The art of embroidery is one of the ancient traditions of applied and decorative arts in Central Asia. The uniqueness and beauty of Central Asian embroidery, the abundance and diversity of its ornaments and techniques testify to the rich traditions of this art. Embroidery is widespread mainly in trade and handicraft cities and large villages along the Silk Roads in Central Asia. Each existing traditional schools have a unique symbol, style and color balance based on local knowledge and social practices.\n\nEmbroidery is common activity among women in Central Asia. Traditionally, women and girls embroider individually and in groups. Embroidery is passed down from generation to generation, mainly from mother to daughter, in the form of master-apprentice schools. Indigenous population in Central Asia wear embroidered items, it serves as a symbol of their devotion to their homeland and culture. It is especially found at craft fairs, festivals, contests, weddings and social festivities.\n\nNetworking on elaboration of the multinational nomination “The Art of Embroidery” in Central Asia was initiated by the NGO “Living Heritage” of Uzbekistan (“Umrboqiy Meros”) in May 2019. Main objectives of the networking were to strengthen collaboration among scholars and artisans in Central Asia and to promote joint safeguarding activities by inventory of traditional schools on art of embroidery in Central Asia.\n\nAd hoc working group has been created, which consisted of representatives from ICH stakeholders (governmental and non-governmental organizations, artisans and scholars) from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Offline and online meetings of the working group were organized from May 2019 to March 2020 on the monthly basis. In every meeting experts exchanged views on current status, development perspectives and safeguarding challenges of the art of embroidery in their countries.\n\nIt has been observed that element is practiced and transmitted almost in all the regions of three countries: Uzbekistan (especially in the centers of artistic embroidery such as Djizak, Fergana, Namangan, Nukus, Nurata, Bukhara, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz, Urgut, Tashkent, as well as other rural areas), Tajikistan(mostly in Dushanbe, Khujand, Kulob, Istaravshan, Bokhtar, Panjakent, Hisar, Gharm, Darvaz, Khorogh, as well as other cities and regional centres) and Kazakhstan (Eastern/Altay, South-Eastern/Almaty and Nothern/Mangystau and since last century in Western parts of the country). Annually, traditional textile festivals in Central Asia are being organized in Kazakhstan (“Korpefest”, “Kazakhstan oneri”, “Altyn sapa”), Uzbekistan (“Atlas Bayrami”, “Silk and Spices”, “Altin Kul”, “Raks Sekhri”, “Boysun Bahori”) and Tajikistan (“Diyori husn”, “Taronai Chakan”, “Idi Atlas”), where many masters from these countries and also from various regions of Central Asia participate and display their handmade art products. This kind of cultural events are proper places for exchanging knowledge and establishing dialogue among societies, groups and individual masters.\n\nThe multinational nomination “Traditional embroidery of Central Asia” was successfully completed and submitted to the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in March 2020 by the National Commission of Uzbekistan for UNESCO. The nomination will be examined by the ICH Intergovernmental Committee in 2022.\n\nAs follow up activity, following institutional members of the working group became coordinators for ICHCAP/IICAS Survey Project on Silk Roads Handicrafts Workshops, which was started in July 2021: Kazakhstan National Committee for the Safeguarding of the ICH, Institute of Culture and Information of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tajikistan and NGO “Living Heritage” of Uzbekistan.\n\nphoto : © Lutfiya Mirzaeva

Lacquer work, or liyelaa jehun as locally known, is one of the most distinctive forms of handicraft. In simple terms, a piece of wood is sculpted into the desired shape and then coated with layers of different colors of lacquer. Once the lacquer coating is finished, it is polished with dry leaves. And intricate patterns are engraved on the item with simple tools, without any premade drawings. They can be seen on many wooden objects and in Coral Stone Mosques of the Maldives; six of which on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List are also adorned with lacquered works that contribute to their outstanding universal value.

Venerated from a time before antiquity as life-giver, water has been held in the highest esteem in all cultures and eras. Water-related mythologies show as much the divine character associated with it, as its qualities that lie beyond the material. In our time, the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and traditional knowledge that surround water still give us an entryway to a fuller understanding of the great life-giver.

This networking program is based on experiences and achievements obtained from the collaborative work of UNESCO-ICHCAP in the living heritage field in Central Asia over the last decade.\n\nFor reference, the networking program comes on the heels of a three-party MoU signed by ICHCAP and organizations in Uzbekistan in 2019 and was followed by a Central Asia network meeting in Kazakhstan in 2019. In 2020, ICHCAP in cooperation with International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), conducted a survey project about ICH festivals along the Silk Roads, particularly with countries along the steppe route. Regarding the survey result, ICHCAP, IICAS and Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat of the Korea Foundation (KF) held an online webinar and a strategic meeting to consider the need for realizing the multilateral values of Silk Roads-related cooperation

The China National Silk Museum (CNSM) first opened in February 1992 and reopened in September 2016. Now it has become one of the first state-level museums in China, where audiences will find 9,000 square meters of displays in a typical southern Chinese garden of 42,286 square meters near West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The use of medicinal plants for healing diseases has been known to man ever since he was affected by diseases. When illnesses became frequent, ancient man started searching for drugs from the natural environment where he lived. Bark from trees, seeds, leaves, fruits and roots were all utilized for treating illnesses. We continue to use these remedies today, maybe in a more refined form (Petrovska, 2012).This knowledge from the past was transferred mainly through trial and error, and through the exchange of knowledge and experiences among diverse communities and regions mainly by means of oral communication. This exchange of knowledge continues even today, but with an incorporation of modern biomedicine into the traditional practices. This has led to Ayurveda,1Unani2 and Siddha3 emerging as integral parts of modern medicine, or through complementing the modern biomedicine in India.

Wedding ceremonies in Thailand are generally divided into two parts: a Buddhist component, which includes reciting prayers and offering food and other gifts to monks and images of the Buddha, and a non-Buddhist component, which is rooted in folk traditions and centers on the couple’s families.

Historically, Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) was known as the Golden Chersonese, and in the past, Malay populations lived in riverine and coastal settlements, which were some of the most important trading hubs in Southeast Asia. The Malay maritime empire was once a large kingdom, stretching from the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Riau, Sulawesi, and Southern Philippines. Across the Malay-speaking world, fabrics embellished with gold were for the rich and powerful, such as the ruler of the kingdom. Besides the golden fabric, songket, Malay embroideries were mostly used by nobility and royals. In the fifteenth century, the Melaka Sultanate instituted sumptuary laws governing the types of ornaments and colors for interior and soft furnishings, such as curtain fringes, bolster ends, cushions, prayer mats and other items. Across the Malay world, the numbers of dais, bolsters, and layers of siting mats, were associated with a certain hierarchy, varying across the regions.