearers of the festival and related Qiang ICH elements to participate in local folk activities and external cultural exchanges.
To improve the curriculum development and textbook compilation of special courses about festival practices, oral epics, sheepskin-drum dance, Salang dance and Qiang embroidery at primary and secondary schools in the four counties and produce albums of traditional songs, folktale readers, films and TV programs about oral epics, Salang dance, sheepskin Drum dance and Qiang embroidery.
To proceed with the construction of national reserves for the safeguarding of Qiang cultural ecology and formulate and issue the Opinions on Strengthened Implementation of Building National Qiang Cultural Ecological Reserves in 2022.
To maintain the rotation mechanism for the four counties to host the annual festival and invite people from other counties to celebrate the New Year together. The annual exhibition of the achievements made in building Qiang cultural ecological reserves will be held at the same time to promote dialogues and discussions on the viability status, threats and risks of the element and the effectiveness of the safeguarding measures.
To advance systematic documentation and scientific research. To record four representative bearers of the festival; manage and update thematic database to improve the service for the public; conduct academic research on the safeguarding methods and ethical guidelines for developing sustainable tourism and festival economy through traditional practices.

C.3.

Budget for future activities

Provide the estimates of the funds required for implementing the updated safeguarding plan (if possible, in US dollars), identifying any available resources (governmental sources, in-kind community inputs, etc.).

Budget

The funds planned for the safeguarding activities for the period 2022-2025 are as follows:
Government resources: the central and local governments will continue to provide annual subsidies to the representative bearers at different levels for their transmission and practice activities, in particular 20,000 RMB for each national representative bearer, 5,000 RMB for each provincial representative bearer, 3,000 RMB (updated) for each municipal or prefecture-level representative bearer and 2,000 RMB (updated) for each bearer recognized at the county level. From 2022 to 2025, the central government will provide financial support of no less than 25 million RMB in total for the construction of national Qiang cultural ecological reserves, with complementary 10 million RMB from local finance. From 2023 to 2025, the four counties will invest 50,000 RMB each on a yearly bases for the positive & reverse incentives mechanism for bearers. Local governments will invest 800,000 RMB for the recording of four representative bearers and 2 million RMB for academic research on safeguarding methods and ethical guidelines for developing sustainable tourism and festival economy through traditional practices of the festival. 2 million RMB will be provided for incorporation of the element in formal education and 20 million RMB will be provided for local training and exhibitions by relevant local communities.
Inputs from relevant communities, groups and individuals: 500,000 RMB for the production publication of traditional Qiang songs, folktale readers, films and television programs by associations and civil organizations; voluntary contribution of human resource, material and financial resources to festival activities and safeguarding measures by the communities, groups and individuals concerned.

C.4.

Community participation

Please describe how communities, groups and individuals, as well as relevant non-governmental organizations have been involved, including in terms of gender roles, in updating the safeguarding plan, and how they will be involved in its implementation.

00045

Community participation

A working group was set up by Sichuan Academy of Arts under the coordination of Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism to update the safeguarding plan and write this report with participation of various actors.
In November 2020, representatives of related communities, associations and civil organizations and experts gathered in Li County for the annual exhibition showcasing the achievements made in building Qiang cultural ecological reserves. They analyzed the viability, risks and threats of the element and the effectiveness of the safeguarding measures over the previous three reporting cycles, discussed the updating of the safeguarding plan and drafted the plan for the next cycle. In 2021, the working group visited Qiangfeng Village of Mianfu Town, Baishui Village of Weizhou Town, and A’er Village of Bazhou Town to solicit villagers’ views on the updated safeguarding plan. Communities, groups and individuals concerned shared the information about their participation in the safeguarding activities with the working group and put forward specific recommendations on the updated plan. For example, representative bearers Wang Zhisheng and Xiao Yongqing proposed that more efforts should be taken to cultivate young bearers and optimize the succession mechanism as most of the Shbis were advanced in years and in poor health. Sichuan Society of Qiang Studies, Research Institute of Minority Culture & Arts of Aba Normal College and Beichuan Research Center of Qiang Culture suggested that more attention should be given to the transmission of sacrificial rituals and epic & scripture chanting. The working group revised the draft of the updated plan based on these comments and suggestions, and finalized the plan for the next cycle after several rounds of consultation with multiple actors.
To implement the updated plan, related communities, groups and individuals will work together under the coordination of Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism to take community-oriented actions, carry out safeguarding and transmission practices, and promote communication and dialogues. Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism will provide regular feedback on the monitoring and safeguarding results. The communities, groups and individuals concerned will participate in the discussions and jointly determine the annual implementation priorities.

C.5.

Institutional context

Please report on the institutional context for the local management and safeguarding of the element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, including:

a. the competent body(ies) involved in its management and/or safeguarding;
b. the organization(s) of the community or group concerned with the element and its safeguarding.

2004-12-02

Institutional context

a. the competent body involved in its management and safeguarding:
Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture & Tourism
b. the organizations of the community or group related to the element and its safeguarding
Related transmission and practice centers, cooperatives, associations, community organizations, research institutes, as well as institutions for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage

D

Yanhui

D. Participation of communities in preparing this report

Describe the measures taken to ensure the widest possible participation of the communities, groups and, where applicable, individuals concerned as well as relevant non-governmental organizations during the process of preparing this report.

Participation of communities in preparing this report

From June to November 2021, the working group conducted a questionnaire survey of the Qiang New Year festival through instant messenger (IM) WeChat and QQ, and field visits to collect information about the transmission and development of the element and solicit opinions and suggestions on the updating of the safeguarding measures from communities, groups and individuals concerned. The working group also got information from local volunteers about the safeguarding activities of the element carried out by relevant associations and civil organizations. Smooth communication was ensured through personal interviews, various forums and on-line exchanges. The working group drafted the report based on the analysis of the collected information, data and suggestions in cooperation with universities and research institutes actively involved in the safeguarding programs of the element, solicited opinions from the communities, groups and individuals concerned as well as other actors through rounds of consultation and adjustment of the draft report within the framework of the information sharing mechanism. The working group finalized the report in the end.

E

Deputy Director
Division of International Organizations
Bureau of International Exchanges and Cooperation
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China

E. Signature on behalf of the State Party

The report should be signed by an official empowered to do so on behalf of the State, and should include his or her name, title and the date of submission.

Name

Xie Jinying

Title

Director-General, Bureau of International Exchanges and Cooperation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China

Date

15-12-2021

Signature

Upload signed version in PDF

Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding

A. Cover sheet

A.1.

State Party

Name of State Party

China

A.2.

Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

This information is available online.

Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

2004-12-02

A.3.

Element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List that is the subject of this report

Name of element

Qiang New Year festival

Inscribed in

2009

A.4.

Reporting period covered by this report

Please indicate the period covered by this report.

Reporting period covered by this report

01-01-2016 - 31-12-2017

A.5.

Other elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, if any

Hezhen Yimakan storytelling (2011)

Meshrep (2010)

Watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks (2010)

Wooden movable-type printing of China (2010)

A.6.

Executive summary of the report

The Qiang ethnic group mainly lives in compact communities in Mao County, Wenchuan County, Li County, Songpan County and Heishui County of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, as well as Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County and Pingwu County of Mianyang City, Sichuan Province. Qiang New Year festival is a traditional annual event for Qiang people. It is called rrmea jea in the Qiang language, meaning an auspicious and joyous festival. It takes place on the first day of the tenth lunar month and usually lasts three to five days, during which Qiang people of different villages hold sacrificial rituals to worship gods of heaven, mountains and clans and to celebrate harvest, send blessings, and pray for peace.
Passed down from generation to generation, the element has fully demonstrated the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, people and environment, and human and society. It not only embodies the Qiang people's notions of time, world and development transmitted from generation to generation, but also witnesses cultural diversity and human creativity. On May 12, 2008, the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Province of China (hereinafter referred to as the "5.12 Earthquake") caused huge damage to the Qiang communities and their intangible cultural heritage in the epicenter and hardest-hit areas.
Since the inscription of the element on the Urgent Safeguarding List, Chinese governments and cultural authorities at all levels have, as a part of the post-disaster reconstruction, implemented a series of sustained measures and strongly supported relevant communities, groups and individuals to take local actions to ensure the viability of the element and actively restore the traditional cultural system of the Qiang ethnic group. In this process, actions related to the safeguarding of the element have become an important link to reshape community beliefs and enhance social cohesion. A wide array of relevant ICH elements have been effectively safeguarded as a whole.
In this reporting period (2016-2017), with the extensive participation of Qiang people from various regions, all stakeholders mainly focused on the current situation and pressing issues regarding the safeguarding of the element, and adopted further safeguarding measures, responding to Decision 12COM 8.c.2, which has achieved expected results. With strengthened capacity building in communities, the viability of the element has been improved accordingly. Notably, the cultural space for the festival has been systematically restored and reconstructed, and the ability to transmit and practice folklore activities related with the festival has been gradually improved.
In general, with the support of local governments, the communities, groups and individuals concerned have further incorporated the safeguarding of the element and ICH of Qiang people into the construction of the national "Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology." This has greatly promoted the inclusive social and economic development, and environmental sustainability of the Qiang regions. Great efforts have been made to rebuild the resilience of the communities, groups and individuals after the disaster, enhance the unity and social cohesion of all ethnic groups in the "Tibetan, Qiang and Yi Corridor," and promote intercultural dialogue and mutual appreciation. Currently, the viability of the element is still confronted with various internal and external challenges, yet it also ushers in a new opportunity for transmission and development. To ensure the sustainability and scalability of the safeguarding activities of the element, relevant communities, groups and representative bearers have worked with various actors to propose for the renewal of safeguarding measures in the upcoming four years.

A.7.

Contact person for correspondence

Provide the name, address and other contact information of the person responsible for correspondence concerning the report.

Title (Ms/Mr, etc.)

Family name

Xiang

Given name

Kui

Institution/position

Sichuan Academy of Arts, China / Associate Research Fellow

Address

11 XimianqiaoJie, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, 610041

Telephone number

0086-13628005298

E-mail address

xkyws@126.com

Other relevant information

Other relevant information: http://www.ichsichuan.cn/(China·Sichuan Intangible Cultural Heritage Website)

B

B. Status of element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List

B.1.

Social and cultural functions

As an annual traditional event for Qiang people, the element evolved from a ritual of offering thanks and worship to heaven for blessings and prosperity. It is not only an occasion for demonstrating folk beliefs, oral traditions, performing arts and traditional handicrafts, but also a cultural space bearing with social practices, life experience, traditional knowledge and ethical norms. Through festival activities, the Qiang people express their respect and worship towards nature and all creatures, maintain the historical memories and emotional belonging of themselves with their ancestors and the motherland, reflect their aspiration for harmony between man and nature, regulate community actions and personal behavior, and promote intergenerational communication, family and social harmony.
The festival consists of three parts: worship of the mountain, group celebration and family worship. They are presided over by a shbi, the prestigious elderly in the village, and heads of families respectively based on a traditional division of labor and coordination. In the intervals of rituals, feastings and performances, the shbi and the elderly in the village gather to discuss official business, underscore village regulations and declare the enrollment of male newborns on the clan’s pedigree that year, preserving the traditional discussion system with democratic features. Through continuous participation in festival activities, the cultural identity and historical continuity of relevant communities and groups are constantly enhanced.
Shbi’s chanting is the core part of the ritual practice in the festival. The scriptures are passed on from generation to generation through oral transmission between masters and apprentices or between fathers and sons within a clan. Shbis, who epitomize the culture of the Qiang people, enjoy high prestige in the clan. With the special mission during the festival, they play social and cultural roles in coordinating social relations and promoting community harmony. The patriarch of each clan serves as the organizer in the festival activities.
In addition, as the festival is featured with diversified expressions of Qiang people’s folk culture, groups such as folk dancers, singers, musicians, craftsmen, traditional sports lovers and so on all take their own responsibilities for the transmission of the element. Therefore, the transmission and practice of the element reflect its community-based, diversified and extensive features.

B.2.

