Sai Nai Mu (赛乃姆) is a folk dance rooted in the lives, customs, characteristics and clothing of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. It has been widely transmitted among ordinary people in an agrarian environment. The dance moves also contain many motions from their daily lives, such as holding the hat, folding up the sleeves, dragging the skirt, and touching the chest while looking far away. A characteristic move is head shaking, moving the neck left and right. The knees are used fluidly to give a sensation of lightness and agility.\n\nThe Uyghurs dance the Sai Nai Mu on joyful occasions such as festivals or weddings. There is no set order for the format and movements, being impromptu and free in spirit. Although it is usually danced in couples, there is no restriction to the number of people and anyone can join in. The music is lyrical and elegant, but can shift to a more exuberant rhythm and pace according to the atmosphere of the moment.\n\nThe Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group which used to be active in the Mongolian highlands and Central Asia and currently reside mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. The Sai Nai Mu of the Uyghurs is a national grade intangible heritage registered in the Chinese Cultural Heritage and a compulsory subject in the middle school curriculum of China.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Utilizes movements in the daily lives of people in an agrarian culture\n∙Head shaking by moving the neck moving side to side\n\nPerformed by Yanbian Heumjung Dance Company\nDirected by Kim Yeong-hwa\nChoreographed by Kim Yeong-hwa

Sai Nai Mu (赛乃姆) is a folk dance rooted in the lives, customs, characteristics and clothing of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. It has been widely transmitted among ordinary people in an agrarian environment. The dance moves also contain many motions from their daily lives, such as holding the hat, folding up the sleeves, dragging the skirt, and touching the chest while looking far away. A characteristic move is head shaking, moving the neck left and right. The knees are used fluidly to give a sensation of lightness and agility.\n\nThe Uyghurs dance the Sai Nai Mu on joyful occasions such as festivals or weddings. There is no set order for the format and movements, being impromptu and free in spirit. Although it is usually danced in couples, there is no restriction to the number of people and anyone can join in. The music is lyrical and elegant, but can shift to a more exuberant rhythm and pace according to the atmosphere of the moment.\n\nThe Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group which used to be active in the Mongolian highlands and Central Asia and currently reside mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. The Sai Nai Mu of the Uyghurs is a national grade intangible heritage registered in the Chinese Cultural Heritage and a compulsory subject in the middle school curriculum of China.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Utilizes movements in the daily lives of people in an agrarian culture\n∙Head shaking by moving the neck moving side to side\n\nPerformed by Yanbian Heumjung Dance Company\nDirected by Kim Yeong-hwa\nChoreographed by Kim Yeong-hwa

Sai Nai Mu (赛乃姆) is a folk dance rooted in the lives, customs, characteristics and clothing of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. It has been widely transmitted among ordinary people in an agrarian environment. The dance moves also contain many motions from their daily lives, such as holding the hat, folding up the sleeves, dragging the skirt, and touching the chest while looking far away. A characteristic move is head shaking, moving the neck left and right. The knees are used fluidly to give a sensation of lightness and agility.\n\nThe Uyghurs dance the Sai Nai Mu on joyful occasions such as festivals or weddings. There is no set order for the format and movements, being impromptu and free in spirit. Although it is usually danced in couples, there is no restriction to the number of people and anyone can join in. The music is lyrical and elegant, but can shift to a more exuberant rhythm and pace according to the atmosphere of the moment.\n\nThe Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group which used to be active in the Mongolian highlands and Central Asia and currently reside mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. The Sai Nai Mu of the Uyghurs is a national grade intangible heritage registered in the Chinese Cultural Heritage and a compulsory subject in the middle school curriculum of China.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Utilizes movements in the daily lives of people in an agrarian culture\n∙Head shaking by moving the neck moving side to side\n\nPerformed by Yanbian Heumjung Dance Company\nDirected by Kim Yeong-hwa\nChoreographed by Kim Yeong-hwa

Sai Nai Mu (赛乃姆) is a folk dance rooted in the lives, customs, characteristics and clothing of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. It has been widely transmitted among ordinary people in an agrarian environment. The dance moves also contain many motions from their daily lives, such as holding the hat, folding up the sleeves, dragging the skirt, and touching the chest while looking far away. A characteristic move is head shaking, moving the neck left and right. The knees are used fluidly to give a sensation of lightness and agility.\n\nThe Uyghurs dance the Sai Nai Mu on joyful occasions such as festivals or weddings. There is no set order for the format and movements, being impromptu and free in spirit. Although it is usually danced in couples, there is no restriction to the number of people and anyone can join in. The music is lyrical and elegant, but can shift to a more exuberant rhythm and pace according to the atmosphere of the moment.\n\nThe Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group which used to be active in the Mongolian highlands and Central Asia and currently reside mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. The Sai Nai Mu of the Uyghurs is a national grade intangible heritage registered in the Chinese Cultural Heritage and a compulsory subject in the middle school curriculum of China.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Utilizes movements in the daily lives of people in an agrarian culture\n∙Head shaking by moving the neck moving side to side\n\nPerformed by Yanbian Heumjung Dance Company\nDirected by Kim Yeong-hwa\nChoreographed by Kim Yeong-hwa

