The current topic of this conference is not very well studied in the Philippines. The word –shamanism- is regarded as an arbitrary umbrella-catch-all term for lack of something better because what it refers to in the Philippines is a far ranging set of practices, belief and value systems that are very specific. It is with some trepidation that these sets of practices, beliefs and value systems may not at all fit into the north-Asian concept of Shamanism, especially with reference to the structure and social organization. The latest local term used is –pagdidiwata – referring to the rituals invoking spiritual beings (diwata). The other terms used\nare bunung, baki, pagaanito, alisig, and many others depending on the culture of the some 80 different major ethno-linguistic groups in the country. Common to all is the belief in the existence of a spirit world to which the world of people should relate, through the medium of ritual specialists. There are differences, however, in the structure and social organization in the social behavior related to ethnic practice.

Silambam, a martial art originating from Tamil Nadu, South India, that focuses on stick twirling is one of many Indian traditional arts that have survived through the periods of Ancient India, Medieval India, and Modern India, including the British colonial era. It remained alive in other countries as well, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Singapore. Silambam is an ancient Tamil martial art that carries many Tamil cultural values in its training and also during the transmission of the art from master to students.\nAncient Silambam’s cultural heritage and knowledge survived thousands of years through transmission to many generations, but the art is currently facing extinction. This drastic change is due to contemporary Silambam practitioners forgoing the values of the art and adopting elements of other martial art cultures, introducing new traditions such as belt grading systems, becoming more competition focused, and so on. The martial art with these newly adapted elements has been categorized as Sports Silambam. Many new Silambam organizations have been registered and even masters who have coached traditional Silambam are adopting these changes to train students toward success in competitions. Meanwhile, competition organizers offer handsome rewards to the winners in order to entice many young students to learn Sports Silambam. By focusing on the new approach geared toward competition, Sports Silambam masters fail to preserve the original combat techniques and cultural heritage values of authentic Silambam arts. While Sports Silambam is heavily and widely promoted, authentic Silambam masters and practitioners are struggling and facing hurdles to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of this particular ancient Silambam. Adding to the obstacles is the issue of finding the right disciples to ensure the knowledge is transferred to the next generations in the current era of mushrooming globalization.

Chinese martial arts present a unique combination of bare-handed and armed fighting with calisthenics, breathing exercises, meditation techniques, and elements of traditional Chinese medicine. It was in the late imperial period of Chinese history (the Ming and Qing dynasties, 1368–1912) that folk hand combat became a multifaceted system with features that go beyond the narrow framework of mere fighting. The surviving textual sources attest that during the Ming–Qing transition period, martial arts were perceived by many practitioners as a religious practice. Daoists and Buddhists alike often turned to hand- combat training in striving to achieve various religious goals, be it spiritual enlightenment or immortality. However, as recently discovered textual evidence suggests, it was Chinese local religion that disclosed the most intimate relations to martial arts practice.\nAn inseparable part of Chinese culture, the Chinese hand-combat tradition was (and still is) deeply rooted in rural life, and manifested itself in a particularly vivid way in the religious customs and ritualistic activities of the Chinese village. Chinese local religion, a highly intricate system in its own right, contains an evident martial element. For example, it is strongly believed that the employment of direct physical force against malevolent supernatural powers is not only possible but is sometimes as effective as any other ritual protective means, such as (spells) and (talismans). The folk belief that humans can best evil spirits with their bare hands is reflected in literary sources as early as the fourth

A great challenge for sustaining intangible cultural heritage is in finding appropriate forms and methods to document and communicate its inherently ephemeral aspects. Globalization in tandem with rapid political, social, and environmental change around the world is placing both cultural and material heritage at risk in ways that societies, governments, and global institutions could not anticipate nor prevent. Recently, however, digital recording and display technologies have opened up powerful new possibilities for the representation, preservation, transmission, and exhibition of immaterial experiences, including the reconstruction of lost places, vanished objects, and embodied and ephemeral practices, signaling a new way to imagine and transmit the memory of the world.

The subject of this study is to find out the protection and sustenance ways of Shaman heritage among the Turks of Turkey. As it is known, Turks of Turkey are shaman community in terms of ancient religions and world-views such as Kazakhs, Uighurs, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Altai, Republic of Tuva, Sakha and other Turkish tribes constituting the Turkish World. Majority of the Turks of Turkey migrated from the middle of today’s Mongolia to the shores of Aegean Sea and Balkan Peninsula in the last 1500 years. Another factor complicating this 1500-year migration is the fact that Turks accepted Manichaeism, Buddhism, Christianity and some groups accepted Judaism. Normally while it was expected that they pursued various religions and dispersed in this tens of thousands kilometer square, these Oghuz tribes weren’t assimilated and they assimilated many communities whose administration they undertook within the scope of their control.