Assessment of its viability and current risks

The Qiang ethnic group owns a total population of 309,576 (according to the 2010 national census). The transmission and practice of the element mainly occur in the Qiang residential areas, with Mao County, Wenchuan County, Li County and Beichuan County (hereinafter referred to as the "four counties") as the center, extending to the surrounding three counties (Pingwu, Songpan and Heishui) and covering more than 80% of its population. Since the element was inscribed on the List, the awareness and participation of the Qiang people in the ICH safeguarding have been generally enhanced. The annual festival has become an important occasion of interaction and exchange for communities, groups and individuals between villages, urban and rural areas, residential areas and scattered areas. It has drawn wide attention and laid a foundation for everyone to participate in maintaining its viability.
In the past two years, people in the Qiang villages still organized large-scale festival activities collectively in line with customary practices. From the meticulous preparation before the festival to all sections of the celebration, they always worked together to fulfill their respective obligations, and made concerted efforts to participate in a variety of festival practices. Notably, more teenagers and children have been involved to this event.
The Qiang New Year festival was set as a legal holiday since 1988 by the People’s Congress of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Today, the Qiang New Year has become more open in the practices of ICH safeguarding, and has become a regional festival with the participation of multiple ethnic groups in the “Tibetan, Qiang and Yi Corridor”. Hence, the contemporary practices of the festival attract a wide array of participants in an inclusive way, thus going beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, gender, age, class and occupation, and greatly promoting the development of an inclusive society.
Since it is deeply rooted in festival traditions and daily life, the transmission and practices of the element have been continuously strengthened in the community-based collective actions. Meanwhile, it is subject to the process of modernization, urbanization and globalization and the profound impact in the period of rapid socio-economic transformation, and its viability is still confronted with multiple challenges.
Concerning current challenges, the aging issue of shbis who serve as the core force of transmission versus the lack of successors is the most urgent, while the traditional transmitting methods has not been significantly improved. This has, to a great extent, hindered the continued transmission of the ritual practices of offering thanks and worship to heaven for blessings and prosperity during the festival. Specifically, there are only a handful of shbis who are proficient in traditional rituals and chanting and can preside over the sacrificial rituals during the festival. Epic performance constitutes one of the themes of shbi chanting and is related to the origin of the festival (original legend), which is of great identification value for relevant communities, groups and individuals, yet currently there are only eight bearers who are proficient in the oral epic performance of the Qiang people. Also the endangered mother tongue of the Qiang people and the shrinking space for its usage have severely jeopardized the knowledge system of oral transmission and ICH practices. Nowadays in Beichuan, the Qiang ethnic group has a population of more than 60,000, with less than 20 people who can talk freely in the Qiang language. How to consolidate the intergenerational transmission of shbis is also intrinsically related to the revitalization of the Qiang language.

B.3.

Implementation of safeguarding measures

B.3.a.

Objectives and results

Indicate what primary objective(s) were addressed and what concrete results were attained during the reporting period.

Objectives and results

- Boost the intergenerational transmission of ritual practices of the element
To further consolidate the traditional transmitting methods of the element, the national cultural authorities continue to enhance financial support and provide institutional guarantee. Local governments have also provided support accordingly. The core role of shbis in the transmission and development of the festival has been continuously clarified, and their social status and sense of responsibility have been increased gradually. They have established confidence and formed a consensus in addressing the ongoing challenges to ensure the viability of the element.
- Carry out various regular transmission activities
With support of cultural authorities in the four counties, the transmission and practice centers of the element and ICH transmission bases in different places carry out safeguarding activities of the festival regularly, and the community-based training and demonstration have become commonplaces. Daily transmission and practices include safeguarding training courses, live folklore performances and exhibitions among others. During the annual celebrations of the festival, the on-site transmission, practices and exhibition activities were held to promote the interaction and participation of local people, especially the young people, and constantly improve the capacity building in communities.
- Continue to restore cultural space for the festival practices
Based on the development of the National Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology and the implementation of major projects such as the protection of national traditional villages, the Qiang villages and settlements were rebuilt; other festival sacrifice venues such as the Qiang fortresses, sacrifice towers, towers for the gods of mountains and sacred forests were restored; and a number of model cases have emerged in the restoration or reconstruction of cultural space for the Qiang villages. The ecological construction in the four counties has achieved remarkable results. The cultural space and environmental sustainability of the ritual practices including worship of the mountains, gods and villages during the festival is improving steadily.
- Introduce the Qiang language and practices of the festival into primary and secondary school education
The four counties continue to carry out the "ICH Three-Entering Program" (entering campus, courses and textbooks), integrate the Qiang language, the festival and ICH of the Qiang people into formal education system, and actively expand the ICH education program. Besides, they set up Qiang language courses, establish children's art schools and basic teaching sites, include local textbooks into the primary school curriculum, and incorporate ICH elements into students' hobby groups. They also set up a pilot school for “the Qiang culture entering the campus”, and establish Qiang folklore practices and special ICH courses to enhance children's sense of cultural pride and participation.
- Actively promote systematic documentation, demonstration and academic research of the festival and ICH of the Qiang people
Efforts were made to keep rescuing records of elderly national representative bearers, and shoot oral history documentaries of shbis’ transmission and practices; to improve the content and exhibits of Qiang folklore museums; to regularly invite bearers of the festival to display folk culture; to create a favorable environment for relevant communities and groups to continuously practice and transmit the element in traditional context; and to boost academic research and publication of achievements in interdisciplinary fields.
- Foster a safeguarding network established among multiple actors
Over the past two years, relevant actors in the four counties have carried out a variety of safeguarding activities to achieve expected results. Communities, groups and individuals concerned, as well as multiple actors, actively assisted in the teaching practices of representative bearers, activities of transmission and practice centers in local communities, the development of ICH transmission and practices in formal education, the community collaboration to support folklore activities during the festival, thereby further forms a participatory safeguarding mechanism with a focus on the role of females.

B.3.b.

Safeguarding activities

- Step up efforts to provide major support for the bearers
Cultural authorities at all levels continue to support representative bearers in carrying out transmission and practice activities and actively cultivating intergenerational successors to ensure the viability of the element. As of October 2017, a total of 39 representative bearers in the four counties have been recognized, including 2 national bearers, 8 provincial bearers, 9 prefect-level bearers, and 20 county-level bearers (another 17 shbi bearers are registered), with an increase of 10 compared with 29 in the previous reporting period. Meanwhile, various measures were taken to support the representative bearers of elements related to the festival. Moreover, a fund was established for the bearers to encourage them to take apprentices and impart skills, thus cultivating and reserving more talents.
- Set special training courses to support intergenerational transmission of shbis
The intergenerational transmission of shbis has drawn wide attention from cultural authorities at all levels and the society. Older generation of shbis took the initiative in abolishing the mechanism that shbis are restricted to internal transmission. Relying on traditional apprenticeship, in combination with classroom teaching, they successively organized "shbi training class" "Qiang language transmission class" and "Qiang oral epic transmission class" for those interested, with a total of 108 trainees.
- Carry out training activities and diversified practices
The transmission and practice centers of the element and the practice and transmission bases of ICH in different regions have become important platforms for the living transmission, training, promotion and communication of ICH of Qiang people. From 2016 to 2017, the four counties continued to carry out diversified forms of transmission and practices, including 55 training courses on safeguarding the element, with 11,380 participants; 254 live shows of folk customs during the festival, with 470,000 audiences; 79 exhibitions of folk customs, with 542,000 audiences. In 2016, with the support of cultural authorities, relevant communities in the four counties jointly organized the festive activities in local areas, with 58,500 participants. In 2017, Mao County led the four counties to jointly hold celebrations of the festival, with more than 300,000 participants.
- Continue to restore the residential settlements and cultural spaces on which the element is dependent
Most of the Qiang villages in the four counties that were damaged in the "5.12 Earthquake" have been repaired in situ or relocated, basically realizing the systematic safeguarding of residential settlement patterns and living environments of folk custom. For one thing, the wishes and lifestyles of local people were fully respected, which highlights the community-based cultural resilience in bridging the gap in the traditional cultural space of the Qiang people. For another, the Qiang watchtower building techniques and traditional village building techniques have been effectively transmitted. Meanwhile, the festival and ICH of Qiang people have been comprehensively incorporated into the overall safeguarding of cultural ecology.
- Keep rescuing records of elderly bearers and their practices of taking apprentices and imparting skills
The Center for the Safeguarding of ICH of Sichuan Province kept records of Wang Zhisheng, an elderly national representative bearer of the element, in various forms including video, audio recording, photography and text, and completed the filing and archiving of three categories of data, namely documentaries, summary films and work files.
- Promote digital documentation and convergence media promotion of the festival and related ICH elements
The working team of the Center for the Safeguarding of ICH of Sichuan Province conducted field surveys on ICH of Qiang people in seven counties of Qiang residential areas, and completed data collection of 33 ICH elements and 49 representative bearers. Based on the survey, the digital documentation, management and dissemination have been strengthened. The survey results were displayed online through Sichuan ICH Website with the theme of "Eternal Qiang Style" (http://www.ichsichuan.cn/zh_details.aspx?mid=57&sid=77). It provides a diversified platform for the public to understand the festival as well as the current viability of ICH in the Qiang areas.
Aba Prefecture and Mianyang City have successively recorded the oral history of bearers of the festival and other ICH elements of Qiang people. They cooperated with CCTV, Sichuan News Network and Aba News Network to launch special documentaries including the "Tour of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China: the Qiang New Year Festival" "Tour of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China: Miyaluo Guozhuang Dance" "Civilian Priest - Shbis of the Qiang People" and "As Happy as Flowers" on TV and the Internet through convergence media. Beichuan TV offered a language program "Caixia Teaches You to Speak Qiang Language" on the basis of “500 Daily Sentences in Qiang Language" to promote the Qiang language via a situational teaching method.
The four counties have strengthened the content development of local Qiang folklore museums, and carried out activities such as objects collection, curation and arrangement, training, presentation, and children's education all around the year. All activities are free to the public.
- Continue to incorporate the festival and related ICH elements into school education
The four counties have adopted measures to normalize the introduction of Qiang language, the festival and other ICH elements of Qiang people into campuses, classrooms and textbooks, and to invite teachers of Qiang language, bearers of the festival and folk artists to provide courses with ethnic cultural characteristics, so as to support the popularization, transmission and promotion of ICH of Qiang people in primary and secondary schools. Local textbooks "The Story of Wobuki" and "Home on the Cloud" (including their auxiliary teaching materials), which were jointly compiled by Aba Education Bureau, Mao County Educational Bureau and Beijing Tianxiaxi Education Consultation Center, have been fully included in the primary school curriculum of Mao County, Li County and Wenchuan County. Aba Prefecture launched the program of "Tibetan and Qiang Operas Entering Campus." The Qiang shbi opera "Guapuri" (meaning "thanksgiving and blessing") performed by the Qiang Opera Troupe of Li County was popular among young college students.
- Promote related academic research and publication of achievements
Scholars from the Sichuan Institute for Ethnic Groups, Sichuan University, Southwest Minzu University and other research institutes have carried out special academic research and the periodical progress has been achieved. They have published a number of academic achievements highly related to the festival, covering oral history of bearers, epics, New Year songs, shbi music, shbi opera, shbi oral art, local chronicles, and other topics, with special focus on cultural ecological proteciton and environmental sustainability.
- Major problems encountered during the implementation
(1) The ritual practices and intergenerational transmission of shbis are still confronted with various challenges. Shbi disciples are selected in accordance with a strict standard, and the process of skills learning is hard, so very few people can persist to the end. In the previous reporting period, seven bearers have passed away. In the past two years, another three have passed away and one has suffered from hemiplegia. Many shbis who can preside over the festival are at advanced age. One of the national bearers is 80 and another is 79; one provincial bearer is over 90. In the four counties, there are 17 newly registered shbi bearers who are not entitled to receive governments' regular financial assistance because they have just finished their apprenticeship. Shbi acts as the main force for transmitting the element, therefore the nurture of successors is an endogenous systematic project that requires long-term operation.
(2) The constant outflow of young population and migrant employment are still risks affecting the viability of the element. As the festival is held on the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, most of the Qiang migrant workers who are outside the four counties cannot return home on this day. This will inevitably force a large number of young people to gradually alienate themselves from traditional practices of the festival. Since they are away from home all the year round, the next generations will lack chances of bilingual education in formal education and traditional culture of their ethnic group will not exert any influence on them. Intergenerational transmission of the element is facing more severe challenges due to loss of the mother tongue’s natural environment.
(3) Frequent natural disasters are threatening the sustainable development of communities. Since the "5.12 Earthquake", more hidden troubles of geological disasters and potential hazards pose a great threat and harm to the living environment and the agricultural and livestock production in urban and rural areas. Many villagers have moved from mountainous areas to flatland or towns after disasters. The change of production and life styles, together with the fragile ecological environment, is restricting their sustainable livelihood.

B.3.c.

