East Asian region is developed a rich of variety in the intangible heritage manifests, from oral traditions, performing arts, customs, and rituals to festivals, clothing, crafts, and food throughout the centuries. However, as with other counties in the Asia-Pacific region, which is a treasure house of ICH, traditional cultural heritage of East Asia was in a crisis of extinction due to shifts in industrial structures and the population outflow of younger generations to urban areas. In response, the Republic of Korea and Japan introduced the concept of intangible cultural heritage in policies related to safeguarding cultural heritage more than fifty years ago. Mongolia, with the support of its respective government, followed suit by establishing an institutional foundation for national ICH inventory making and ICH safeguarding after ratifying the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003). Moreover, in relation to ICH safeguarding activities, UNESCO Category 2 Centres, which support ICH safeguarding activities, have been simulataneously going through the establishment process in the Republic of Korea, China, and Japan. As a well-intentioned objective for the future activities, the three centres are making efforts to build a cooperative mechanism among themselves. Another effort made in the region is the establishment of the ICH safeguarding system in Mongolia. The government of Mongolia has drawn up a national ICH inventory and identified bearers as well. The countries in East Asia have been very active in safeguarding, and their participation at regional and international levels. Therefore, countries in the region need to build trust and collaborative relationships while safeguarding ICH at national, regional, and international levels.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2005; conducted survey in 2009 and updated in 2016.\n- As of March 2018, has 7 ICH elements on the RL, 7 elements on the USL, and 1 accredited NGO.

The Conference on exploring and safeguarding shared ICH in East Asia jointly organized by ICHCAP and the UNESCO Beijing Office and hosted by the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO, was held on 10 September 2021.\n\nThis report is composed of eight case studies of East Asian Member States—namely China, Japan, Mongolia, and ROK.

In 2015, ICHCAP, IICAS, and the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO co-organized an international symposium, gathering leading experts and scholars in the region, with the topic of ‘oral traditions and epics’ to uncover more profound issues on ICH in the region. As the nomadic tribes of Central Asia have always been migratory, oral traditions have been the core means of intergenerational transmission in their culture. Since ancestral cultural practices and wisdom have been transmitted across generations orally, it is crucial to discuss these issues for safeguarding living 142 heritage in Central Asia. This book is the collection of the papers from the symposium.

On 13 September 2018, experts of the Asia-Pacific region gathered to discuss maritime topics. Organized and hosted by ICHCAP and the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, the symposium, in two sessions, allowed an opportunity to discuss issues related to traditional shipbuilding and navigation skills as well as traditional maritime knowledge in contemporary life.\n\nThis report is composed of seven presentation papers from seven countries, namely China, ROK, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, PNG, and Madagascar, regarding on transmission of traditional ship making and navigation skills.\n