Tianjin, a famous cultural city with a history ofsix hundred years, is endowed with rich historyand a great variety of cultural heritage, amongwhich there are tangible items with a concreteform and there are intangible ones passeddown through mouth teaching.

In recent years, Tianjin has adhered to theguideline of “putting protection and rescue atfirst place; practicing rational utilization, inheritanceand development”, effectively protectingvaluable intangible cultural heritage, promotingcultural heritage and national spirits.

Presently, there are fifteen types of folk artslisted on State-Level Intangible Cultural HeritageDirectory, which include Peking Opera,Baodi Pingju Opera, Tianjin Shidiao Opera,Jingdong Bass Drum, Yangliuqing Spring FestivalWoodcut Painting, Zhang’s Clay Figurines,Jinmen Fagu, Hui-Nationality Heavy-KnifeMartial Art, Hangu Cymbal, cross talk, HebeiBangzi Opera, Pingju Opera, Wei’s kite-makingtechnique, Tianjin Huanghui Fair, so on and soforth.

Apart from this, there are eight people listedas the Representatives and Traditional Bearersof State-Level Intangible Cultural Heritage, includingCao Shijie, inheritor of Hui-NationalityHeavy-Knife Martial Art, Huo Qingshun andHuo Qingyou, folk artists from Xiqing District,Feng Qingju and Wang Wenda, inheritors ofYangliuqing Spring Festival Woodcut Painting,Li Rongwei and Zhang Youlin, renowned PekingOpera artists, and Wang Yubao, famous TianjinShidiao Opera artist. There are also thirtyitems such as Dagu Dragon Lantern and TianjinTianhou Religion listed in Municipal-Level IntangibleCultural Heritage Directory.

The abundant intangible cultural heritage itemsand folk arts are invaluable treasures of thecountry and symbols of the outstanding intelligenceand unique creativity of its people. Theintangible cultural heritage should be more effectivelyprotected to allow the traditional culturebetter inherited, developed and vitalized.