Participation of communities, groups or individuals in the safeguarding activities

- Representative bearers continue to play leading roles
Representative bearers of the element play key roles in maintaining the festive practices and intergenerational transmission in their communities. Representative bearers of other Qiang ICH elements are also active in promoting the transmission and practices of relevant elements in local festive activities.
- Communities in different regions regularly carry out the transmission and practices of the element
The transmission and practice centers of the element in the four counties organize the transmission and live show of folk customs for the festival all year round, which serves to create a sound atmosphere for strengthening the group folklore practices of the festival. The range of participants is expanding. Over the past two years, about 43,150 community members participated in various daily practices. Among them,
Wenchuan County: an average of 3 transmission and practice activities were held each year, with about 200 participants. Local women participated in 16 presentations of Qiang folklore culture on campus, leading teenagers from primary and secondary schools to learn and experience customs of the festival, with a total of more than 20,000 participants. Three local community associations have carried out 6 practice activities of the element.
Li County: an average of 5 transmission and practice activities were held each year, with about 150 participants, of which women account for a relatively high proportion. The Qiang people in 5 towns and villages spontaneously established a Saleng Folk Dance Team of Taoping Qiang Village with about 500 participants. The "As Happy as Flowers" folk song contest was held during the festival, with females as main participants. In Puxi Township, a sheepskin-drum dance association was established to enhance the participation of teenagers and children.
Mao County: an average of four transmission and practice activities were held each year, with about 300 participants. Four community associations carried out 10 transmission and practice activities of the festival. Qiang Language Protection Association has completed a general survey of Qiang language in Sanlong Township, Mao County. It has collected audio, video and text materials, organized the compiling of training materials and teaching activities, and organized a 47-day training of Qiang language in Nanqiao Village, which benefited 132 people. Three training workshops have been held in the Qiang language base, with 183 participants.
Beichuan County: transmission and practice centers carried out 48 activities in two years, with about 20,000 participants. The progeam of Popularization and Transmission for Saleng Dance to Enter Campus has been carried out all year round in primary and secondary schools, and 24 transmission activities of Qiang New Year Culture in Villages have been organized, with more than 2,000 trainees. Nine non-governmental organizations have participated in the transmission and dissemination activities of the festival.
- Foster a safeguarding network established among multiple actors
In the past two years, community associations, local societies, scientific research institutes, professional centers, experts and scholars have developed further cooperation and built up a pattern of complementary functions. Civil organizations such as the Training and Practice Center of Qiang Culture of Sichuan Provincial Qiang Culture Society have led tens of thousands of teachers and students to participate in on-campus activities of the festival every year. Trainig courses targeted on Qiang embroidery bearers, Qiang folk dance talents, and traditional village and residence designers have been opened successively in Southwest Minzu University. Sichuan College of Culture and Arts and Beichuan Shiyi Qiang Village have jointly established an ICH education base, and received strong support from Beichuan Ethnic Art Troupe and Shiyi Qiang Village Tourism Company. The documentary Divine Sky, directed by Yi Xi, a teacher of the College and a young Qiang director, was broadcast on the Internet platform, which tells a touching story of how shbis transmit the Qiang culture.
The above-mentioned activities are mainly coordinated by ICH Division of the Cultural Department of Sichuan Province. With the concerted effort of Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts, the Center for the Safeguarding of ICH of Sichuan Province, and the ICH safeguarding centers of the four counties, a network of joint actions has been established to ensure the community-based stakeholders’ participation in safeguarding practices.

B.3.d.

Timetable and budget

Indicate in a timetable when each activity was implemented and the funds that were used for its implementation, identifying the source of funding for each (governmental sources, in-kind community inputs, etc.).

Timetable and budget

- Governmental sources
(1) Continue to support representative bearers in carrying out transmission and practices
The central government and local governments at all levels continue to provide financial subsidies for representative bearers of the element to take apprentices and impart skills. Since 2016, the central government's annual subsidy has increased from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan for a national-level representative bearer. The subsidy for a provincial-level bearer in Sichuan maintained 5,000 yuan, for a bearer in Aba Prefecture, maintained 3,000 yuan. While the subsidy for a bearer in Beichuan County increased from 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan. County-level bearers in Wenchuan County and Mao County receive newly granted special funds, with an annual subsidy of 10,000 yuan and 2,000 yuan respectively.
A total of 28 bearers of the element received special subsidies. Government funding at all levels is as follows: 80,000 yuan at central level, 80,000 yuan at provincial level, 54,000 yuan at prefecture level, and 20,000 yuan at county level, totaling 234,000 yuan.
(2) Promote the construction of a national "Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology”
The Ministry of Culture supported the construction of the "Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology" and incorporated the festival and related ICH elements into overall safeguarding, with allocated annual funds of 6.7 million yuan and 2.4 million yuan respectively, totaling 9.1 million yuan.
(3) Support the targeted safeguarding activities for the element
In 2016, the central government allocated special funds to support the safeguarding of the element, focusing on transmission and education activities, with a total transfer of 1.1 million yuan.
In 2016, county-level governments invested special funds to support the element, including a total of 1.62999 million yuan from the four counties..
(4) Support the transmission and practice centers of the festival to carry out relevant activities
In 2016, Li County's financial input amounted to 652,492 yuan, which was appropriated for the fitting-out of the Transmission and Practice Center of the element in Taoping Village;
From 2016 to 2017, Mao County's financial input amounted to 1,176,500 yuan, which was appropriated to carry out regular activities of transmission and practice centers of the element.
(5) Improve the content development of Qiang folklore museums in all counties
From 2016 to 2017, Wenchuan County's financial input amounted to 1.492 million yuan; Li County's financial input (provided by prefecture government) totaled 449,600 yuan; Mao County's financial input amounted to one million yuan; Beichuan County's financial input amounted to two million yuan.
(6) Launch a project for keeping rescuing records of elderly bearers
From 2016 to 2017, special funds allocated by the Ministry of Culture were used for keeping rescuing records of elderly shbis, totaling 400,000 yuan.
(7) Carry out special skills training for related ICH elements
In 2016, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education allocated special funds to support the Southwest Minzu University in carrying out such teaching activities as the First Training Workshop for ICH Bearers (Qiang Embroidery), totaling 300,000 yuan.
- Community input
Yang Zhiwen, a villager in Dasi Village, Keku Township, Wenchuan County, continued to give donation for the daily operation of the Dasi Ancient Qiang Museum. The museum provides interactive space for villagers to carry out regular transmission and practices of the element through the permanent exhibition of hundreds of precious objects of folk culture;
Chen Xuelong, a farmer who was relocated from Zhitai Village in Wenchuan County to Huojing Town, Qionglai City, raised money to establish the Erma Folklore Museum. He collected a large number of articles of Qiang folk culture and provided free venues for resettled Qiang people to "help them remember their roots.”
Chen Xuezhen, a female embroiderer in Beichuan, spent more than three years converting Qiang history and living scenes such as hunting, sacrificial rituals, weddings and funerals into two Qiang embroidery scrolls, both of which showcase the customs during the festival and related shbi rituals and folk culture.
In addition, local non-governmental associations and societies collected articles or raised money annually to carry out transmission and practice activities of the festival and hold relevant academic seminars.

B.3.e.

Overall effectiveness of the safeguarding activities

- Overall effectiveness of the safeguarding activities
In the past two years, the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology, which was established after the "5.12 Earthquake" has always been aiming to achieve the goal of "rich heritage, strong atmosphere, and distinctive characteristics for the benefits of the people,” thus providing a major opportunity for keeping records of and safeguarding the severely damaged Qiang culture and ecology, and playing a vital role in the post-disaster rebuilding of the resilience of communities and groups. The national cultural authorities have further increased business guidance and financial support for ICH safeguarding in the Qiang region. The local governments of the four counties have formulated a series of new rules and regulations, which provided further legal basis and institutional guarantee for the safeguarding and management of the element. A variety of safeguarding measures have been implemented smoothly and expanded. Expected results have been achieved. Viability of the element has been further enhanced in the practices of relevant communities and groups.
(1) The cultural space for the element has been gradually restored. A large number of Qiang villages have been renovated. The improvement and reconstruction of sacrifice venues, fortress and towers, folklore museums, transmission and practice centers, and other facilities as cultural space for the festival in various regions has provided an interactive space for local transmission, continuous practices and live exhibition of most ICH elements including the festival.
(2) The practices of the festival have been fully integrated into the overall safeguarding of the Qiang intangible cultural heritage. During celebrations of the festival and practices of traditional shbi rituals, oral traditions, performing arts, traditional sports and production techniques have been continuously carried forward. Together with the celebrations, local folklore cultural activities of the festival have been restored and passed down in different regions. An array of interrelated ICH practices have consolidated the important carrier of folklore culture of the festival, enriched the festival practices and daily life of the Qiang people, and in particular enhanced the younger generation's awareness of ICH safeguarding and its importance, as well as their sense of responsibility.
(3) The transmission and practices of the element in various regions play an important role in rebuilding the resilience of communities. The Qiang people took active actions in the continuous post-earthquake reconstruction, ranging from safeguarding the element to drawing more attention to the general transmission and practices of other intangible cultural heritage. In particular, the sacrifice rituals during the festival and the traditional development concepts advocated in them, including harmony between man and nature, respect for nature, harmonious coexistence and gratitude for others' help, have played a positive leading role in recovering environmental ecology for the communities and enhancing social cohesion. Moreover, priority was given to protect shbis and support their related ritual practices, which is of irreplaceable value to post-earthquake mental adjustment in the communities and reconstruction of social relationship structure.
(4) The festival practices promote the integration of culture and tourism, and provide a new development pattern of "ICH + tourism.” In 2016, on the premise of fully respecting the rights of communities, groups and individuals, and realizing the needs of a well-off life, the four counties introduced the festival activities into cultural ecologyl tourism and featured rural tourism. The three generations, including the elderly, middle-aged and young people, in relevant communities actively participated in the demonstrations of traditional Qiang skills, the Qiang folk songs, dances and music, and the song and dance drama "Qiang Soul." During the slack winter season, they actively adapted to the new normal of economic development.
- Funding efficiency
In the past two years, local governments at all levels and competent bodies responsible for the safeguarding of the element conducted safeguarding work in line with actual situations, and special funds were established both at the central and local levels. The management and use of the funds were based on the principle of unified management, classified responsibilities, rational allocation, and dedicated use. Meanwhile, various measures were taken to strengthen the supervision of fund use, for instance to require submission of work reports at the end of the year, plan for responsible transmission and practices, and regular assessment of the safeguarding work of the responsible organizations as well as the transmission and practices of bearers, so that recipients were promoted to fulfill their obligations and ensure maximum efficiency of the funds.
- Available human resources
According to the institutional integration and merger of cultural authorities of Aba Prefecture and Mianyang City, the four counties have further established and improved professional institutions for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. Wenchuan County, Li County and Beichuan County have successively established county-level centers for ICH safeguarding. Mao County has established an ICH section in its cultural authority. Currently, there are seven full-time staff in ICH safeguarding departments of the four counties.
During the implementation of safeguarding measures, local governments at all levels utilized integrated human resources to help relevant communities, groups and bearers participate in the safeguarding and management of intangible cultural heritage. The cultural authorities of different counties, ICH safeguarding institutions, town and village level cultural centers, and village cultural offices were actively involved in collaboration with local transmission and practice centers of the festival, villagers' committees, and community association. This helped to achieve the expected safeguarding goals with less funding and enhance the safeguarding responsibility and awareness of communities in the meantime.

C

Zhang

C. Update of the safeguarding measures

C.1.

Updated safeguarding plan

Please provide an update of the safeguarding plan included in the nomination file or in the previous report. In particular provide detailed information as follows:

a. What primary objective(s) will be addressed and what concrete results will be expected?
b. What are the key activities to be carried out in order to achieve these expected results? Describe the activities in detail and in their best sequence, addressing their feasibility.
c. How will the State(s) Party(ies) concerned support the implementation of the updated safeguarding plan?