Sai Nai Mu (赛乃姆) is a folk dance rooted in the lives, customs, characteristics and clothing of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. It has been widely transmitted among ordinary people in an agrarian environment. The dance moves also contain many motions from their daily lives, such as holding the hat, folding up the sleeves, dragging the skirt, and touching the chest while looking far away. A characteristic move is head shaking, moving the neck left and right. The knees are used fluidly to give a sensation of lightness and agility.\n\nThe Uyghurs dance the Sai Nai Mu on joyful occasions such as festivals or weddings. There is no set order for the format and movements, being impromptu and free in spirit. Although it is usually danced in couples, there is no restriction to the number of people and anyone can join in. The music is lyrical and elegant, but can shift to a more exuberant rhythm and pace according to the atmosphere of the moment.\n\nThe Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group which used to be active in the Mongolian highlands and Central Asia and currently reside mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. The Sai Nai Mu of the Uyghurs is a national grade intangible heritage registered in the Chinese Cultural Heritage and a compulsory subject in the middle school curriculum of China.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Utilizes movements in the daily lives of people in an agrarian culture\n∙Head shaking by moving the neck moving side to side\n\nPerformed by Yanbian Heumjung Dance Company\nDirected by Kim Yeong-hwa\nChoreographed by Kim Yeong-hwa

The Keun Taepyeongmu is a version of the Taepyeongmu, rearranged as a mass dance. Taepyeongmu is a court dance depicting the King and Queen dancing to pray for peace and prosperity in the nation. It is thought to have been created in the early 20th century by Han Seong-jun, the father of modern Korean dance, based on the shamanic music and dance of the danggut rituals from Gyeonggi Province.\n\nTaepyeongmu is visually impressive, with elaborate and grand costumes influenced by court dances. The movements are full of energy, and set to complex and precise rhythms. The steps feature techniques such as gyeob georeum, jan georeum, raising the knee, and heel stomping and raising, timed to the changing rhythms, which are mesmerizing yet restrained. The highly technical steps are unique to this dance and give it its unmistakable style.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙ 20th century adaptation of a shamanic dance performed at danggut rituals\n\nPerformed by Mongolian National Song and Dance Academic Ensemble\nDirected by Kim, Mi-Sook

Joroon Joroo depicts couples dancing while riding on horses strolling at a leisurely pace. This dance originates from the Mongolian folk dance Bii Biyelgee. Bii Biyelgee is a dance arising from the nomadic lifestyle, and was traditionally performed in a small confined space within the ger, next to the stove. The choregraphy is primarily performed using the chest, shoulders, head and wrists, to avoid raising dust indoors. The legs are in a half-sitting position or crossed, only acting to support the torso. It is characterized by the raising of the arms and shaking of the shoulders. It is primarily accompanied by the ekil (violin-like traditional instrument) and the choreography is relatively short in length.\n\nThe various ethnic groups of Mongolia each perform their own unique and creative form of Biyelgee, which all go by different names. As Biyelgee is not just a dance but a form of pantomime which involves wit, emotions and expressions, it requires a high level of technical expertise and patience to master. Biyelgee plays an important role in the Mongolian society composed of a wide range of communities, as a cultural asset reflecting the customs and lifestyles of Mongolian nomads, and a common ground connecting the various ethnic communities. The viability of Biyelgee had been under threat in the recent past, due to a continued decline in the number of transmitters and performing communities, the numbers of trainees and transmitters have been showing stable growth with safeguarding efforts by the UNESCO and the Mongolian government.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙A branch of Biyelgee dance which uses horses as a motif\n∙Biyelgee was inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009\n\nperformed by Mongolian National Song and Dance Academic Ensemble\ndirected by Tseden-Ish Altangerel\nchoreographed by Davaakhuu Altangerel

