The culture of the Central Asian steppes expresses itself vividly in the lifestyle of traditional nomadic practices. Mongolian culture has been in practice in the nomadic life and the traditions surrounding the nomad’s home (ger). And it is present in religious celebrations, national festivals, art and crafts, music and dance, language and literature, which form the backbone of Mongolian intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia. Mongolia is filled with valuable cultural properties and intangible cultural heritage of humanity that have been kept or practiced for thousands of years.\n\nGer, Mongolian Traditional Dwelling\nThe traditional architecture of the Mongols differed strongly from that of the settled peoples of Asia and other continents. Centuries ago, there the ger, also known as a yurt, appeared. It still offers shelter to nomads in particular places in Central Asia. Its development and fundamental principles are determined by the specific features of the way of life of Mongol tribes, which made it necessary to evolve a light and collapsible structure to be used as a dwelling or for public functions.\n\nMongolian Language and Literature\nMongolian is the language of most of the Mongolian population and inner Mongolia. By origin, Mongolian is one of the Altaic family of languages, and the history of the Mongolian language is long and complicated. Significant literary work of early Mongolia includes The Secret History of the Mongols, which was published in 1228).\n\nMongolian Religion and Beliefs\nThe Mongols have practiced several religions, of which Shamanism and Buddhism were the most common. The faith in Mongolia is Buddhism, though the state and religion were separated during the socialist period, but with the transition to the parliamentary republic in the 1990s, there has been a general revival of faiths across the country\n\nMongolian Art and Crafts\nMongolian arts and crafts have been passed down across generations from the Paleolithic times to today, leaving behind deep impressions on all facets of life and conscious, aesthetic, and philosophical thinking. Highly developed Mongolian arts and crafts come from the second millennium BCE. The works included sculptured heads of wild animals with exaggerated features. Other items include knives, daggers, and other items of practical and religious use.\n\nMongolian Music and Dance\nMusic is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among Mongolia’s unique contributions to the world’s musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing, and morin khuur (the horse-headed fiddle). The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs written by contemporary authors in the form of folk songs.\n\nHorse Culture of Mongolia\nIt is famously known that horses play a large role in the Mongols’ daily and national lives. Common sayings are, “A Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings,” and “Mongols are born on horseback” these are arguably true words. Even today, horse-based culture is still practiced by nomadic Mongolians.\n\nVisit https://www.toursmongolia.com/tours for additional information about Mongolian culture.\n\nPhoto 1 : Prairie meadow grass inner Mongolia traditional clothing © Batzaya Choijiljav\nPhoto 2~7 : © Batzaya Choijiljav

The paper presents the status of Shamanism practice, in terms of state policy, research status and challenges for the Shaman heritage in Bhutan. The paper is based on field research and policy analysis conducted by the National Library and Archive of Bhutan under a ICHCAP project grant. An overview of shamanism in different regions of Bhutan is presented with a region-wise categorization of Shamanism in Bhutan. This is followed by a brief overview of four shamanism practices prevalent in Bhutan, three in the southern region and one in the western region. The preliminary data show that the Shamanistic practices in Bhutan, as in other parts of the world, has been deeply rooted in religion and supernatural power. The paper also presents future plans and initiatives of the National Library and Archives Division for the documentation and preservation of Shaman heritage. In absence of any written state policy regarding the preservation and promotion of Shaman heritage, the study concludes by proposing some recommendations to the government and local stakeholders for the preservation and promotion of the practice.

