The heritage originates from Binh Dinh - a place famous for traditional martial arts and famous historical figure King Quang Trung in the resistance war against foreign invaders. Binh Dinh traditional martial arts has many sects covering all provinces and cities across the country. This heritage has also been introduced abroad. Its practice became popular as a sport in many countries. Vo Binh Dinh has a high performance and combat ability, expressed in the forms of movement with bare hands, sticks, swords and spears, great knives, axes and shields. The combination of hand and stone techniques makes it a delicate, unique art form. The typical forms of Binh Dinh martial arts include Ngoc Tran Phap, Bach Dieu Thao Phap, Quyen Tu Hai, Thao Truc Chi, etc. Although it used to be a tool to fight foreign invaders, the people who do traditional martial arts in Binh Dinh always uphold the spirit of sport and its benefits to the lives of Vietnamese people.

The heritage originates from Binh Dinh - a place famous for traditional martial arts and famous historical figure King Quang Trung in the resistance war against foreign invaders. Binh Dinh traditional martial arts has many sects covering all provinces and cities across the country. This heritage has also been introduced abroad. Its practice became popular as a sport in many countries. Vo Binh Dinh has a high performance and combat ability, expressed in the forms of movement with bare hands, sticks, swords and spears, great knives, axes and shields. The combination of hand and stone techniques makes it a delicate, unique art form. The typical forms of Binh Dinh martial arts include Ngoc Tran Phap, Bach Dieu Thao Phap, Quyen Tu Hai, Thao Truc Chi, etc. Although it used to be a tool to fight foreign invaders, the people who do traditional martial arts in Binh Dinh always uphold the spirit of sport and its benefits to the lives of Vietnamese people.

The heritage originates from Binh Dinh - a place famous for traditional martial arts and famous historical figure King Quang Trung in the resistance war against foreign invaders. Binh Dinh traditional martial arts has many sects covering all provinces and cities across the country. This heritage has also been introduced abroad. Its practice became popular as a sport in many countries. Vo Binh Dinh has a high performance and combat ability, expressed in the forms of movement with bare hands, sticks, swords and spears, great knives, axes and shields. The combination of hand and stone techniques makes it a delicate, unique art form. The typical forms of Binh Dinh martial arts include Ngoc Tran Phap, Bach Dieu Thao Phap, Quyen Tu Hai, Thao Truc Chi, etc. Although it used to be a tool to fight foreign invaders, the people who do traditional martial arts in Binh Dinh always uphold the spirit of sport and its benefits to the lives of Vietnamese people.

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 26 is 'HEALING RITUALS AND INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE.'

This report includes the presentation papers of the participants and a summary of the discussions that took place at the meeting. The general discussion topics for the three sections are Implementation of 2003 Convention and International Cooperation; Strengthening Collaborative Network through ICH Information Sharing; and Building Information Systems—Identification, Documentation, and Archives. The individual papers go into detail about building online systems for sharing ICH information, protecting intellectual property, maintaining and strengthening regional and sub-regional cooperation, and other related subjects.

Kathakali (lit. story- play) is a highly sophisticated and stylized semi-classical dance drama prevalent all over Kerala. It evolved amalgamating features from all folk and classical performing art forms of Kerala. \nKathakali as a performing art evolved from Ramanattam. The King of Kottarakkara adapted eight episodes from the Ramayana as Ramanattam. However, in the 17th century, the King of Vettathu Nadu modified Ramanattam to develop a classical dance-drama, the Kathakali.\nKathakali derives its themes from the Indian epics, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana. The language used for the songs in Kathakali is a mixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit (manipravalam). For theatric communication, the actor uses dance movements, a codified language of gestures and facial expressions. Kathakali displays great dexterity and potential for the actor to show his histrionic and interpretative skills through resorting to an elaborate method of acting.\nThe performance of Kathakali follows a particular sequence. At dusk, the percussionists play their instruments to announce the event (keli). The traditional lamp is lit in front of the performing area (vilakku veppu). The horizontal drum is played to signal the commencement (arangu keli or suddha manddalam), and singers recite the invocation (sloka). \nTwo performers dance a ritual invocation behind the curtain, salute the deities. \nAnother prayer dance is performed in front of the curtain, followed by the ensemble of the drums (chenda, maddalam, chengila, elathalam). The actual story (katha) begins only after these preliminaries. \nIn Kathakali, the make-up and costume represent different traits of character. The colours are symbolic; green represents satwik (pious and virtuous characters); red patch on a green face to represent rajasi’(valorous characters); and a thadi (beard) is added to represents tamasic (evil traits of a character). Elaborate costumes and intricate face make-up In Kathakali is done to mask the human face and invest it with super-human characteristics. \nKathakali has transformed over the recent years from all-night performances in temples and other sites, to three-hour presentations in contemporary settings. The plays have become abridged to suit the tastes of a new audience.

In November 2013, Jindo County hosted a symposium on shaman heritage and public events. Organized by ICHCAP and the World Ethnic Dance Institute with the support of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, the participants from Northeast Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia explored measures through which shaman cultural heritage can be safeguarded with international cooperation. Diversity and Commonality of Shaman Heritage in Asia—Current Safeguarding Status and Challenges of Asian Shaman Heritage is a dual-language publication with the meeting’s discussion and presentation papers available in both English and Korean.