The Eagle Dance is a Mongolian folk dance expressing the movements of a white eagle flying across the sky. Dancers raise one leg and flap their arms, imitating eagles flapping their wings. They also perform powerful movements to dynamic music. The basic move of raising both arms while moving the shoulders up and down originates from the Mongolian Biyelgee dance.\n\nThe white eagle is known to be the totem bird of Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire. The Eagle Dance represents the bravery of 13th century Mongolian warriors, and is a permanent fixture in the repertoire performed at major national events.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙Dance mimicking the movements of animals\n\nPerformed by Mongolian National Song and Dance Academic Ensemble\nDirected by Tseden-Ish Altangerel\nChoreopraphed by Davaakhuu Altangerel

ICH Video Production in the Asia-Pacific Region : Central Asia\n\nRapid urbanization and westernization are changing the environments in which intangible cultural heritage is rooted. The importance of documentation that traces the effect of social changes on intangible cultural heritage is being emphasized as a safeguarding measure. Quality video documentation is an important resource that enables the conservation and transmission of existing intangible cultural heritage and raises its visibility.\n\nVideo documentation is the best medium to record intangible cultural heritage in the most lifelike manner, using the latest technologies. It is also an effective tool for communicating with the public. However, conditions for video production in the Asia-Pacific remain poor, requiring extensive support for quality video documentation.\n\nICHCAP has been working to build the safeguarding capabilities of Member States and raise the visibility of intangible cultural heritage in the Asia-Pacific by supporting the true-to-life documentation of intangible cultural heritage as this heritage is practiced and cooperating with experts, communities, and NGOs in related fields.\n\nSince 2010, ICHCAP has hosted annual Central Asian sub-regional network meetings with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia to support the ICH safeguarding activities of Central Asia. Through their collaboration, ICHCAP has supported projects involving collecting ICH information, producing ICH websites, and constructing ICH video archives.\n\nAt the Sixth Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in Jeonju in 2015, ICHCAP, four Central Asian countries, and Mongolia adopted a second three-year cooperation project plan on producing ICH videos to enhance the visibility of ICH in Central Asia.\n\nICHCAP developed guidelines and training programs for the project and invited video and ICH experts from the participating countries, and held a workshop in November 2015. After the workshop, focal points for the project were designated in each country, and each focal point organization formed an expert meeting and a video production team to produce ICH videos.\n\nInterim reports were submitted to ICHCAP in February 2016, and the first preview screening was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during the Seventh Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in May 2016. Since then, each country has carried out the project according to the project plan. ICHCAP met with each country between October 2016 to February 2017 to check on the project progress.\n\nAfter the final preview screening during the Eighth Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2017, final editing process took place in each country, and fifty ICH videos were completed by October 2017.\n\nAll photos introduced on this page along with fifty ICH videos are from the exhibition 'Living Heritage: Wisdom of Life' held in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Republic of Korea. Designed for introducing various ICH in the five countries, this exhibition shows photos on representative twenty elements in each country collected during the process of on-site survey and documentation for ICH Video Production Project in Central Asia by experts participated in the ICH video production project.\n\nICHCAP will continue its ICH documentation projects in the Asia-Pacific region for the next ten years by expanding the scope from Central Asia and Mongolia to Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and the Pacific.\n\n\nPartners\nMongolian National Commission for UNESCO • National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Tajikistan for UNESCO • Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage Mongolia • National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage under the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO • School of Fine Art and Technical Design named after Abylkhan Kasteyev • State Institute of Arts and Culture of Uzbekistan • Tajik film • Tajikistan Research Institute of Culture Information • Korea Educational Broadcasting System • Asia Culture Center\n\nSupporters\nUNESCO Almaty and Tashkent Cluster Offices • Cultural Heritage Administration • Panasonic Korea • Turkish Airlines

Benedictions\n\nMongolian well-wishing is a powerful expression of the miraculous capacity of words. It is one of the genres of Mongolian oral poetry that uses melodies. Briefly, benedictions (well-wishing) propitiate people’s future happiness and well-being through skilfully composed and recited poems. There are thousands of benedictions on various subjects. For instance there are benedictions recited while beating the sweat cloth of a saddle, while distilling milk vodka, while celebrating a birth, and while cutting an infant’s hair for the first time. Besides ancient benedictions, many contemporary benedictions are being kept at the ILL. These include benedictions for a new ger, weddings, a child’s first haircut, endowment practices, mare-milking ceremonies, foal-branding ceremonies, the People’s Revolution, and others for the military.

Folk Short Songs\n\nMongolian folk songs are divided in three different categories, such as long songs, short songs and the authors’ songs. Folk songs are shorter than other forms of expressions with average durations of one to five minutes, but there is a high volume of them. Thus, restoring, categorising, and digitising folk songs were the most time-consuming tasks compared to others. Within the framework of the project, just under forty-eight hours of songs were restored and digitised.

