Gold has been long viewed and used as an ornament of preciousness and luxury. Gold is often used to decorate textiles and this process is referred to as gold appliqué. Gold appliqué has a long history in Korea, and there are several records explaining a situation where the government prohibited the use of gold appliqué during the Three Kingdoms era (4-7 CE) due to concerns about the dissipation of the country’s wealth.

Knowledge is the foundation of indigenous cultures. As an expression of a given culture, it establishes relationships among an indigenous community with respect to its ancestral territory. The concept of knowledge or traditional knowledge is closely related to intangible cultural heritage. Intangible cultural heritage shapes the spirit of a culture, and central to its promotion and protection, is the revitalization and safeguarding of knowledge and cultural systems.

The Dusun people of Brunei Darussalam, amounting to roughly 10,000 people, are traditionally swidden rice cultivators. They used to live in longhouses called alai gayo (big house) that could accommodate three to four generations of bilateral family members, each administered by a council of elders known as tetuwo. The tetuwo were composed of both male elders (usually shaman and medicine men) and female elders called balian (Dusun religious priestesses) who are responsible for Dusun religious ceremonies referred to as temarok. Nowadays, they live in single houses distributed into small clusters of hamlets, due to the erosion of the traditional administrative system as a result of British colonialism in Brunei beginning in 1906.

Inventory-making efforts of intangible cultural heritage in Cambodia are aimed at providing the reader with a representation of the diversity of Cambodian culture and arts which include, but are not limited to performing arts, music, handicrafts, and languages. It does not aim to give an in-depth study on each of these forms but rather provide a complete overview of all the known forms of intangible cultural heritage with practical information regarding each element.

According to the oral traditions of the Cook Islands, sacred rituals were commonly performed on what is known as a marae or sacred ground. Each tribe has its own marae where ceremonies such as offerings of prayers, tributes to the gods and the induction of traditional titles on family members were once carried out. It also acted as a meeting place for important tribal matters.

Malaysia is a developing nation of Southeast Asia. A few of their famous slogans reflect the diversity of its present ethnic groups in terms of language, customs and traditions inherited from past generations, ‘One Malaysia‘ and ‘Malaysia Truly Asia‘. Malaysia’s cultural fusion is the result of immigration, trade and cultural exchanges over many centuries with Arab nations, China, and India, where the arrival of the first foreigners brought along with them their wealth as well as their cultural heritage and religion. Presently, these ethnic groups still maintain their cultural traditions, but managed to come together to develop Malaysia’s unique and contemporary diverse heritage.

The Yakan is one of the major ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines. Among the Yakan of Basilan in Mindanao, Philippines, instrumental music is given much importance. For instance, the kwintangan, an instrument of five to seven bossed gongs laid in a row, are used for courtship and celebrations.

The National Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage, popularly known as Lok Virsa, was established by the government of Pakistan in 1974 with a mandate to collect, document, preserve, and disseminate Pakistan’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Ningyo johruri bunraku is a puppet theatre composed of three elements: the chanter, the shamisen player, and three puppeteers. Bunraku originated at the end of the sixteenth century and was first performed outside or inside makeshift theaters, but in the mid-seventeenth century, it began being performed in more prominent theaters in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (now known as Tokyo).

ICH is an integral part of the indigenous population of Fiji known as the iTaukei. Borne of a rich oral tradition that spanned migration from Southeast Asia into the Pacific from 3,500 B.C., the iTaukei people of Fiji share many similarities with their island neighbors of Melanesia and Polynesia. ICH has manifested itself in many elements—from oral traditions, social practices, knowledge of nature, traditional craftsmanship, and performing arts. These elements exist in a rich interplay of reciprocal social systems in which the pinnacle is the chief, the physical embodiment of the ancestral spirits. Practice of the various elements legitimizes and enforces the status quo in traditional iTaukei life.

The mountain terraces in the cordilleras of northern Luzon, Philippines, were included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1995. Propitiously, there was no mention of the word rice in the citation of the inclusion. It well may be because, when the Spanish explorers went up the cordilleras in the 16th-17th centuries, they made mention of the existence of terracing. However, no mention of rice was made.

After the Angkor was inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List, it was necessary to establish working mechanisms to promote national and international collaboration.