Updated safeguarding plan

With the active participation of the communities, groups and individuals concerned, all the competent bodies responsible for ICH safeguarding in the four counties formulated the "Four-Year Plan for the Safeguarding of the Qiang New Year Festival (2018-2021)" based on the updated safeguarding measures. The Plan aims to carry out in-depth people-centered procedural safeguarding activities in accordance with the traditional main line of the festival activities. Meanwhile, they took the 10th anniversary of the "5.12 Earthquake" and the 10th anniversary of the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology as an opportunity to further conduct joint actions to ensure the viability and intergenerational transmission of the element.
a. Primary objectives and expected concrete results
(1) Continue to strengthen transmission and practices, in particular to encourage shbis to take apprentices and impart skills, and create more favorable conditions and environment for consolidating the intergenerational transmission of ritual practice;
(2) Promote the festival practices and educational programs of the element in formal education system at all levels, especially among children and young people, and compile special textbooks to ensure the intergenerational transmission of the Qiang intangible cultural heritage;
(3) Promote further development of the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology to ensure the sustainability of cultural space and festival practice environment of the element, further improve infrastructure support, continue to restore and repair the living environment and mountain forest ecological environment of the Qiang villages, and consolidate the resilience of the Qiang communities, groups and individuals;
(4) Take advantage of the creative potentials in traditional practices of the festival to develop sustainable tourism and holiday economy, boost targeted poverty alleviation in remote and mountainous areas, and ensure relevant communities and groups to be the major beneficiaries;
(5) Enhance synergistic effects in view of participation mechanism, promote cooperation between multiple community-based actors, and carry out interdisciplinary research, especially methodological research.
b. Major activities to be carried out
(1) Continue to support representative bearers in carrying out transmission and practice activities, and strengthen the intergenerational transmission of shbis; adopt a two-way incentive mechanism between masters and apprentices, establish a special award for excellent transmission practice of the element, and encourage young and middle-aged shbis in the four counties to take apprentices so as to improve the situation of interrupted transmission caused by the aging of shbis; provide necessary financial support for both masters and apprentices, and regularly select cases of good practices for dissemination; carry out regular transmission activities of shbi rituals, and continue to promote shbi training classes, the Qiang language training courses, Qiang oral epic transmission classes, and other targeted transmission activities, so as to boost the normalization of training.
(2) Incorporate the festival practices and related oral traditions, performing arts, and traditional handicrafts into special teaching subjects in the primary and secondary school education system; continue to promote the integration of festival culture of the element and related ICH elements into textbooks, compile a series of cartoon textbooks for teenagers, especially children, and carry out education on traditional culture and sustainable environment of the Qiang language, the festival, and the Qiang ethnic group.
(3) Continue to restore and repair cultural spaces for practice of the element. Focus on promoting the experience gained in the restoration project of ancient Taoping Qiang villag, provide training on traditional construction techniques, and develop a work relief model, so that local residents could participate in reconstruction activities to ensure cooperation between villagers and government departments, experts and craftsmen.
(4) Comprehensively promote the development of the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology and enhance the visibility of both the element and ICH in the Qiang region. The Cultural Department of Sichuan Province will establish a long-term mechanism to hold an annual "Exhibition of Achievements in the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology” in turn in the four counties during the festival, so as to facilitate a centralized exchange of experience and the transmission and practices across different regions.
(5) Take full advantage of the existing transmission and practice centers of the festival, encourage qualified villages to establish new centers, and improve the capacity of communities for transmission and practices; strengthen the transmission of traditional skills closely related to the festival, expand the number of bearers of performing arts and traditional handicrafts; encourage young people to return to their hometown to create their businesses, provide space for development and employment guidance to guarantee their sustainable livelihood, and support bearers, enterprises and colleges in making joint efforts to explore a mode of developing holiday economy and ICH-targeted creative economy based on close integration of production, education and research.
(6) Encourage NGOs, professional centers, colleges and universities, research institutions, experts and scholars to conduct joint research and cultivate scientific studies and research methodologies; keep rescuing records of more representative bearers; improve the digital documentation and database management and application to provide more online resources; strengthen studies on the transmission and ritual practices of shbis, and encourage publications of special research works on the element and the transmission of shbis.
(7) Conduct constant assessment on the viability of the element as well as the threats and risks faced by it by involving relevant parties and professionals, and propose feasible suggestions and countermeasures; conduct survey and research on holiday economy and creative economy, including prior research on the development of ethical guidance on the interventions of those involved in the tourism industry and the behaviour of those who participate in it as tourists.
c. State Party’s support
The Chinese government is committed to continue to ensure the viability of the element on the premise of respecting the wishes of communities, groups and individuals concerned.
The Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, and National Ethnic Affairs Commission of China will establish a sustainable guarantee mechanism to provide policy, administrative, financial and technical support for the latest safeguarding measures; comprehensively promote the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology to facilitate the widest possible participation of the communities, groups and individuals concerned in all processes of the safeguarding, and particularly support the Qiang people to enhance the viability of the element in modern practices.
d. Implementation timetable, budget and input of the latest plan
- Support from central government
The national cultural authorities will further enhance their business guidance and financial support for the ICH safeguarding in the Qiang region, among which-
(1) From 2018 to 2021: Financial subsidies will be provided for representative bearers of the element to take apprentices and impart skills, at a rate of 20,000 yuan/person per year, for two bearers, totaling 160,000 yuan;
(2) From 2018 to 2021: Special funds will be allocated to support the development of the Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology and further incorporate the festival and related ICH elements into overall safeguarding, totaling 33.3 million yuan;
(3) From 2018 to 2021: Special funds will be allocated to support the safeguarding of the element, focusing on transmission and education activities, totaling 960,000 yuan;
The above planned input amounts to 34.42 million yuan.
- Local government resources
(4) From 2018 to 2021: Provincial, prefecture and county governments will provide bearers at all levels with corresponding subsidies for transmission and practices according to predefined standards as follows-
Provincial level subsidy, 5,000 yuan/person per year, for eight bearers, totaling 160,000 yuan;
Prefecture level subsidy, 3,000 yuan/person per year, for nine bearers, totaling 108,000 yuan;
Wenchuan County subsidy, 1,000 yuan/person per year, for seven bearers, totaling 28,000 yuan;
Mao County subsidy, 2,000 yuan/person per year, for one bearer, totaling 8,000 yuan;
Beichuan County subsidy, 1,000 yuan/person per year, for one bearer, totaling 4,000 yuan;
The above fees amount to 308,000 yuan.
(5) From 2018 to 2021: Establish special funds to consolidate the intergenerational transmission of ritual practices of the festival
The cultural authority of Sichuan Province will formulate specific policies and financial support measures, and carry out regular transmission activities of shbi rituals relying on the transmission and practice centers of the festival in various counties, including:
Establishing a special award for good practices for transmission, 100,000 yuan/county per year, totaling 1.6 million yuan for four years;
Regularly selecting good practices cases for promotion, 50,000 yuan per year, totaling 200,000 yuan;
The above planned input amounts to 1.8 million yuan.
(6) From 2020 to 2021: Promote local textbooks and guidance on transmission and practices of the element
Funds are disbursed from the annual operating expenses of the "ICH Three-Entering Program" in primary and secondary schools in different regions.
(7) From 2020 to 2021: Improve the systematic documentation of the element.
Wenchuan, Li and Beichuan counties will speed up the construction of thematic databases, with a subsidy of one million yuan/country, totaling three million yuan;
The cultural departments at the provincial, prefecture, and county levels that have established a database will plan to collate and update the information of shbi bearers, with a subsidy of 200,000yuan;
The above planned input amounts to 3.2 million yuan.
(8) From 2020 to 2021: Strengthen the development of special content for the element in museums
The museums in the four counties plan to further enhance the content exhibition and in-kind collection of safeguarding achievements of the element, promote dissemination on the Internet, and seek more opportunities for external exhibition and exchanges. The estimated fund is about 1.2 million yuan.
The above input from the central government is expected to be 34.42 million yuan, and that of local governments is 6.508 million yuan, totaling 40.928 million yuan.
- Community resources
To further revitalize the diversified local festival practices, the four counties encourage qualified Qiang villages, community associations, professional associations, non-governmental organizations, and villagers to build their own museums or major venues for community activities, and carry out by themselves festival activities within Qiang villages by collecting articles or self-funding.

C.2.

Community participation

00045

Community participation

During the festival of 2017 (November 18-22), the "Exhibition of Development Achievements in the National Experimental Zone for the Safeguarding of Qiang Culture Ecology of Sichuan Province and the Qiang New Year Celebrations” was held in the ancient Qiang City of Mao County. Community representatives and some bearers from the Qiang residential areas and scattered areas gathered together. Taking this opportunity, the officials in charge as well as staff of the Cultural Department of Sichuan Province, the Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV, Film, Press and Publication of Aba Prefecture, and the ICH safeguarding departments of the counties in the Qiang region, met representatives of related communities and groups, and the bearers of shbis on different occasions during the festival. They had further dialogues and discussions on the safeguarding efficiency, working mechanism and updated measures of the element. In particular, the relevant information fed back via the Qiang language training courses and the Qiang epic transmission classes helped to formulate follow-up safeguarding plans and set priorities for concrete updated measures.
It is believed that the initiative of combining the exhibition of annual safeguarding achievements with the festival celebrations provided much thoughts on the updating of future safeguarding measures. First, to regularly evaluate the viability of the element, constantly explore a new mode of safeguarding, and establish a long-term mechanism to accumulate experiences for future practices and give reflections; second, to organize and carry out special training on the ritual practice of the festival, normalize the transmission and practice of shbis, and further enhance the vitality of ritual practice and intergenerational transmission of the element; third, to learn from the in-turn community organization in the traditional practices of the element, and absorb communities' practical experience summarized in the last report, such as the WeChat group for the safeguarding of the element. The interactive mode among the four counties during the festival will be transformed into a daily joint safeguarding action by various stakeholders. A safeguarding alliance of the element and ICH of the Qiang people will be established at an appropriate time to implement the updated safeguarding measures.
The Qiang shbis and representative bearers of the element who participated in this year’s festival also expressed their wishes and commitment. They will, as always, participate in the safeguarding of the element, and encourage more young people and those with aspirations to learn the shbi culture, so that traditional practices of the element can be passed down from generation to generation.
Regarding the assessment of the viability of the element and the update of safeguarding measures, representatives from transmission and practice centers of the element, community associations, and local societies in the four counties also expressed their opinions and suggestions during the annual wrap-ups organized by local safeguarding institutions of intangible cultural heritage. Relevant parties will work together to continuously safeguard the element and the Qiang intangible cultural heritage, pool their wisdom, innovate measures, and further carry out transmission practices to safeguard the cultural space for the festival practices, and make ICH safeguarding an endogenous driving force for the sustainable development of communities. Community associations and cooperatives related to the transmission of Qiang embroidery and saleng dance will further strengthen their interaction with local women's federation and enhance the participation of women and teenagers.

C.3.

Institutional context

Please report on the institutional context for the local management and safeguarding of the element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, including:

a. the competent body(ies) involved in its management and/or safeguarding;
b. the organization(s) of the community or group concerned with the element and its safeguarding.

2004-12-02

Institutional context

a. the competent bodies involved in its management and/or safeguarding;
Intangible Cultural Heritage Division, Cultural Department of Sichuan Province
Center for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Sichuan Province
Cultural Center of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province (Intangible Cultural Heritage Center)
Center for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Wenchuan County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province
Center for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Li County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province
Intangible Cultural Heritage Section, Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication of Mao County
Center for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province
b. the organizations of the community or group concerned with the element and its safeguarding
- organizations of the community or group:
Mao County: Mao Cultural Center, Guni Qiang Culture Association, Qiang Language and Text Protection Association, Erma Culture Association, and University for the Elderly
Li County: Li Cultural Center, Qiang Saleng Association, Shbi Opera Association of Puxi Township, A'erge Ancient Qiang Association of Xishan Village in Tonghua Township, Guozhuang Association of Muka Town, Ancient Qiang Primitive Guozhuang Association of Xuecheng Town, Sheepskin-drum Dance Association of Puxi Township, and Xiyue Qiang Embroidery Cooperative
Wenchuan County: Wenchuan Cultural Center, Wenchuan Azalea Art Troupe, Folk Culture and Art Association of Luobo Village in Yanmen Town, Dayu Culture Association of Miansi Town, and Shbi Culture Association of Longxi Town
Beichuan County: Cultural Center of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Beichuan Erma Culture Association, Beichuan Ethnic Art Troupe, Beichuan Gamicha Culture Association, Beichuan Sunflower Culture and Sports Association, Ancient Qiang Culture Association of Piankou Town, Beichuan Azalea Art Troupe, Beichuan Qiang Embroidery Association, and Beichuan Saleng Association
- Local societies, professional centers and research institutions
Aba Prefectural Tibetan and Qiang Cultures Research Society
Qiang Society of Aba Prefecture
Qiang Culture Research Society of Feng County, Shaanxi Province
Sichuan Provincial Qiang Culture Society
Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts
Research Center of Qiang Culture Safeguarding and Development in the Academy of Chinese ICH in Sichuan College of Culture and Arts
- Students’ associations in colleges and universities
Qiang Culture Association in Aba Normal College
Qiang Flute Culture Association in Southwest Minzu University
Promotion Association of Qiang Culture Safeguarding and Development in Sichuan College of Culture and Arts
Qiang Culture Association in Sichuan Normal University

D

Kaige

D. Participation of communities in preparing this report

Participation of communities in preparing this report

In mid-May 2017, the ICH Division of the Cultural Department of Sichuan Province worked out the preliminary timeframe for the drafting of the periodic report, and sent the "Notice on Submitting the Implementation and Update of the 2016-2017 Safeguarding Measures of Qiang New Year Festival" to the competent bodies for ICH safeguarding of the four counties. Meanwhile, the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts was nominated to take the lead in coordinating various stakeholders, and the Working Group for Periodic Report Drafting of Qiang New Year Festival (hereinafter referred to as the "Working Group") established in the last reporting period would continue to undertake the task of information collection and report preparation.
From July to August, the Working Group commissioned experts and doctoral students to collect relevant information about the safeguarding of the element carried out by local community associations, NGOs, academic institutions and universities in the past two years, and compiled the "Chronicle of Qiang New Year Festival Safeguarding from 2016 to 2017," which provided fundamental basis for the report.
From September to October, upon full solicitation of opinions and suggestions of the representatives of relevant communities, groups and bearers in various regions, the competent bodies for ICH safeguarding in the four counties respectively submitted the "Summary Report on the Safeguarding of Qiang New Year Festival 2016-2017," and made specific explanations on the recommendations from each county regarding updated measures.
In November, the Working Group completed the first draft based on the biennial summary report of the four counties. The Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts began to solicit opinions from the communities, groups, representatives of bearers, and community associations. Based on the feedbacks and in combination with supplementary information collected during this year's festival activities, the Working Group completed the second draft of the report.
In December, the Working Group informed relevant actors and community representatives of the recommendations made by the Committee in its Decision 12.COM 8.c.2, and invited them to provide timely feedback. Based on the information and suggestions sent by all parties, the Working Group made additional amendments to the report and completed the final version.

