Beyond the Politics of Heritage: Conceptualizing Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in China

• In Event: Issues of Making Heritage in East Asian Contexts

Abstract

This paper describes the process of folk cultural heritage protection in China. In formulating protective measures, agencies of different levels are at work such as folk culture experts, local government, the state, and international organization, etc. are expressed. As folk culture merged into intangible cultural heritage that conforms to international standards, it is used to demonstrate the diversity and richness of the Chinese culture. However, the critical awareness that is emphasized at the outset of protection activities gradually disappears and is absorbed into the discourse of the Great Chinese Culture. The question of what constitutes “true Chinese culture” is posed and creates controversy due to the mutability inherent in the concept of intangible cultural heritage. While the concept of ICH provides an important resource for the Chinese government as a national strategy, it is continuously slipping away because of its nature. The analysis in this paper shows the diversity and rifts in recent Chinese cultural nationalism in relation to the revival movements of traditional culture. While previous studies have emphasized how cultural heritage is made and contested by the nation or state or UNESCO, this paper maintains that the mutability of ICH makes any project of nation or state not very successful and, therefore, we should see not only how ICH is constructed by the state but also how ICH constructs the nationness.

Author

• Jung-A Chang, Incheon National University