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.

Abstract: East Asian countries such as Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Japan have had interactions and cultural exchanges for a long time ago. This paper is therefore about safeguarding the “Shared Heritage” in East Asia. Writing down the shared intangible cultural heritage in East Asia requires an understanding of the concept of sharedness from the perspective of commonality, similarity and recognition, and mutual acceptance. \n\nThis paper enumerates the Mongolian government’s initiatives and efforts to safeguard the shared intangible cultural heritage elements, such as “Falconry, a living human heritage,” and the challenges we face.