E. Signature on behalf of the State Party

The report should be signed by an official empowered to do so on behalf of the State, and should include his or her name, title and the date of submission.

Name

XIE Jinying

Title

Director General, Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, People's Republic of China

Date

31-12-2020

Signature

Upload signed version in PDF

Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding

Cover sheet

State Party

Name of State Party

China

Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

This information is available online.

Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

02-12-2004

Element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List that is the subject of this report

Name of element

Qiang New Year festival

Inscribed in

2009

Reporting period covered by this report

Please indicate the period covered by this report.

Reporting period covered by this report

01-2010 - 12-2015

Other elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, if any

Hezhen Yimakan storytelling (2011)

Meshrep (2010)

Watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks (2010)

Wooden movable-type printing of China (2010)

Executive summary of the report

The Qiang New Year festival is a traditional festival for Qiang people who live in counties of Wenchuan, Li, Mao, Beichuan and Pingwu in Sichuan Province of China. Called “rrmea jea” in the Qiang language, meaning an auspicious and joyous festival, it is an occasion for the Qiang people to offer thanks and worship to heaven for blessings and prosperity. It occurs on the first day of the tenth lunar month and lasts three to five days, during which Qiang people from every village hold sacrificial rituals to worship gods of heaven, mountains and clans and to celebrate together in their finest ceremonial dress. Through the traditional festival, Qiang people’s interactions with the universe, nature and history are maintained spiritually while their community cohesion and cultural identity are enhanced.
The Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008 brought heavy losses to the Qiang people as well as the natural environment and cultural ecology of the festival: many shbis (priests) who preside over the sacrificial rituals of the festival passed away or lost the capability of transmission, the cultural venues (such as the sacred mountains, towers, traditional watchtowers, etc.) associated with the festival were destroyed or seriously damaged, ritual items symbolizing the shbi culture (such as the scepter and ringing knife) were buried underground, costumes and other implements used in the festival were damaged or lost, and large quantities of materials and data (stored in text, photo and video) related to the festival disappeared. In addition, the declining interest in the Qiang language among the young also made many traditional cultural forms teeter on the brink of extinction, endangering the intergenerational transmission of shbi and the viability of the festival. After the earthquake, cultural authorities at all levels and related communities have taken a series of measures on reconstruction, among which the safeguarding for the intangible cultural heritage including the festival is top priority.
Since the element was inscribed on the List in 2009, the Qiang people further recognized the intangible cultural property and value of their traditional festival as well as the risks it faces; related communities, groups or individuals actively participated in various safeguarding activities and benefited a lot in their endeavors to raise their awareness of intangible cultural heritage. Up to December of 2015, the following measures have been taken by all parties concerned: 1) to subsidize representative bearers of the festival and to help them settle productivity and basic livelihood, creating a favorable condition for them to cultivate apprentices and carry out practice and transmission activities; 2) to reinforce and rebuild sacrificial venues for the festival damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, to produce and complement implements used in the festival, restoring the cultural space the festival depends on without delay; 3) to establish practice and transmission training centers as well as exhibition centers of folk customs in major communities, providing a platform for transmission exchange and safeguarding practice of the element; 4) to collect and file information about the festival and related intangible cultural resources, and to establish a database for these resources; 5) to publish a series of research works on the culture of the festival, laying a foundation for the implementing of safeguarding measures and transmission activities; 6) to introduce the intangible cultural heritage into schools, classes and textbooks, promoting the intergenerational transmission of the festival; 7) to establish a safeguarding network with interactions among multiple participants, including bearers, schools, colleges, communities, associations, local societies, research institutions and professional centers.
In conclusion, since the festival was inscribed on the List, the Qiang people transformed crisis into opportunity, pressure into impetus, and ruins into new homes, during which they also rebuilt and restored their traditional culture system, especially carried out various activities to safeguard the festival and related intangible cultural heritage.

Contact person for correspondence

Provide the name, address and other contact information of the person responsible for correspondence concerning the report.

Title (Ms/Mr, etc.)

Family name

Xiang

Given name

Kui

Institution/position

Sichuan Academy of Arts, China / Associate Research Fellow

Address

11 XimianqiaoJie, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, 610041

Telephone number

+86-13628005298

Fax number

E-mail address

xkyws@126.com

Other relevant information

www.scyishu.org.cn (Website for Sichuan Memory)

B. Status of element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List

B.1.

Social and cultural functions

As a major annual event for Qiang people to celebrate the harvest and to ring in the new year, the Qiang New Year Festival is not only an occasion for demonstrating ritual protocols, oral traditions and performing arts, but a cultural space loaded with social practice, life experience and traditional knowledge. With diversified ritual forms in different places, the festival is themed with harvest celebration, thanksgiving and praying for happiness. The Qiang people preserve and transmit the historical and cultural information of their ancestors by oral instruction and personal demonstration, express their respect and worship towards nature, all creatures, the motherland and their ancestors through festival activities (which reflect the Qiang people’s theory of harmony between man and nature), regulate community actions and people’s behavior, and promote social harmony and family peace. As the core part of the ritual activities in the festival, shbi’s chanting include both religious classics and national epics, containing traditional philosophy, folk culture, dance, music, astronomy, geography, traditional medicine, etc. In the intervals of ritual, feasting and dancing, shbi and the elderly in the village gather together to discuss official business, underscore village regulations and declare the enrollment of male new-borns on the clan’s pedigree that year, preserving the traditional discussion system with democratic features. Through the participation in festival activities, the collective identity and culture ascription of the community and clan are maintained and enhanced.
The festival consists of three parts: worship of the mountain, collective celebration and family worship. Sacrificial ritual to the mountain is directed by shbi, who lead the people to dance the sheepskin-drum dance and pray for happiness; subsequently, under the direction of the prestigious elderly in the village clan, the collective celebration featuring jar opening and wine drinking is a moment for all of the Qiang people to express their harvest joy and piety; at dusk, before the New Year feasting, heads of families preside over family worship to the ancestors, the god of fire and the god of the family. Therefore, the bearers and practitioners of the festival are diversified and extensive.
The traditional Qiang New Year Festival is organized in the “headman” system: each village is divided into several groups based on clan, each of which sends a representative to draws lots in order to decide the order of festival preparation; the family on duty is headman while the others are assistants, all of whom will preside over the festival activities in turn according to an established sequence. Therefore, the patriarch of each clan serves as organizer in the festival activities.
As an important part of the sacrificial rituals in the festival, the worship of the mountain is directed by shbi, who enjoys high prestige in the clan since he has a good knowledge of Qiang people’s religious classics, ritual traditions, astronomy, medicine, etc. Besides presiding over worship of the mountain, capping ceremonies and votive offerings in Qiang people’s daily life, shbi also leads a dance team to dance with a sheepskin-drum beat at festivals, offering sacrifices to all creatures. Without written records, the Qiang culture is transmitted generation by generation through shbi’s chanting. As the core bearer of Qiang culture, shbi, who epitomizes the traditional culture of the Qiang people, has a special responsibility for the element. With a special mission during the festival, shbis play social and cultural roles in coordinating social relations and promoting community harmony. The transmission practice of shbi is an important way to maintain the viability of the element.
In addition, as the festival is featured with diversified forms of Qiang people’s folk culture, folk dancers, singers, musicians, traditional sports lovers and handicraftsmen all take their own responsibilities for the transmission of the element.

B.2.

Assessment of its viability and current risks

Current situation of viability
The Qiang ethnic group, also called "Erma" or "Rrmea" by itself, owns a total population of 309,576 (according to the 2010 national census), 80 percent of which live in compact communities in Mao, Wenchuan and Li of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County of Mianyang City, Sichuan Province (hereinafter referred as the "four counties of the Qiang residential areas"). Due to historical reasons, less than 20 villages can still completely perform the celebrations of the Qiang New Year Festival in a traditional way after the Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008. However, the viability of the element has been greatly enhanced since it was inscribed on the List. As a result, people inhabiting in major Qiang residential areas further identified the value of the festival with the result that grand celebrations for the festival on the first day of the tenth lunar month will be held annually; complete festival traditions are still maintained in Qiang villages with inhabiting shbis; the quantity of Qiang people actively participating in festival activities has increased to about 200 thousand currently, compared to about 100 thousand before the Wenchuan Earthquake, accounting for two thirds of the total Qiang population in China. On the one hand, gradual restoration of the element along with the post-earthquake reconstruction also stimulated the safeguarding practice of intangible cultural heritage in Qiang residential areas, which expanded in steps to Songpan, Heishui and Jiuzhaigou in Aba Autonomous Prefecture as well as Pingwu and other counties of Mianyang City with related folk cultural activities showing unprecedented vitality; on the other hand, demographic and geographical distributions of the Qiang changed from 10 counties of 2 provinces including Sichuan and Guizhou before the earthquake to 17 counties and cities involving 4 provinces as Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi and Gansu afterward because of the post-earthquake re-allocation project, leading to expansions of the festival practice to different degrees.
Until now, there are in total 64 representative bearers of the element in four counties of the Qiang residential areas, among which 3 are at the national level, 12 at provincial level, 11 at prefectural level, 1 at municipal level and 37 at county level. In fact, unfortunately, from 2011 to 2015, 7 bearers passed away successively and 1 has been lost since the Wenchuan earthquake, leaving only 56 bearers actually registered with only 17.85 percent of them being able to preside over the festival rituals. It follows that though the viability of the element has been enhanced to some extent, the cultivation and intergenerational transmission of shbis who are the representative bearers of the element and the practicing group of the element are not proportional to the population distribution of the Qiang people, presenting certain challenges to its sustainable development.

Current threats
（1）Changes of living environment hinders the traditional practice. The Wenchuan earthquake greatly destroyed the natural environment of the Qiang residential areas with severe water and soil erosion as well as frequent secondary disasters, making the Qiang people living in mid-or high-level of the mountains to leave their homes. For them, it is hard to continue the festival practice of collective sacrifices and votive offerings due to changes of living environment and style together with the severe loss of “sacred venues” of traditional significance for the element including the sacred mountain, the sacred forests, the sacred white stone tower and the tower for gods of mountains, which resulted in the loss of many traditional rituals and procedures for the Qiang New Year Festival in new habitation.
（2）Declining interest in the Qiang language threatens the traditional transmission. Since the Qiang have a unique language but no writing system, traditional oral instruction and demonstration play a significant role in cultural transmission. With improved traffic conditions, the Qiang youth were influenced by culture from the outside world, and a large number of labors and students went out for work and study. The Qiang youth and children show a weakening grasp of their mother tongue and tradition, resulting in a distinct transmission division within Qiang culture. According to the survey data collected by scholars, less than 100 thousand Qiang people currently still use the Qiang language in daily life in major Qiang residential areas. The Qiang inhabiting Beichuan, Pingwu and even areas around Shaanxi province have adopted the Chinese language despite the fact that te Qiang language is maintained in some core Qiang residential areas, which however, are also confronted with lack of vitality, difficulties of transmission and other problems for their mother tongue. Marginalization of the Qiang language’s value and dramatic decline of the population using it has already endangered the element as well as its transmission and ritual practice via oral instruction.
（3）Bearer cultivation is faced with various difficulties. Currently, shbi transmission is mainly up against the following problems. First, intergenerational transmission of shbi is compressed by high requirements on the bearers, which demand a skill learning period of at least 3 years to more than 10 years under the transmission mechanism that shbi is restricted to male family members; second, the classics passed by oral instruction and ritual criteria grasped by only a few shbis are draining away due to shbis’ declining memory and health status of old age, which greatly impeded the instruction and transmission; third, the younger generation lacks interest and enthusiasm in learning shbi culture, given the long cultivation period, high difficulty and low income; fourth, the rural population of the Qiang is migrating to urban areas at an increasing speed with many young adults migrating to urban areas of east and middle China to study or work, endangering the transmission of shbi and the practice of the element.
（4）The “empty nest” phenomenon appears in Qiang villages during urbanization. Since the festival is a local festival for the Qiang minority instead of a national statutory holiday, outgoing migrant workers and students are unable to return home, thus resulting in the loss of a large number of young participants. As estimated by relevant departments, there are currently more than 100,000 Qiang people from Sichuan Province working in other places, accounting for about 33.3 percent of the total post-earthquake Qiang population. The Qiang villages are confronted with increasingly severe “empty nest” phenomena with a large number of young adults leaving their hometown for development, leaving a worrying situation for the Qiang’s mother tongue education and traditional culture cultivation. This will definitely block the intergenerational transmission of the element in the future.

