Epics form a considerable part of the cultural heritage of the Tajik. The oral epic traditions in the Tajik culture appeared and formed in the most ancient period of its history, originating from the mythology of ancient Iranian peoples.

Law and Legal Documents on ICH \n\nLaw on Cultural Heritage indicates clearly that the cultural heritage in Vietnam is the valuable property of all ethnic groups of Vietnam and has its significant role in the sustainable development of the country. \nIn compatible with the 2003 Convention Vietnam rectified in 2005, the Law on Cultural heritage (2001) amended in 2009 with some articles on the identification of ICH, management, its safeguarding measures and designation of the master practitioners. The Article 1 on the identification of ICH states that “ICH is the spiritual product that is attached to the communities or individuals, relevant to tangible culture and cultural space. It expresses the cultural identity of communities, and has been continuously recreated and transmitted from generation to generation orally, through apprentices, performances and other modes of transmission."\n

Globalisation has its benefits. But it could also diminish our heritage in ways that we may not sometimes even be conscious of. Effective minimization of the negative impacts is possible with timely interventions. Sometimes it may be too late before significant elements of our culture are endangered or even disappear. It is this concern that led the world community to come together and adopt the international Convention by UNESCO in 2003 for Safeguarding Intangible Heritage. It is passé to say that globalisation has accelerated to a pace that we are challenged to keep up with it on many fronts. We are quite familiar with the social, economic and environmental issues. In addressing only these three pillars during the 2000-2015 MDG phase of the UN, we now have a lot of catching up to do. Culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development, even if not detailed enough, is located in the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will guide us between 2015 and 2030. We must endeavour to bring together the implementation of the 2003 Convention and higher education as part of the four-pillar paradigm. Several questions need to be addressed. \n \nCan higher educational institutions such as universities, specialised colleges add value to the UNESCO’s efforts in safeguarding intangible heritage in sustainable development? Can we find synergies between the strategic directions of higher educational institutions and the Overall Results Framework for the UNESCO 2003 Intangible Heritage Convention? In what ways can Regional, Sub- Regional, National and Local networking and knowledge sharing be empowering to safeguard intangible heritage and the rich cultural diversity of the Asia Pacific? Given that language itself is not covered by the Convention but included as a vehicle of the intangible heritage (Article 2.2.a), how best can we maximise on the linguistic diversity of the region promoted through higher educational institutions in minimising the hegemonic impacts of monolingualism that endangers so much of our intangible heritage? \n\nFirst and foremost, it must be underlined that UNESCO and a number of national and international agencies including NGOs have advocated strongly for the inclusion of culture as a separate SDG in the UN 2030 Agenda. None of the 17 SDGs focus exclusively on culture. However, the advocacy has created an inclusive discourse on culture that cuts across the SDGs. The resulting Agenda includes several explicit references to cultural aspects. The following SDG Targets are significant. They provide windows of opportunity to ensuring that we locate culture in the SDGs and in doing so promote the safeguarding of intangible heritage:

The main contents of this publication are reports from thirty-two nations collected by ICHCAP from 2009 to 2015 as part of its annual projects to collect information on intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the Asia-Pacific region. We have also compiled information from other reports and conference materials collected by ICHCAP to present key data, such as national inventories and information on related organizations, in an easily accessible format.

Malaysia is a developing nation of Southeast Asia. A few of their famous slogans reflect the diversity of its present ethnic groups in terms of language, customs and traditions inherited from past generations, ‘One Malaysia‘ and ‘Malaysia Truly Asia‘. Malaysia’s cultural fusion is the result of immigration, trade and cultural exchanges over many centuries with Arab nations, China, and India, where the arrival of the first foreigners brought along with them their wealth as well as their cultural heritage and religion. Presently, these ethnic groups still maintain their cultural traditions, but managed to come together to develop Malaysia’s unique and contemporary diverse heritage.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was set up to fulfil late Smt. Indira Gandhi’s (former Prime Minister of India) idea of restoring the integral quality of a human being, fragmented by his diverse roles in cities, classes, ethnic groups, religions, traditions, and nationalities, to reconcile one’s material and spiritual needs, and enable one to be at peace with oneself and with society. The center was visualized as encompassing the study and experience of all the arts—each form with its own integrity, yet within a dimension of mutual interdependence, interrelated with nature, social structure, and cosmology.

Khon is a Thai dance drama presenting a Ramayana epic. Each dancer wears a head mask to depict a particular character of the play. Ramayana is the war between Pra Ram (the exile prince of Ayothaya) and Totsakan (the demon king of Longka who abducted Sida, the wife of the prince). Pra Ram, with the help of the monkey troops led by Hanuman, wins the war and returns to Ayothaya with Sida. This lengthy play is divided into a number of episodes, each of which depicts a different battle scene. These episodes are of two types. First is the war play which comprises

With the accelerated urbanization and the rise of modern popular culture in China in 1990s, and against the macro-environment of technical rationality, traditional arts lost their holding in many fields. Among these arts, Fujian puppetry, which has an uninterrupted thousand-year history, encountered a difficult situation related to transmission. There was simply not enough interest and the number of practitioners began to wane. To face these difficulties, the representative inheritors of Fujian puppetry–the principals and artists of the Quanzhou Puppetry Troupe, Jinjiang Hand Puppetry Troupe, and Zhangzhou Puppetry Troupe–have been searching for support from all possible channels and calling for attention to and promotion of puppetry. Among these proponents is the director of Quanzhou Puppetry Troupe, Mr. Wang Jingxian, who started to popularize puppetry while in his early twenties and continues to do so today as he approaches sixty. The success of their efforts to reignite interest in Fujian puppetry can be measured by the increase value that local governments and communities have been placing on puppetry and can also be reflected in the Quanzhou Puppetry Troupe relocating to a new venue and expanding the exhibition and performing venues to accommodate its needs.

Singapore is a culturally diverse society and one of the most religiously diverse nations of the world, and the understanding of cultural practices aids in fostering dialogue and social cohesion in such a social context. This paper discusses the important role of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in fostering a deeper appreciation of the commonalities and differences among people, particularly in an era where societies around the world are facing complex effects of social diversity, movements of people and the effects of globalisation. It highlights the efforts to safeguard ICH in Singapore through partnerships between government agencies, educational institutions and the community.

Intangible cultural heritage is one of the most unprotected forms of artistic heritage. Nowadays, in the globalization environment where different cultures exist and interact, intangible cultural heritage requires our special attention. For Tajikistan, the first victory of efforts put forth toward safeguarding ICH was the acknowledgement of Shashmaqom as a masterpiece of human intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

This publication contains papers from the 2021 World Intangible Cultural Heritage Forum held online for three days, from September 29 to October 1, 2021. The event was hosted by the National Intangible Heritage Center and organized by ICHCAP.\n\nThe forum was held under the theme of “Rediscovering Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Era of Convergence and Creativity” to re-examine the creative value of intangible cultural heritage and present the possibilities by examining examples of innovation and value creation through intangible cultural heritage.

The main contents of this publication are reports from thirty-two nations collected by ICHCAP from 2009 to 2015 as part of its annual projects to collect information on intangible cultural heritage safeguarding in the Asia-Pacific region. We have also compiled information from other reports and conference materials collected by ICHCAP to present key data, such as national inventories and information on related organizations, in an easily accessible format.