"Papua New Guinea’s population is made up of at least 875 cultural groups. Given this high degree of cultural diversity, Papua New Guinea is rich in many cultural forms. Unlike other parts of the world where there are monuments and other structures that form the main body of cultural heritage, Papua New Guinea has mostly intangible cultural heritage. \n Recognising the important value of intangible cultural heritage to its people, the government of Papua New Guinea is interested in properly managing and maintaining its heritage. Over the last hundred years, there have been a number of instruments implemented for managing and maintaining culture, but until only recently, there had been nothing in place specifically for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. What is in place so far in this regard has been developed in only the last four years. \nBackground \nCulturally, Papua New Guinea shares many traits with other groups in the Pacific and South-East Asian region due to the historical connections it has with these two parts of the world. In itself, Papua New Guinea’s cultural history dates back to about 30,000 years, the earliest dating of human presence in the country. \nWhile most of the country is currently populated by non-Austronesians, who are believed to have arrived later in history, some parts of the country are inhabited by Austronesians, who were the earlier inhabitants of the region. The culture of Papua New Guinea is then seen in terms of the two main divides and they forms part of the basis for the work in the country’s cultural sector. \nThe culture service in Papua New Guinea has been in place since the British and German colonial eras, dating back to the early 1900s. This early legislation was mainly concerned with the protection of indigenous cultures forms of primitive art, which was lucrative for the colonists. These protective instruments were mainly "

Based on the accumulated experience over the course of fifteen years since the adoption of the 2003 Convention, Southeast Asia is well known for its diverse and abundant intangible heritage. Many states in this region have already initiated ICH safeguarding plans with active participation of communities.\nHowever, a number of Member States are still having difficulties employing community‐based safeguarding plan and programs. In implementing the 2003 Convention, much attention should be paid to build capacity to support and safeguard a wider range of ICH Stakeholders, including communities, group, and individuals.\nTherefore, this session will provide an opportunity to share experiences and discuss on the roles the community should exercise in safeguarding ICH. In this session, we will discuss the following questions: (1) Do ICH communities, groups, individuals, and practitioners fully recognise the spirit and significance of the 2003 Convention? (2) Are they subsequently assigned to embody appropriate roles?

The beautiful body-sway of Malaysian traditional dance is often showcased outside the country as an effort by Tourism Malaysia to introduce local arts to the world. Aside from the mainstream traditional dance, Malaysian aborigines are also known for their unique traditional dance art. Unfortunately, these forms are not commonly known nor are they publicized as much as modern dance art.

Central Asia is a region that has served as the centre of social and economic, in particular cultural interrelations of East and West. The nations of this region have a rich cultural heritage and ancient traditions like any nation in the world. The nations of Central Asia - Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan – make up a unified cultural space, defined by great grassland steppes and famous mountains, nomadic culture and common history, relics and traditions. Throughout this region we find petroglyphs, keregsur, steles, ruins and other monuments attesting to the mingling of peoples in the Central Asian steppe since prehistory. The territory of our own nation, Mongolia, has indeed been the centre several nomadic empires at various stages in history, established by different peoples of Central Asia sharing a similar cultural origin – Hunnu, Khitan, Turks, Uighurs, Kyrgyz and Mongols.

Sonsorol State, one of the Republic of Palau’s sixteen states, is one of Palau’s most remote and inaccessible states. Almost five hundred kilometers south of the Palau’s main islands and a two-day boat journey away, Sonsorol is composed of three island groups (Sonsorol and Fanna, Merir, and Pulo Anna), each approximately a hundred kilometers from each other.

The Mongolia is rich in Shamanic heritage, including both physical artifacts, ritual sites, places of cultural or historical interest and protected landscapes (‘tangible’ heritage) together with rituals, ceremonies, folklore, music, handicrafts, and traditional knowledge ( known as ‘intangible’ heritage). Under Mongolian shamanism we can understand complete science of nomadic philosophy, TNGRI worship, Sacred of peak mountains ritual, parallel psychology of Heaven, earth, fire and human life and supernatural consciousness of Nomadic. On that account we could understand Shamanism is reliable source of Nomadic culture. The Mongols, who themselves worshiped Heaven but had respect for all other religions. The Shamans are merely respected as priests of Heaven./TNGRI/ In Shamanism; the world is alive full of spirits. The plants, animals, rocks, mountains and water, all have a soul. These spirits must be respected to be in the balance with all of them. Balance is an important thing to keep harmony within you, the community, and the environment. When things get out of balance, there are harmful effects. This is when we need a shaman for help. Shamanisms believe in a concept called buyan (physical power) that is very close to the belief of karma (fate). The shaman loses buyan (buyanhishig) by violating taboos, when he has no respect for spirits or our ancestors.