B.3.

Implementation of safeguarding measures

B.3.a.

Objectives and results

Indicate what primary objective(s) were addressed and what concrete results were attained during the reporting period.

Objectives and results

A four-year safeguarding action plan (2009-2012) was filed in the nomination for the Qiang New Year Festival with the overall objectives as follows: to support representative bearers of the festival in all aspects and to encourage the inhabitants in order to revitalize the traditional festival activities; to make clear the viability situation to resume the festival activities after the earthquake; to set up a database for relevant materials and documents; to rebuild the transmission and practice training center for the element and to improve the mechanism for transmitting the element. During the reporting period, all safeguarding measures of the element have been fully implemented and further expanded with expected objectives basically achieved. Specific achievements are stated as follows:
—Provide major support for representative bearers of the festival and carry out transmission and practice in a planned way
Governments at all levels provided special assistance and support for the representative bearers of the element with subsidies offered accordingly and personal accident insurances bought for them for free to motivate their transmission awareness and responsibility; shbis took the initiatives to impart their skills during daily practice and transmission as well as ritual practices and to provide active demonstration and guidance during annual festival activities. By the end of 2015, representative bearers from different locations had accepted and taught a total of 54 apprentices, which is twice the number before the element inscribed on the List; and 17 of them have finished their apprenticeship after systematic learning of shbi classics and related ritual skills, accounting for 31.48 percent of the total apprentices accepted.
—Restore cultural space for practice of the element
During the post-earthquake reconstruction and restoration, governments of all counties of the Qiang residential area appropriated capital in time to organize the local Qiang people to reinforce and repair the festival sacrifice venues (the Qiang fortresses, the sacrifice towers, the sacred forests and the towers for the gods of mountains) damaged and collapsed due to the earthquake; bearers and practitioners from each village also wrought and supplemented sacrificial implements destroyed during the earthquake, including sheepskin drums, sacred canes, swords and gongs; moreover, Qiang Culture Ecological Safeguarding Experimental Zone at national level was set up inside the Qiang residential area to actively restore and rebuild the Qiang villages settlement. All these measures created necessary conditions for related community and group to carry out the Qiang culture practices and to restore the cultural space for the practice.
—Establish the practice and training centers of the element and carry out regular safeguarding practices
Renovated badly damaged intangible cultural heritage museums and practice and training centers; supported and assisted bearers to train and teach apprentices or carry out educational training; governments of each county in the Qiang residential area appropriated special fund to set up practice and transmission training centers in villages and towns with great influence on the festival activity and comparatively concentrating shbi culture, where shbis and representative bearers of projects related to the festival carry out regular practice and transmission as well as communication. For example, practice and transmission activities such as the sheepskin drum dance and shbi chanting are very normal inside the practice and training center in Wenchuan with more than 120 bearers of different festival customs practicing and communicating here throughout the year. The practice and transmission training center in Mao County focuses primarily on apprentices training and teaching by the bearers with more than 100 people participating in the practice and transmission here including active participation of community associations such as Guni Qiang Association and Erma Association.
—Set up databases for intangible cultural heritage resources of the Qiang
Cultural management, safeguarding and research departments at provincial, prefecture (municipal) and county levels organized professional teams to carry out persistent survey, recording and filing on the current situation of intangible cultural heritage of the Qiang and the element as well as representative bearers after the earthquake by applying method of modern multimedia. In the meantime, the Art Research Institute of Sichuan Province also carried out a general survey on related cultural resources before and after the earthquake, pooling academic forces to scientifically organize, classify and record collected data. The Qiang intangible cultural heritage resources databases were thus established with audio and video data of 4,740 minutes, 6,274 photos and 256 texts.
—Establish Qiang folk customs exhibition rooms inside the museums of each county
According to the post-earthquake rebuilding plan, the central government activated the counterpart assistance project, by which the appointed provinces (cities) carried out assistant rebuilding for their counterpart earthquake-stricken areas. The appointed provinces and cities appropriated capital to build Qiang museums in areas where the county governments of Wenchuan, Li, Mao and Beichuan locate with Qiang folk customs exhibition rooms established inside. The rooms display excavations related to Qiang culture, sacrificial implements of the festival, clay sculptures, sacrifice scenes of the festival, texts and pictures caption of the festival as well as scriptures organized by shbis with documentaries of the festival activity played repeatedly and with regular explanation of the festival and its related customs by bearers of the element. These rooms help to publicize and guide the exact cultural meaning of the element while receiving audiences and tourists.
—Publish a series of research results on culture of the element
Related materials of the element were subsidized for compiling, publication and exhibition, while promotion and other support and assistance favorable for transmission of the element were also provided. Qiang New Year Festival (Chinese and English version) and The Compilation of Qiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Directories in Sichuan Province were compiled and published by cultural experts and scholars of Sichuan province after comprehensive research and scientific analysis of the element, reconstructing the viability situation and development vein of the element and related intangible cultural heritage; while The Documentary of Qiang Culture Bearers, by applying the method of oral history, systematically presents Qiang shbi culture and the life history and transmission situation of different bearers of the festival. In addition, a series of monographs and academic papers on the festival inside and outside Sichuan Province were published successively.

B.3.b.

Safeguarding activities

Key safeguarding activities during the reporting period (2010-2015) are as follows:
—Provide major support for the bearers
Cultural departments at all levels made a series of incentive measures and preferential policies to help bearers recover basic living after the earthquake as soon as possible, so that they could actively cultivate intergenerational transmitters to lay the foundation for the viability of the element. In addition, various measures were taken to support the element and the representative bearers of heritage including shbi chanting, saleng dance, and the sheepskin drum dance. Moreover, an award fund was established for the bearers to encourage them to accept apprentices and impart skills, thus cultivating and reserving more transmitters.
—Gradually restore the residence settlement and cultural space indispensable for the element during post-earthquake reconstruction
During post-earthquake reconstruction, in order to show full respect for regional cultural identity of the ethnic minority and the will of local residents, counties in Qiang residential areas and their respective counterpart provinces and cities held workshops and training classes with experts giving instructions and Qiang representative bearers of fortress building invited to impart stone-building techniques; guided by the principle of “restoring the old as the old and respecting the original appearance,” and all renovations were carried out under the premise of maintaining the original appearance to restore the residential buildings in Qiang villages as they were before the earthquake for the realization of systematic safeguarding of residence settlement patterns and living environments with folk custom. Culture stations were built in all villages and towns with a series of Qiang cultural facility and practice and transmission training centers for the festival to encourage bearers to accept apprentices and impart skills, providing a broader transmission space for the element. Furthermore, measures taken for natural environment safeguarding also promoted the ecological recovery of the festival custom and related cultural space (the sacred mountain, sacred forests and altars, etc.).
—Carry out systematic survey, collection and digital documentation of the element and related intangible cultural heritage resources
From 2009 to 2012, the cultural authority of Sichuan province built professional teams to carry out field survey on Qiang intangible cultural heritage and bearers in 4 counties, 15 towns and 18 villages of the Qiang residential area, focusing on the recording of the element and related intangible cultural heritage including the cultural components of the festival as mountain sacrifice and votive offering, shbi chanting, sheepskin drum dance and saleng dance, as well as oral classics (myths, epics, legends and ballads) and performing arts related to the element; conducted general surveys on the viability situation of the element in counties, townships, towns and villages in major transmission areas, and collected a series of cultural subjects related to the festival, including a full set of sacrifice implements for shbi during the salvage safeguarding. During the past 6 years, the cultural authorities of all counties in the Qiang residential area have carried out general surveys in more than a hundred villages, recording and filing the folk cultural art resources involved in the festival activity and major bearers.
—Carry out detailed recording of the current situation of the element as well as its bearers and practitioners
Sichuan Music and Dance Institute, after the overall surveys in Wenchuan, Li, Mao and Songpan of Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture and Beichuan Qiang Autonomous county and Pingwu, Mianyang city, compiled and published in March 2012 Documentation on Bearers of Qiang New Year Festival recording the information of 350 Qiang intangible cultural heritage bearers, among which 63 are bearers of the festival, including a female bearer. The documentation described with pictures and texts the history, current situation, content format and craftsmanship as well as basic information of the bearers, fully presenting the Qiang culture and viability situation of bearers after the earthquake. It not only provides detailed, accurate and scientific theoretical basis for the salvage safeguarding as well as restoration and reconstruction of the Qiang Culture, but also lays a solid material foundation for the transmission and development of intangible cultural heritage projects such as Qiang New Year Festival.
—Introduce the intangible cultural heritages into schools, classes and textbooks
Intangible cultural heritage transmission was conducted in an organized way as planned in primary and secondary schools inside Qiang residential areas with groups of bearers standing on the rostrum, which was a great success for exploring new methods of intergenerational transmission during the safeguarding practice of the element. For example, the festival customs culture and folk art were introduced to Keku Primary School in Wenchuan by employing bearers for classes and organizing the festival related interest groups as Qiang flute, Qiang embroidery, saleng dance and sheepskin drum dance, etc, thus helping students to understand, transmit and publicize their own culture with their cultural pride stimulated. Intangible cultural heritage was also introduced to the schools, classes and textbooks in Beichuan, Mao and Li so that it can be emphasized from school age for the children, thus stimulating the integrated development of intangible cultural heritage transmission and school education. The textbook Qiang Language and Words, compiled by Beichuan Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Press, Publication and Tourism, was popularized in some schools from autumn of 2015 with full coverage of courses from kindergarten to primary and secondary schools. The measure is of great significance for the safeguarding and transmission of the whole Qiang culture.
—Utilize methods loved by the mass to enhance visibility of the element
Methods loved by the mass including radio, television, training, lecture, picture exhibition, documentary and musical drama together with activities as Cultural Heritage Day and International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival in Chengdu, China were utilized to carry out in-depth publication of the concrete measures that had been taken and the significance of the festival safeguarding in general. For the past 6 years in the four counties of the Qiang residential areas, there were totally 370 (8 “entering schools” included) folk custom cultural demonstration performances or itinerant exhibitions of the element with 518 thousand audiences, 42 folk custom activities held by related communities with 466 thousand participants, 108 practice and transmission activities of the festival among the grass roots with 51.6 thousand participants, 25 government-level safeguarding training of the festival with 6.5 thousand trainees, covering 1.0421 million people in total. Moreover, the staff of the cultural center and television stations of each county went to Qiang villages for documentary shooting, making 21 feature films in Beichuan such as War Between the Qiang and Ge, saleng of the Qiang, etc., which were broadcasted on Beichuan TV before the Qiang New Year Festival 2015; while the large-scale music drama Qiang Spirit created with elements of the festival presents the historical culture, living style and local customs of the Qiang.
—Existing problems
（1）The intergenerational transmission of shbi culture is confronted with various challenges. Most of the shbis who are able to preside over the festival are aged with 6 of them having passed away in the past 6 years. Moreover, the intergenerational transmission is faced with more severe challenges due to shrinking ritual space and loss of the mother tongue’s natural environment. Although the main force of the festival bearers are at their 50s or 60s living in rural areas under great pressure, there are still 35 county-level bearers who are not covered by government subsidy up to now. Therefore, it is pressing to reinforce bearer safeguarding by absorbing more young and vigorous shbis of profound achievements into the transmission safeguarding mechanism.
（2）The Qiang people are faced with acute cross-cultural adaption issues after their relocation. Since the ecological environment indispensable for the Qiang culture was destroyed by the earthquake, a large number of Qiang people were relocated from their original hometown, while those whose houses were slightly damaged still live in their original houses after reinforcement and renovation, thus presenting the living pattern of “one village, two places.. For this reason, during post-earthquake reconstruction, the disaster-affected Qiang people were up against both community inclusion and culture adaption, which involves the differences between rural culture and urban culture as well as the differences between different regional culture and ethnic culture. The earthquake-affected people are bound to meet with cultural and mental adaption and integration once moving to a new community with the mother tongue especially, since the major carrier of certain ethnic culture, is faced with tough choices in formal education.

B.3.c.

