Ornaments are a very important part of the Mongolian decorative arts. They represent traditional artistic expressions that depict the origin, essence, and meaning of various things and phenomena of our life and the universe. Mongolians describe ornamental figures in three different ways: animal-ornamental patterns with geometric motifs are called khee (pattern), ornamental patterns with round curved grooves are called ugalz (scrolls), and ornamental patterns with dualistic features are called arga bilig (spiral patterns). For their purpose and placement, the ornamental patterns are classified as central ornaments, corner ornaments, angle ornaments, and fringe ornaments. Mongolian ornaments may be classified plant ornament, animal ornament, natural phenomena ornament, geometric ornament and banner ornament.

Ornaments are a very important part of the Mongolian decorative arts. They represent traditional artistic expressions that depict the origin, essence, and meaning of various things and phenomena of our life and the universe. Mongolians describe ornamental figures in three different ways: animal-ornamental patterns with geometric motifs are called khee (pattern), ornamental patterns with round curved grooves are called ugalz (scrolls), and ornamental patterns with dualistic features are called arga bilig (spiral patterns). For their purpose and placement, the ornamental patterns are classified as central ornaments, corner ornaments, angle ornaments, and fringe ornaments. Mongolian ornaments may be classified plant ornament, animal ornament, natural phenomena ornament, geometric ornament and banner ornament.

As part of the Cultural Partnership Initiative of 2017, ICHCAP invited ICH professionals from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal. This publication is a collection of the research reports of 2017 CPI participants. The participants selected their own topic and conducted researches based on their various activities during their five-month stay in Korea.\n\n

Based on the ICHCAP Field Survey on Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Efforts in some East and Central Asian countries from 2009 to 2012, this summary provides a brief overview on the ICH situation in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan . The summary focuses mainly on ICH safeguarding systems, safeguarding policies, and ICH inventories as well as on pending issues and the urgent safeguarding needs of these countries. Moreover, information on the main entities in charge of ICH safeguarding and opinions of each country on the issue of community involvement are provided. To give a quick overview these countries’ participation in ICH safeguarding at the international level, some additional information related to UNESCO is specified as well. This survey report offers a large sample of the diverse ICH situations in East Asian and Central Asian countries. Although each country has a different background on issue of intangible heritage, depending on its cultural, economic, and socio-political situation, the countries participating in the survey share a commonality: They are post-communist countries that were once under the Soviet system. Moreover, they share a traditional culture shaped by nomadic pastoralism that offers a variety of cultural similarities. For instance, they keep an ancient and rich tradition of epic singing, and they are highly concerned about this oral heritage as it is on the brink of disappearance. In this sense, they have much to exchange and share in regards to safeguarding ICH. The countries participating in the survey are concerned with the threats against their ICH, but most of these nations are in the early process of defining ICH and establishing independent national ICH lists. At the same time, each country expresses a high degree of motivation and encouragement for safeguarding ICH, sharing experiences, and participating in international cooperation programmes. Apart from the main subject, a brief glimpse is taken on the situation of intellectual property in ICH safeguarding in each country. Compared to the Southwest Asian countries that participated in the field survey, the East Asian and Central Asian countries provided little information on intellectual property issues, so it is recommended that ICHCAP undertake the Field Survey on Intellectual Property Issues in the Process of ICH Information Building and Information Sharing in some countries to see their status on this subject.\n\n- Ratified the ICH Convention in 2010; survey conducted in 2010 and updated in 2014.\n- As of March 2018, has 3 ICH elements on the RL and no accredited NGOs.