I arrived in Hue City by the Perfume River (Sông Hương) on a rainy afternoon in September 2019 to spend about a month gathering materials and data related to the preservation of the Hue Imperial Complex. One of my friends was waiting for me at a local bar together with his Bach Ho (White Tiger) master, a man in his sixties wearing a black martial arts shirt. After greeting one another, we began our conversation by taking about Hue’s recent conservation projects and local landscapes, before my friend’s master touched upon the history and the heyday of Bach Ho martial arts (the 1960s to the early 2000s). Indeed, Vietnamese people have created their own martial arts to boost their health and protect their homeland against aggressive and more powerful foreign invaders for a few thousand years. As Van Dung highlight: “martial arts contributed glorious pages to the history, appeared as a proof for resolute spirit, inexhaustible struggle, fearless of death, difficulty or danger and as a creative mind of people” (2017, p. 27). The Vietnamese philosophy of martial arts is “the Truth—the Goodness—the Beauty”; it attempts to advance Vietnamese culture and characters by forging a sturdy body, enduring health, and a strong spirit that provides support in dealing with difficulties and hardship (Van Dung ., 2017, p. 28). Viet Nam has some of its own styles of martial arts, but due to being located at a crossroads of civilizations, various martial arts from China, Korea, and Japan have been brought into and mixed with native ones, including kung fu, karate, judo, aikido, and taekwondo (Van Dung , 2016, p. 69). With the tremendous growth of this industry, martial arts have become an integral part of sports and physical activity culture, conveying not only lifestyles but also educational value and entertainment (Ko ., 2010, p. 3).\nHue became one of the biggest centers of martial arts in Viet Nam because it was home to the Nguyen dynasty, the final feudal society of Viet Nam (1802–45). The Nguyen dynasty fought against local rivals and also stood against Western colonialism, particularly the French invasion (Odell and Castillo, 2008, p. 82). Therefore, the practice of martial arts was very much encouraged and was stimulated through the organization of a number of nationwide martial arts competitions to select the best talents in the country (Le, 2020). Several temples were constructed, at which the masters’ skills and teaching were honored by the carving of their names on the stone columns.\nThe Hue Association of Traditional Martial Arts confirms that there are around 15 types of martial art within Hue, including Viet Vo dao, Bach Ho, Nga My, Thien Muc Son, Thieu Bao, Nam Son, Hau Quyen dao, Thieu Lam Dai Tam, and Kinh Van An. Other Vietnamese martial arts had their origins elsewhere, as noted, in countries such as China, Japan, and Korea, but Bach Ho (a genuine Vietnamese martial art) remained one of the most prevalent types of martial art in Hue City. Unfortunately, the stature of Bach Ho is fading significantly in comparison with other martial arts. This study thus aims to explore the relevance of Bach Ho in contemporary contexts and the primary impediments to its transmission. It will then propose recommendations for safeguarding and promoting Bach Ho as intangible cultural heritage for future generations. These are the primary objectives behind the selection of Bach Ho as our research topic.\nTo conduct our study, we worked closely with representatives from the Association of Traditional Martial Arts of Thua Thien Hue and different groups from the martial arts. In

Nuosu, a subgroup of the Yi ethnic minority residing in southwest China, has maintained a long yet continually evolving tradition of verbal dueling from generation to generation. It is called kenre in the local Yi language, which literally means “mouth movement.” The tradition has not only been recorded in historical documents, but continues as a living knowledge contest undertaken primarily for honor and identity and for enlightenment and entertainment throughout the mountainous villages in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, thereby imbuing audiences both young and old with a sense of cultural identity and strengthening dialogue, cooperation, and respect among Nuosu communities (belonging to three sub-dialect zones) and neighboring Yi areas.

According to the International Organization for Migration, although the percentage of international migrants in relation to the total world population is relatively low, that is 3.3percent in 2015, and has grown only 1 percent since the 1970s—in absolute numbers, it has almost tripled, from 84,460,125 to 243,700,236 in that same period.

Reflection on the role of ICH as an element of countries’ soft power has developed in recent years (Schreiber 2017, Sargent 2020). While the soft power concept was coined in the Western Hemisphere by Joseph Nye, in the specific context of United States foreign policy in his 1990 book Bound to Lead, it has gained recognition worldwide and influenced cultural policies, programs, and diplomatic strategies in Asia, such as “Cool Japan,” “Incredible India,” and “Discover Korea, your way.”

Datun Julud, or ‘long dance’ dance is an Orang Ulu traditional women's dance that is popular among the Kenyah tribe of Sarawak. It means ‘long dance’ in the language of the Kenyah Dayak. It was once performed during communal celebrations but now has become a dance of formal entertainment that is often performed in the rumah panjang (longhouse) to greet visitors and tourists, accompanied by the beautiful sound of Sape’.

The beautiful body-sway of Malaysian traditional dance is often showcased outside the country as an effort by Tourism Malaysia to introduce local arts to the world. Aside from the mainstream traditional dance, Malaysian aborigines are also known for their unique traditional dance art. Unfortunately, these forms are not commonly known nor are they publicized as much as modern dance art.

The epic Manas occupies a central place in the spiritual culture of the Kyrgyz people as a consolidating factor of the ethnos and basis for self-identity. The significance of the epic in the treasury of human heritage was recognised by the world community in 1995. The resolution ‘On celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Kyrgyz National Epos Manas was adopted at the 49th session of the UN General Assembly carried out by UNESCO and UNDP. The 1000th anniversary of the epic ‘Manas’ was celebrated on the international level with the participation of more than 60 countries. A number of exhibitions, festivals, and conferences dedicated to the epic ‘Manas’ were held in Turkey, China, USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and other countries. The inclusion of Manas on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013 was the next important step in the recognition of the Epos as World Heritage.