Participation of communities, groups or individuals in the safeguarding activities

—The bearers played leading roles in related communities
According to the Qiang tradition, shbi transmission is restricted inside the family from an elder generation to the sons and nephews to finally form a shbi clan, which however, has witnessed certain breakthroughs during the past 6 years. A practice and transmission training center set up in Longxi Township, Wenchuan County had broken the family transmission restriction to gradually open the transmission to the general public, which substantially expanded the transmission range. For example, Wang Xiaogang and the Wang Xiaoyong brothers, after taking the initiative to learn the altar chanting from the elder shbi Zhourun Qingbao in a neighboring village, became the youngest shbis among the neighborhood with a basic grasp of the ritual process and major classics. In June 2011, shbi Wang Zhisheng organized a shbi classics culture study group in Qiangfeng Village, Wenchuan County with 6 apprentices accepted, and bought equipment at their own expenses to shoot and record a large number of shbi chanting despite of budget shortage. shbi Mu Guangyuan, in addition to publicizing Qiang New Year Festival culture in Shiyi Village, Qushan Town for years with efforts for the planning and implementation of its reconstruction, also filed the legends of this village and imparted the residents with Qiang folk songs and etiquette. As the epitomes of all representative bearers, the above-mentioned shbis play significant roles with active participation in the safeguarding activities via festival ritual practice and daily life practice.
—Community organizations of Qiang residential areas carried out safeguarding measures voluntarily
The restoring force for the element mainly comes from the general masses, especially the grass roots community organizations of various regions. As is shown by incomplete statistics, there are 19 non-governmental associations (see section B.5) active during the festival activities in the villages of the four counties of Qiang residential areas, effortlessly stimulating the festival revitalization in the practice and transmission training centers of the element. According to the incomplete statistics, the 19 grass roots community organizations actively practicing the element safeguarding in the 4 counties of Qiang residential areas cover 3,508 staff, including 2,259 female staff which accounts for 64.4 percent of the total.
—Intelligence participation by professional institute, local society, students organization in college and university, experts and scholars
Many academic institutions, including Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts, Research Center of Qiang Culture Safeguarding and Development in the Academy of Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage, Practice and the Training and Practice Center of Qiang Culture of Sichuan Provincial Qiang Culture Society have made significant contributions to the safeguarding and transmission of the element. Students’ associations in colleges and universities including Promotion Association of Qiang Culture Safeguarding and Development in Sichuan University of Culture and Arts, Qiang Flute Culture Association in Southwest University for Nationalities, with their 1,500 school members, motivate a total of 8,000 students to participate in campus activities of the festival per year. www.cnqiangzu.com and www.qiangmin.org, established by the Qiang culture society, released about a hundred articles regarding the element and safeguarding activities successively. During the reporting period, related academic research activities were carried out in succession with a series of significant achievements published, including The Documentary of Qiang Culture Bearers, Qiang New Year Festival (Chinese and English version) and The Compilation of Qiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Directories in Sichuan Province compiled by Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts and important monographs as Qiang shbi Classics, Qiang shbi Record and Journal of Qiang New Year Festival published successively. In addition, there were more than a hundred academic papers concerning the element and its safeguarding practice including interdisciplinary researches, paying special attention to the element as well as related intangible cultural heritage items from the perspective of disaster anthropology in particular.
Thanks to the active organization and coordination by culture centers and intangible cultural heritage safeguarding institutions of the four counties of the Qiang residential areas, the Qiang people, representative bearers, community organizations, teenagers of primary and secondary schools, and the general public benefited from full participation in the safeguarding practice activities of the festival. During the past 6 years, approximately 23,800 people in total from intangible cultural heritage safeguarding institutions of the four counties of Qiang residential area had participated in the safeguarding measures of the element.

B.3.d.

Timetable and budget

—Governmental sources
（1）Support and assistance for bearers
From 2009 to 2010, the central government and Sichuan provincial government provided national-level and provincial-level representative bearers of the Qiang New Year Festival with an annual subsidy of 8,000RMB and 5,000 RMB per person respectively.
From 2011 to 2015, the annual subsidy for national-level bearers by the central government amounted to 10,000 RMBn while that for provincial-level bearers remained unchanged.
In 2014, the Mianyang municipal government provided municipal-level bearers an annual subsidy of 2,000 RMB per person and Beichuan county government provided county-level bearers 800 RMB per person annually.
In 2015, Aba Prefecture government arranged special funds to subsidize prefecture-level intangible cultural heritage bearers with 3,000 RMB per person per year.
For the past 6 years, 29 bearers have received a total of 6,332,000 RMB with 198,000 RMB from the central government and 435,200 RMB from local governments.
（2）Set up practice and transmission training centers of the festival
In 2011, the practice and transmission training center of the festival of Longxi Township, Wenchuan County completed construction with a covered area of about 1,000 square meters. The center was built by Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province as the counterpart city with a total investment of 2.3 million RMB.
In 2012, the practice and training center of the festival of Heihu Township, Mao County completed construction with a covered area of about 1,000 square meters. The center was built by Shanxi Province as counterpart province with a total investment of about 2.9 million RMB. In 2013, 1 million RMB was appropriated for the fitting-out of the training center.
In 2012, the practice and training center of the festival of Beichuan County completed construction with a covered area of about 1,000 square meters and floor space of 2,000 square meters. The center was built by Shandong Province as counterpart province with a total investment of about 3.25 million RMB.
In 2013, construction of the practice and transmission training center of the festival of Li County was completed with a covered area of about 3,000 square meters. The center was built with a total investment of about 11 million RMB provided by the central government and the county government.
In 2014, Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication in Wenchuan County provided a subsidy of 200,000 RMB to support the construction of Practice and Training Center of Ancient Qiang Culture of Dasi Village, which was initiated with self-raised funding by Yang Zhiwen, a villager of Dasi Village, Keku Townshp.
In 2015, 30,000 RMB was appropriated for cleaning the debris flow hitting the practice and transmission training center of the festival in Longxi Township, Wenchuan County.
（3）Special safeguarding activities for the festival
From 2010 to 2011, the state made annual investments of 1 million RMB respectively for the 4 counties of the Qiang residential areaS for the festival safeguarding activities, totaling 8 million RMB;
In 2012, the state increased its investment to 1.5 million RMB respectively for the four counties for the festival safeguarding activities, totaling 6 million RMB;
In 2013, the central government appropriated 1.2 million RMB to Beichuan County and Wenchuan County respectively and 1.25 million RMB to Li as special safeguarding fund, totaling 3.65 million RMB;
In 2013, the Mao County government appropriated 480,000 RMB and the Li County government appropriated 580,000 RMB as special fund for the festival; a Guinness record of saleng dance by 10 thousand people was organized in Beichuan County as an activity of the festival with 350,000 RMB provided by the local government; furthermore, 300,000 RMB was subsidized for traditional sacrifice of the festival in Qiang villages and towns; and all these investments total 1.71 million RMB.
In 2014, the central government appropriated 1.75 million RMB to Beichuan County and Li County respectively as special safeguarding fund and appropriated 160,000 RMB for safeguarding activities of the element in Wenchuan County, with the total investment numbering 3.66 million RMB;
In 2014, Li County government provided 250,000 RMB as special funding for the festival in Li County; drum dance by a thousand people was carried out in downtown Beichuan County with a budget of 486,000 RMB appropriated by the local government; traditional sacrifices and other activities are conducted in villages and towns with a subsidy of 300,000 RMB, with the total appropriation staying at 1.036 million RMB.
From 2014 to 2015, Wenchuan County government has appropriated 75,000 RMB and 83,000 RMB for the festival activities in villages including Yanmen Township, Weizhou Town, Longxi Township and Miansi Town, which totals 158,000 RMB.
In 2015, the central government appropriated 1.05 million RMB and 1.15 million RMB for Beichuan County and Li County respectively as special safeguarding fund and provided 10,000 RMB for the festival safeguarding activities in Wenchuan County, which numbers 2.21 million RMB in total.
In 2015, the Li County government appropriated a total of 540,000 RMB as special safeguarding fund for the local festival.
From 2013 to 2015, the central government provided 1.84 million RMB as special safeguarding funding for Mao County, and the Mao County government appropriated about 1.35 million RMB for the festival safeguarding activities, numbering a total of 3.19 million RMB.
（4）Establish digital resources databases for Qiang intangible cultural heritage
In 2011, data collection and recording of Qiang intangible cultural heritage was completed with the investment of about 600,000 RMB form Sichuan Provincial government.
In 2012, the resource database of Qiang intangible cultural heritage was established with the investment of about RMB 3.8 million RMB.
In 2013, Mao county purchased a set of media assets management system for digital filing of the element and Qiang intangible cultural heritage as well as bearers’ information with more than 600,000 RMB.
From 2013 to 2015, Qiang intangible cultural heritage resources database was under the process of organization and collection with its maintenance costs appropriated by Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts with its daily working expenditure.
（5）Publish a series of the festival culture research achievements
In 2012, The Documentary of Qiang Culture Bearers was published with an investment of 340,000 RMB by Sichuan Provincial government.
In 2012, Qiang New Year Festival (Chinese and English version) was published with an investment of 200,000 RMB from Sichuan Provincial government.
In 2013, The Compilation of Qiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Directories in Sichuan Province was published with an investment of 200,000 RMB from Sichuan Provincial government.
From 2013 to 2015, the textbook Qiang Language and Words had undergone the process of being compiled, revised, on trial and popularized to some schools with a total of 80,000 RMB compiling fund provided by Bureau of Culture, Radio, Press, Publication and Tourism in Beichuan County and Bureau of Education and Sports of Beichuan County together.
—Community input
In 2014, the Practice and Transmission Training Center of Ancient Qiang Culture of Dasi Village, which enjoys a covered area of 1,600 square meters, was built with a total investment of 8 million RMB including a capital contribution of the initiator Yang Zhiwen, a resident of Dasi Village, Keku Township.
In 2015, there were a total of 350,000 RMB provided by social organizations in Li County for safeguarding practice of the festival.
In addition, during the post-earthquake reconstruction, a series of folk custom subjects related to the festival, and Qiang ethnic cultural relics as well, were collected from the Qiang people and different sectors of the society with or without compensation via online information released by museums and practice and transmission training centers of the festival in different regions.

B.3.e

Overall effectiveness of the safeguarding activities

During the reporting period which falls within the critical period for post Wenchuan earthquake reconstruction, Sichuan Province successively formulated Outline of Post-earthquake Intangible Cultural Heritage Rescue, Safeguarding, Restoration and Reconstruction in Sichuan Province and Planning of Qiang Culture Ecological Safeguarding Experimental Zone, giving priority to Qiang intangible culture heritage safeguarding among various post-earthquake cultural restoration and reconstruction projects. Furthermore, Intangible Cultural Heritage Law of The People’s Republic of China and Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Regulation of Aba Autonomous Prefecture issued and implemented successively in 2011 provides legal ground and institutional guarantee for the safeguarding and transmission of Qiang New Year Festival.
After the Wenchuan earthquake, the state has carried out unified planning for post-earthquake reconstruction with great financial support. As for the festival safeguarding plan, the Sichuan Provincial government made a unified deployment with clear segregation of duties for different counterpart units and safeguarding groups, which effectively prevented the overlap of manpower and capital. During implementation of the festival safeguarding measures, cultural departments at all levels coordinated and cooperated following the guidance of “government leading, civil organization and mass participation” with integrated human resources, helping to achieve safeguarding goals with less funding and enhance the safeguarding responsibility and awareness of all communities in the meantime. During the practice, bearers and practitioners group, community organizations, local societies, government sectors at all levels, the educational circles and the press circles all took active part in making their own contributions for the restoration of the element. By now, it has become a social consensus to maintain the vitality of the element and related Qiang intangible cultural heritage by participation, interaction, experience and transmission.
—Efficiency of activities
In general, all safeguarding measures involved during the reporting period have been well implemented and expanded with the expected results achieved. At present, the infrastructure constructed, including a series of traditional Qiang villages, sacrifice venues, fortress and towers, folk custom exhibition halls and practice and transmission training centers, etc., which are significant cultural venues for the element, plays a supporting role as expected. 64 representative bearers of the element have been identified with 29 of them receiving subsidies from governments at different levels; intergenerational transmission of the element has been promoted with integration of tradition education and school education; viability of the element has been clearly enhanced during the practices of related communities and groups with several regional festival cultural activities as saleng dance, sheepskin drum dance, Qiang flute, Qiang embroidery, mountain circumambulation and Qiang-style drum being restored and transmitted successively together with the festival activities during post-earthquake reconstruction. All these correlated intangible cultural heritage safeguarding practices not only reinforced the cultural carrier of the element, but also enriched the daily lives of the Qiang people. The organization of localized annual celebration of the festival, in particular, constantly raises the cognition and safeguarding awareness of intangible cultural heritage among the young generation.
During the post-earthquake reconstruction, thanks to the festival safeguarding, people started to pay close attention to intangible cultural heritage transmission in the earthquake-stricken area with the related safeguarding practices playing significance roles for community cohesion and cultural identity rebuilding. The theory of harmony between man and nature advocated in the sacrifice rituals during the festival in particular has played a positive leading role in recovering natural ecology of the community. Moreover, special safeguarding for shbi bearers and related ritual practices, as an irreplaceable element for post-earthquake mental adjustment in the community, helps the Qiang people to resume their optimistic and grateful spirit.
—Funding efficiency
The festival safeguarding during post-earthquake reconstruction shows its particularities. First, governments at all levels integrated the safeguarding of the element and the Qiang intangible cultural heritage into post-earthquake restoration and reconstruction with a series of rules and regulations to standardize management for the implementation of all safeguarding measures. Government at all levels set up special fund to increase investment in intangible cultural heritage safeguarding; established project input mechanisms regarding infrastructure construction, data collection and organization, representative bearers subsidy, talent cultivation and transmission activities, etc. so as to control funding flow and to earmark the funding for its specific purpose with special accounting. These measures helped to achieve expected goals during the safeguarding activities with improved fund efficiency. According to the statistics of related data (see section B.3d), a major part of the earlier funding input went to the construction of practice and transmission training centers, while the later mainly used for the festival safeguarding practice and support for organized practice and transmission activities inside the community, which is reasonable for post-earthquake reconstruction of Qiang residential area and overall safeguarding of Qiang intangible cultural heritage.
—Available human resources are still restricted
At present, there are 5 professional intangible cultural heritage safeguarding institutions in the four counties of the Qiang residential area with only 11 staff, meaning 2.2 staff on average for each institution. As for the government management who depend on grass roots towns and villages as well as cultural centers of related counties, available human resources are still greatly limited. Therefore, it is of top priority to create more local management positions with active introduction and cultivation of professionals on intangible cultural heritage.