The Ramanarpanam Trust established the DRIK Foundation, a value-based learning center for Indian Art and Culture, and innumerable learning and education platforms for the children and youth of oppressed and exploited communities. DRIK and DWARAKA were formed to protect the socio-economic and cultural heritage and values of rural India. All the above organizations together have launched the DRIK DWARAKA ACADEMY, integrating rights learning with community change, skill development, livelihood generation and leadership development among children, youth, and women. DRIK JEEVANOTSAVA, a cultural empowerment movement, has spread the message of human rights, values, peace, and leadership through its activities. Together with AVAS (Association for Voluntary Action and Services), this cultural network has taken root to revive traditions and heritage, giving livelihood options and rejuvenating old folk forms of songs, dances, storytelling, puppet shows and much more towards transforming communities.

Beijing opera dates back over two hundred years to the Qing dynasty, although its roots can be traced back to the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). While there are many aspects that make Beijing opera a unique cultural asset, the facial makeup used on performers is world renowned for its exquisiteness and mystique.

Key matters on modern significance of intangible heritage and its safeguarding Intangible heritage is living cultural heritage which can express human’s wisdom and sensibility intactly by this time. Even though some of them already disappeared, are about to disappear and would disappear not before long, there still remain many of them in our thoughts and experiences. Such heritage is the infinite future resources and traces of the past that human can enjoy in this digital era. The traditional cultures can play a more important role for us in feeling human’s emotions and humanity in the digital era because they contain old human’s memories, and can be an economic means as well. These intangible heritages, in essence, may have the same function even though their forms are different. In particular, we can see that certain cultures spread to neighboring regions, which led to the creation of a new form of culture in a community that accepted them. This process is important as an asset for sharing humanity and at the same time becomes a meaningful source for each community to have its cultural identity as an expression of diversity of human thought.\nTherefore, how to preserve the shared or coexisting intangible heritage among cultural communities is a key topic in the international society today. Meantime, there have been some cases in which even though they are the same kind of heritage, certain heritages in some areas were inscribed on the list of World Heritage but others were pushed aside, in spite of their equally excellent values. In today’s fast-changing society, if culture is neglected even a little bit, it will disappear. Then, if it disappears, total amount of culture in that society will eventually shrink, which means that the future values will be lost. What is called culture inevitably comes to vanish without those who use it, no matter how creative it is. In order to preserve traditional heritage that may disappear at any time, it is an essential process to persuade the society, develop modern utility and seek for strategic methods, deeply thinking of its future value of such heritage.

There are many aspects and dimensions to do research on Myanmar lacquer. Myanmar lacquerware has been studied by both local and foreign scholars from artistic and historical points of view. This research highlights the history of Myanmar lacquer, lacquer industry, and its prospects. Myanmar lacquer has a long history and remains as an active cultural phenomenon. But there are very few people who make a living from the lacquerware business. The main problems are the lack of market and scarce resources (labour and raw materials). This research’s objectives are to be able to preserve the traditional Myanmar lacquerware industry, to make it widely known internationally about the process of making Myanmar lacquerware, and to cherish the intangible cultural heritage of Myanmar. It also aims to show and record the current situation of lacquerware industry and to find ways of helping lacquer industry survive the challenges it faces today. In this research, a review of the relevant books, library survey, and field study are done, in addition to interviews with lacquerware makers, taking photographs on many aspects of Myanmar lacquerware, and foreseeing its prospects. The research areas focused on are Bagan and Kyaukka village.\nKey words: lacquer in Myanmar, Bagan, Kyaukka village, industry, production