Embroidery is an ancient decorative and applied art of the Tajiks that is used for decorating dresses and homes. In the Tajik language, embroidery is gulduzi, which is understood as the process of using colorful threads to sew ornaments, flower images, and symbolic drawings on cotton or silk fabrics. Tajik embroidery practitioners are women. Embroidery art masters sew women’s shirts, men’s and women’s national caps, pillows, bedspreads, headscarves, towels, curtains, cradle coverlets, and wall decorations, known locally as suzani.

The China National Silk Museum (CNSM) first opened in February 1992 and reopened in September 2016. Now it has become one of the first state-level museums in China, where audiences will find 9,000 square meters of displays in a typical southern Chinese garden of 42,286 square meters near West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The art of tapa making is and has been practiced in a number of Pacific islands such as Hawaii, Samoa, and Niue to name a few. However, Fiji and Tonga are the main producers of this cloth to date. Tapa cloth or ngatu as it is called in Tonga, is made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree, hiapo. This article will examine the art of tapa making in Tonga, focusing on the stories behind some of the kupesi (stencils) embossed and then printed on the tapa cloth.

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.

Mr Timothy Curtis’s presentation provided us with a rich and valuable overview of the strategies and goals of South-East Asian countries with regard to implementing the 2003 Convention in the Asia-Pacific region in general and South-East Asia in particular. I would like to provide some updated information, comments, and concrete ideas with regard to our cooperative networking in ICH safeguarding.

Measures taken in identifying the initial Philippine nomination to UNESCO on the first proclamation of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity were based on the contingency and the availability of comprehensive information. Subsequent formulations on the collection of data were based principally on the identification of ICH that is evolving and/or devolving but still viable. Focus is made on the ICH processes that are still viable within the culture of the practicing societies. This is made possible by the fact that domestic and political institutional structures maintain much of what were in traditional cultural heritage, that were not affected by the introduction of world religions that have altered beliefs and values systems. The complication is that there are more than eighty ethno-linguistic groups in the country from which inventories will emanate.Finally, the manner by which the collection of information is organised along the lines of the structure of Philippine societies, from the municipal level uploaded to the provincial level, then to the relevant national cultural agencies; and finally to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, that will maintain the national registry. Both literature search and primary field research will constitute the methods in data collection.To manifest the processes of identifying and collecting data for ICH inventory undertaking by the Philippines since the year 2000 is best described by\n\n:i)the initial emergency measures taken by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in identifying the initial nominations of ICH to UNESCO by the Philippines in the year 2000; \nii)from the initial experience above, the formulation of the subsequent action plan for the ICH programme of identification and collection; and\niii) the methodology of identification and collection.

The rapid processes of globalization and mass culture have increased interest among the Kyrgyz people regarding traditional culture for the preservation of historical memory and ethno-cultural identity. In this, the role of UNESCO is remarkable, one which promotes the preservation, development, and dissemination of national culture as well as contributes to transmitting culture and ensures its continuity over time.

UNESCO has ten subcategories of human communities and networks, but there are two patterns of human civilizations—sedentary and nomadic communities. Difficulty with archaeologists and historians to explore and discover civilizational heritage information. Nomadic communities served as an ancient networking system, bridging sedentary communities with cultural and technological information. There is a necessity of a network approach on the discovery, excavation, preservation, and public opening of Silk Roads intangible cultural heritages through a singular project hub—namely through ICHCAP. Examples of existing projects include the Caravanserai projects by UNESCO and National Geographic, which focus on tangible heritage along the Silk Roads without considering cultural interconnections and influences. A Korean case is the KBS six-episode documentary series on the origin, spreading and localization of noodle cuisine in Eurasian communities. Another networking case currently under way is the development of series on Silk Roads martial arts, dance, and play through Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Iran.

One of the most challenging imperatives of the twenty-first Century is to bring people and their heritage together through a holistic conservation ethic. It requires a departure from the silo approaches of dealing with heritage resources along fragmented disciplines and professional lines. Sustainable heritage development means integrated engagement, in any given context, with the sum of all the heritage resources – tangible and intangible; cultural and natural; movable and immovable.

Kutch is a frontier district in the state of Gujarat in western India, situated on the border of India and Pakistan. Covering an area of 45,674 km², it is the largest district of India. It is surrounded by the Great and Little Rann of Kutch on the North, South, East, and the Arabian Sea on the West. In the beginning of the twelfth century, Kutch was ruled by Chavda, Sama, Sanghar, Kathi, and Solanki dynasties. From 1147 AD to 1947 AD, Kutch was ruled by the Jadejas, whose ancestors migrated to Kutch from Sindh (now in Pakistan). Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeast of the country, it is the third largest province of Pakistan. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west and Punjab province to the north. Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east and Arabian Sea to the south. The influence of Sindhi culture is very prominent in Kutch due to the history of migration of pastoralists as well as artisanal communities. The current paper aims to explore the cross border cultural relationships between local communities of Kutch, India and Sindh, Pakistan by critically examining their shared oral tradition of Gujharat and a significant traditional textile craft practice called Ajrakh.

Teyyam is a divine dance that is prevalent in the northern districts of Kerala, such as Kannur and Kasargod. The name teyyam is derived from daivam, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘god’ or ‘deity’. Performed in shrines, sacred groves, houses, and open places, teyyam represents mythological, divine, ancestral, animal, and heroic characters, each with its own distinct shape and form of origin. There are over 350 of these teyyams.

Recent years have witnessed an explosion in the use of words related to sustainability. Issues of interrelatedness and interdependence, the centrality of diversity to most healthy biological systems, and the expansion of detailed scientific thinking about conservation have all contributed to the increase in the use of ecological metaphors in a wide range of fields. Those of us laboring in the realms of culture have found useful language and compelling metaphors, including cultural sustainability. When conservation biology began to popularize the idea of sustainability in their efforts to sustain biodiversity, Jeff Todd Titon began to explicitly advocate for an ecological approach to musical sustainability in 2006.