Tales & Legends\n\nTales are an important genre of the oral prose literature of the Mongolians. Tales typically begin with the phrase “Once upon a time, in such-and-such a place, in such-and-such a country.” Mongolian tales are symbolic. The most frequent ending is “and they lived happily ever after.” The legends are a popular genre of oral prose literature. The real-life legends are always complimentary expressions of historical events within folk literature. Historical facts are usually adorned with fanciful magic and metaphoric devices to later become historical legends. Among the restored and digitised data, the tales take up the most recording hours. Within the framework of the project, over two hundred hours of tales and almost fourteen hours of legends were restored and digitised.

Folk Long Songs\n\nMongolian folk songs are divided in three different categories, such as long songs, short songs and the authors’ songs. Folk songs are shorter than other forms of expressions with average durations of one to five minutes, but there is a high volume of them. Thus, restoring, categorising, and digitising folk songs were the most time-consuming tasks compared to others. Within the framework of the project, just under forty-eight hours of songs were restored and digitised.

Sounds that Run in the Vast Grasslands of Mongolia_Oral Traditions and Performing Arts in Mongolia\n\nSince the early 1950s, the Institute of Language and Literature at the Academy of Science (ILL) has been sending survey teams one to three times a year to research and gather data on oral literature and local dialectics. These activities set the groundwork for officially establishing a new archive with written documents and magnetic audio tapes that could be used for research purposes and be maintained. Preserved on magnetic tapes are languages and dialects that have gone extinct, have lost their distinctiveness, or have been adsorbed into other languages or dialects.\n\nHowever, most of the magnetic tapes being kept at the ILL are more than sixty years old, and the expiration date on many tapes has already lapsed. Also, improper storage conditions have caused some tapes to dry out, cling to one another, or fracture. For these reason, it would be hard to transmit to the next generation. Accordingly, since 2008, efforts have been made towards restoring and digitizing superannuated magnetic tapes within the internal capability and capacity of the ILL. The lack of training, finance, and proper tools and technical equipment has, nevertheless, created several obstacles and the digitizing results have not been very successful.\n\nAt this crucial state, the ILL introduced a cooperative request to the Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage (FPNCH), and the FPNCH proposed that ICHCAP continue the joint project and take measures for restoring and digitizing superannuated magnetic tapes and distributing and disseminating the data among the general public. According to the above decision, the FPNCH and ICHCAP implemented the Joint Cooperation Project of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage by Using Information Technology from October 2011 to April 2012.\n\nAs the first stage of the project, the Expert Meeting for Safeguarding ICH by Using Information Technology was held in the Republic of Korea to exchange information with experts for digitizing and restoring the analogue data. The experts of Mongolian National Public Radio, the ILL, and the FPNCH started the project after sharing restoration and digitization knowledge with the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) of Korea, the National Archives of Korea, and the Korea Film Council.\n\nAs the main outcome of the project, a total of 715 hours of superannuated magnetic tapes including epics, folk tales, tales accompanied by the morin khuur, traditional arts, khuumei, chor, long and short folksongs, and traditional customs were restored, digitized, and categorized. Among them, 128 audio clips were selected and reproduced in a ten-CD collection called Sounds from the Mongolian Grasslands. The collection also includes a twenty-page handbook in English or Korean. Through this project, the general public’s, involved organizations’, and domestic and international experts’ awareness about Mongolian ICH increased, and the archive and music contents of regional ICH were strengthened.

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

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 31 is 'Traditional Gardening and Landscapes.'

"“Intangible Cultural Heritage NGO’s Strategy in Achieving Sustainable Development: Goal 2. Zero Hunger” is the 3rd outcome of ICHCAP’s Project PINA, or Project Promoting ICH Safeguarding Activities of NGOs in the Asia-Pacific Region.\n\nThis book is a collection of eight selected NGO activities on ICH that are vital to achieving food security from six countries namely, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Tajikistan, and Viet Nam. It provides an opportunity to look into community-based NGO activities and experience that greatly contribute to the promotion of local communities’ welfare by revitalizing and transmitting ICH. Significantly, their approach emphasizes the relationship between ICH and SDG 2: Zero Hunger through their projects on food security and improved nutrition, and sustainable agriculture.\n\nICHCAP hopes that local, regional, and global public awareness about NGOs and their ICH safeguarding activities in the Asia-Pacific region will be substantially raised by this book."

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 22 is 'Epic Stories in Central Asia.'