B.4. Community participation

Community participation

Since the Qiang New Year Festival was inscribed on the List, villagers from Qiang residential areas have enhanced their identification for the value of the festival. On every first day of the tenth lunar month, all shbis and representative bearers of the festival as well as most Qiang villagers participate in sacrificial rituals and celebration activities spontaneously. Villagers from Qiang residential areas also actively take part in the safeguarding and transmission activities for the festival.
—A network of joint safeguarding actions from communities, experts, local associations, specialized center, research institutions, colleges, universities, primary and secondary schools gradually comes into being
Prior to the festival in 2010, the First Symposium on Intangible Cultural Heritages of Qiang People and Post-disaster Reconstruction was held in Sichuan University of Culture and Arts (original Mianyang Arts College of Sichuan Conservatory of Music), where about 60 researchers on Qiang culture and bearers of Qiang flute, music, dance and embroidery from different places gathered for discussions. In June 2011, the First Symposium on Salvage and Safeguarding of shbi Culture of the Qiang People was held in Mao County, where shbi bearers from counties of Mao, Wenchuan, Li, Songpan and Beichuan (Mianyang City) as well as Ningqiang County of Shaanxi Province actively participated in the discussion. Thereafter, a dozen of community associations, civil organizations and students’ associations (see section B.3c) in colleges and universities emerged in Qiang residential areas; together with bearers and experts of intangible cultural heritages related to the festival, they carried out various activities in daily life spontaneously to combine the safeguarding of festival culture with living practice of local Qiang people, gradually forming several new safeguarding and transmission modes, some of which are as follows:
(1) A'er Village mode: villagers organize activities voluntarily
A'er Village of Wenchuan County assembled villagers from fortresses ofA'er, Baduo, Baijiaduo and Gelibie to hold sacrificial rituals of the festival through self-raised fund and supplies and gathered heads of all households to discuss issues on festival culture safeguarding collectively. In 2011, A'er Archives co-signed by A'er Villagers was published by Cultural Relics Press. The book is filled with materials on historical lifestyles and cultural context of the Qiang people compiled by villagers independently and supplemented with photo and video data on Qiang culture taken by villagers, comprehensively reflecting the customs of the festival and related folk life.
(2) Dasi Village mode: enthusiasts of folk culture establishes practice and transmission training center on his own
To safeguard and transmit the cultural traditions of Qiang people, Yang Zhiwen, chairman of the village committee of Dasi Village, Keku Township, Wenchuan County, appropriated 8 million RMB by himself to build the Dasi Practice and Training Center of Ancient Qiang Culture (renamed Dasi Ancient Qiang Museum later) from 2012 to 2014, with a covered area of 1,600 square meters. Besides exhibiting hundreds of articles of folk culture collected by him, the center also provides an interactive platform for villagers to carry out practice and transmission activities regularly. In the meantime, Yang Zhiwen led villagers to afforest barren mountains with seven-year efforts, which not only restored and rebuilt the space for the votive offering to the mountain damaged in the earthquake, but brought modern agriculture, ecological tourism and ancient Qiang culture safeguarding into sustainable development, with the annual per-capita income of the village exceeding more than 8,000 RMB.
(3) Li County mode: schools introduce intangible cultural heritages into class in cooperation with associations
Schools in Li County successively compiled textbooks on folk culture to introduce intangible cultural heritages of Qiang people into education in kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools as special programs; in the meantime, they adopted the “association plus school' mode, in which A'erge Ancient Qiang Association would send members to train and teach students regularly, promoting the introduction of intangible cultural heritages in schools. As a result, primary and secondary schools in Ganpu Town and Tonghua Town established interest groups separately, including Qiang harmonica playing team, Qiang-style shoe making team, sheepskin drum team, Bobasengen dancing team and suona playing team; Puxi Primary School established the Practice and Transmission Base for Ancient Qiang Culture officially, to carry out practice and transmission activities including folk customs of the festival in extracurricular time.
(4) Interactive mode among counties of Beichuan, Mao, Wenchuan and Li: joint activities in Qiang residential areas
Around 1988, four counties of Qiang residential areas jointly held “Qiang New Year Festival Gala” more than once: hosted by counties in turn, the gala was attended by delegates from all counties, who were able to learn from each other in related folk arts like the Qiang flute and Qiang embroidery; at the same time, economic exchange and academic discussion also took place.. This interactive mode was continued and expanded in post-disaster reconstruction, especially playing a positive role in enhancing cultural identity and social cohesion between relocated earthquake victims and local communities. For example, cultural activities of Qiang New Year Festival themed with Joint Celebration of Qiang People in Beichuan were carried out in November 2015, when Qiang people from major residential areas including counties of Mao, Li, Wenchuan, Songpan and Pingwu of Sichuan Province and sparsely populated counties of Feng, Lueyang and Ningqiang of Shaanxi Province, gathered in Beichuan to express their wishes and pray for offspring through such festival activities as sacrificial rituals, antiphonal singing and saleng dance. This shows that the interactive mode among counties of Beichuan, Mao, Wenchuan and Li provides an extended way of practice for the safeguarding of the festival, making the relocated groups and individuals participate in the safeguarding and transmission activities for the experience of going back home to celebrate the festival and to keep spiritual connections with the homeland, thereby finding a sense of cultural identity after relocation.
—Continue commitment of communities, groups and individuals as well as relevant non-governmental organizations to further safeguarding
All of Qiang shbis and representative bearers expressed their willingness to transmit their skills to successors without reservation in order to maintain the traditional forms of the festival as long as possible. Wang Zhisheng, a shbi from Qiangfeng Village of Miansi Town, Wenchuan County in his eighties, trains and teaches 3 apprentices at present, and he said that “my greatest hope is that, in my remaining years, someone could learn what I learned during my lifetime and transmit it.” Wang Xiaogang, a shbi from Xiuxi Village of Li County born in 1980s, also said that “my greatest desire is to transmit the shbi culture of Qiang people and let more people understand and love our culture.” What the two said reflects the wishes of shbis generation after generation.
In the two investigations by questionnaire, all of the 19 community associations, 6 local societies and 4 students’ associations stated that they would always cooperate with authorities concerned as well as primary and secondary schools in the transmission practice of the festival, and furthermore, that they would attract more young people to become members and would propose new measures for future safeguarding practices in accordance with characteristics of folk life, thereby bringing the festival back to fortress villages on the basis of cultural space and making the safeguarding practice become the impetus to maintain the community cohesion.

B.5. Institutional context

Please report on the institutional context for the local management and safeguarding of the element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List, including:

the competent body(ies) involved in its management and/or safeguarding;
the organization(s) of the community or group concerned with the element and its safeguarding.

Institutional context

a. the competent bodies involved in its management and/or safeguarding:
Center for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Sichuan Province
Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province
Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province
Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication of Li County
Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication of Mao County
Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County

b. the organizations of the community or group concerned with the element and its safeguarding:
—organizations of the community or group:
Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County: Beichuan Erma Culture Association, Beichuan Ethnic Art Troupe, Beichuan Gamicha Culture Association, Beichuan Sunflower Culture and Sports Association, Ancient Qiang Association of Piankou Town, Beichuan Azalea Art Troupe, Beichuan Qiang Embroidery Association and Beichuan saleng Association
Mao County: Guni Qiang Culture Association and Erma Culture Association
Wenchuan County: Wenchuan Azalea Art Troupe, Folk Culture and Art Association of Luobo Village in Yanmen Town, Dayu Culture Association of Miansi Town and shbi Culture Association of Longxi Town
Li County: Qiang saleng Association, shbi Opera Association of Puxi Village, A'erge Ancient Qiang Association of Xishan Village in Tonghua County, Guozhuang Association of Muka Town and Ancient Qiang Primitive Guozhuang Association of Xuecheng Town
—local societies, professional centers and research institutions
Aba Prefectural Tibetan and Qiang Cultures Research Group, Qiang Society of Aba Prefectural, Qiang Culture Research Group of Feng County, Shaanxi Province, Sichuan Provincial Qiang Culture Society, Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts and Research Center of Qiang Culture Safeguarding and Development in the Academy of Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage
—students’ associations in colleges and universities
Promotion Association of Qiang Culture Safeguarding and Development in Sichuan University of Culture and Arts, Qiang Flute Culture Association in Southwest University for Nationalities, Qiang Culture Association in Aba Teachers University and Qiang Culture Association in Sichuan Normal University

B.6. Participation of communities in preparing this report

Participation of communities in preparing this report

In preparing this report, the Cultural Department of Sichuan Province, together with the Center for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritages of Sichuan Province and Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts, consulted communities, groups and individuals concerned for opinions and suggestion through on-the-spot investigation, interviews with bearers and feedback discussions in communities, during which cultural authorities from four counties in Qiang residential areas played a positive role in coordination and liaison while representative villagers, bearers and community organizations in every Qiang village provided information on the implementation of festival activities and its safeguarding status since October 2009 through questionnaire. The preparation of the reports experienced the following three stages:
At the end of April 2013, authorities concerned held a conference for scheduling the preparation of the report in Wenchuan County of Aba Prefecture, during which the importance of this work was underlined. Questionnaire on the Implementation of Safeguarding Measures for Qiang New Year Festival was issued, and Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts was authorized to establish a working group for report preparation (hereafter referred to as “working group”), launching the preparation work.
In March 2014, the working group contacted cultural authorities from four counties of Qiang residential areas and trusted specialists to collect information and data among related communities and bearer representatives; in order to provide concrete information for the amendment and supplement of the report, all participants gave instant feedback that was summarized in a chronicle of Qiang New Year Festival safeguarding from 2009 to 2013, covering achievements in intangible cultural heritage safeguarding made by counties of Qiang residential areas.
From February to March 2016, the working group successively consulted communities, groups, associations and individuals for suggestions through questionnaires, collecting related information on safeguarding activities and teaching practice of bearers from 2013 to 2015; in the meantime, Qiang experts in Sichuan Province collected information on safeguarding activities of community organizations, civil societies, academic institutions, colleges and universities for the working group according to the questionnaire and issue list. Based on the questionnaire results, the working group completed the amendment, supplement and finalization of the report according to Statistics on Status of Representative Bearers of Qiang New Year Festival and Statistics on Safeguarding Activities of Qiang New Year Festival Organized by Communities.

C. Signature on behalf of the state party

The report should conclude with the original signature of the official empowered to sign it on behalf of the State, together with his or her name, title and the date of submission.

Name

XIE Jinying

Title

Director General, Bureau for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture, People's Republic of China

Date

27-05-2016

Signature

Sustainable Development Goals

Biomes

Domains of the Convention

Threatening factors

Periodic reporting

Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding

A. Cover sheet

A.1.

A.2.

A.3.

A.4.

A.5.

A.6.

A.7.

B

B. Status of element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List

B.1.

B.2.

B.3.

B.3.a.

B.3.b.

B.3.c.

B.3.d.

B.3.e.

B.3.f.

C

C. Update of the safeguarding measures

C.1.

C.2.

C.3.

C.4.

C.5.

D

D. Participation of communities in preparing this report

E

E. Signature on behalf of the State Party

Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding

A. Cover sheet

A.1.

A.2.

A.3.

A.4.

A.5.

A.6.

A.7.

B

B. Status of element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List

B.1.

B.2.

B.3.

B.3.a.

B.3.b.

B.3.c.

B.3.d.

B.3.e.

C

C. Update of the safeguarding measures

C.1.

C.2.

C.3.

D

D. Participation of communities in preparing this report

E. Signature on behalf of the State Party

Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding

B. Status of element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List

B.1.

B.2.

B.3.

B.3.a.

B.3.b.

B.3.c.

B.3.d.

B.3.e

C. Signature on behalf of the state party