Hat boi is a Vietnamese intangible traditional performing art that has taken shape and developed during Vietnam’s history and is still preserved. It is form of traditional opera which has a five-hundrend-year-old history. It contains features close to the cultures of many other countries in Asia.

Globalization, the age of information, and a prime era of technology where cultures and meanings collide—it is strange how we often find ourselves disorientated with it all, the local versus the global, the familiar versus the foreign. Just so, the narrative surrounding Vietnam has quite a “foreign” presence among the international audience, and even domestically to some degree. The first images people think of when it comes to Vietnam are perhaps the war, or maybe they’d focus on the cuisine and natural scenery thanks to the effort of tourism footage in more recent years. The image is either of the country’s trauma-bound identity or a paradise land of amazing landscapes. While not entirely wrong, those narratives don’t fully reflect the complexity of a Vietnam that was, is, and will be. Telling a diverse and complex Vietnamese story in an honest and caring manner is one of the goals of Cultura Fish; it’s a direct result of our very lived experiences of interacting with our peers from across the globe and within the country.

Bhutan is a treasure trove of rich and unique tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Bhutan’s distinctive and often sacred cultures have been preserved and passed down through the generations. Today, the country is recognized for its unbroken and untainted immemorial cultural inheritance. One of the components of Bhutan’s varied intangible culture was royal court dances performed to entertain kings and their entourage at the palace.

It has become recognized nowadays that cultural heritage encompasses more than collections of objects or monuments; it includes just as much also intangible manifestations such as traditions and living expressions. This intangible cultural heritage (ICH) stretches into a wide range of domains of our society, such as performing arts, social practices, oral traditions, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature, and the knowledge and skills used to produce traditional crafts.

"Fiji perceives the 2003 Convention as an important tool to enhance the national pursuit to protect, promote, and revitalise traditional knowledge systems and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of not only the indigenous iTaukei but also the many other ethnic groups that have made Fiji their home. It is these migratory ethnic cultures that are creating a challenge to the survival the indigenous culture, but at the same time, they are also a blessing in disguise because the influx of different cultures creates a multi-ethnic cultural society, one that is open to dialogue, national identity, and greater understanding, which then promotes pluralism in creativity and innovation. \nHowever, one of the most promising features of migratory cultures is that their dancers, spoken language, and forms of worship have to some extent become accustomed to the new environment that has engulfed their new social structure. And this is the most fascinating thing about ICH—it is evolving, so it is a form of living heritage. The migratory groups whilst practicing their heritage have also adopted elements of the local culture. The same also applies to the indigenous culture, which has adopted aspects of the migratory culture over time. For example, garlanding (veivakasalusalutaki) during traditional welcoming ceremonies and other events was not originally a part of iTaukei ICH, but through time, it has been adopted from other Pacific Island cultures, such as the Rotuman, Indo-Fijian, and Chinese cultures. So we are continually faced with questions and challenges as to that which the community perceives as their true ICH and that which is borrowed, and in respect of those that are a blend of both, where do they fit? Or to whom does it belong? What if the community collectively feels that it is not their own, what do we do? Do we still enter this into our national inventories? The contemporary ICH (art)—how are we to embrace it? These are issues we hope to explore further in the "

Alisher Ikramov reviews information collected through a survey funded by ICHCAP. While his work primarily reviews ICH festivals, he is also able to gain insights into ways that networks can promote ICH along the Silk Roads. Looking at the importance of local communities and the popularity of such festivals locally, there is concern about a lack of a network to encourage larger tourist attendance. However, there are feelings that festivals do not authentically represent local traditions and products. Therefore, this could lead to an undesirable level of commoditization and as a result lower the quality of the event.

A lion dance was a part of the repertoire of mime artists and puppetry musicians of Bukhara until the 1940s. In the past, the lion dance was also popular among the populations of Samarkand, Khujand, Istaravshan, and Hisor. Tajik ethnographer Nizam Nurjanov gave the first complete description of the lion dance in his work Tajik Traditional Theatre (1956). He later published more details in an illustrated article arising from his fieldwork in Bukhara.

Nagorik Uddyog (NU) was founded in 1995 by a group of nationally and internationally renowned Bangladeshi human rights activists and academics aiming to promote good gover-nance, access to justice, and the institutionalization of democracy at the local and national level. In the beginning, the organization worked on voter education programs and raised awareness among women that they could claim their rights from local government institutions and from the community. In this awareness-raising initiative, community cultural heritage properties like the Baul folk songs were used and earned immense popularity. Over a period of time, NU extended its activities across the country with specific focus on the rights of marginalized people, especially Dalit rights, land and human rights of Indigenous peoples, and access to justice for rural communities.

Bongsan Talchum, or the Bongsan mask-dance drama, was originally transmitted in Giryang-ri, Dongseon-myeon, Bongsan-gun, Hwanghae Province in the northern part of Korean Peninsula. However, with the relocation of administrative bodies, including the district office to Sariwon in 1915, the mask-dance drama and its transmission activities were also transferred to the area. In South Korea, Bongsan Talchum had been transmitted since its restoration by performers who originated from the North, including Jin-ok Kim and Cheon-sik Min, and was designated as Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 17 in 1967. The office of the Bongsan Mask Dance-Drama Preservation Society is currently housed within the Training Center for Important Intangible Cultural Properties in Seoul.

Mudiyettu is a ritual art form practiced in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is performed annually in different villages throughout Kerala along the rivers, Chalakkudy Puzha, Periyar, and Moovattupuzha among the Marar and Kurup communities in venues known as bhagavati kavus, temples, which are dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. The temple provides as the focal point for this ritual, and all villagers, irrespective of their caste, participate and play a specific role in its organization.

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

The Philippine archipelago is home to at least eight y ethnic groups that branch out into more than four hundred subgroups. While each group may be distinguished by common traditions, practices, and beliefs, a complex set of variations occurs among the subgroups. The result is a country with diverse culture that is continuously changing through time. The truth is many of its intangible aspects have evolved unnoticed, others forgotten, some irreparably lost, and many remain undocumented.