China joined the World Cultural and Natural Resources Heritage Preservation Treaty in 1985 and now has 35 sites approved and placed in the List of World Heritage by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO.  This is the third highest number of listed sites in any country after Italy and Spain. In addition, China has over 200 sites applying for world natural and cultural heritage designation with 60 of these sites included in the preparatory list of Chinese World Cultural Heritage. According to the 28th World Heritage Conference of UNESCO, each country can apply to have just two sites listed every year. The successful bid by China for two more world heritage sites -- the South China Karst which is made up of the stone forest in Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing, and the Kaiping Watchtower in Guangdong -- has greatly fueled the enthusiasm in heritage bid throughout the country.

Knife-pole Festival for brave hearts

Climbing up and down a ladder of knives is not a game for ordinary people. It takes great courage and strength to walk on the blades with bare feet. Lisu people living in Tengchong of Yunnan Province are masters of this dangerous game. They demonstrate their great skill and courage during their annual Knife-pole Festival, one of the most important traditional festivals for the ethnic group. Are they well-trained performers, kungfu masters or magicians? As more and more people learn about the festival, the secrets of these "knife heroes" draw increasing attention in the country.

With a history of several hundred years, the festival is held to memorialize a Han hero of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) who was sent by the government to lead local people in driving away other ethnic groups intruding into the Lisu area. In the festival, people all dress up and go in groups to watch various activities including "Climbing the Knife-pole" (shang daoshan) and "Diving into Fire Sea" (xia huohai). The "fire sea" is actually made by burning a bed of coal. The knife-pole is 19.6 meters high and has 72 sharp knives. Each knife has been sharpened to a razor's edge so that a hair just falls away from the blade. The performers, bare-footed and half-naked, jump and dance over the burned coals and then climbing up the knife-pole. The first who reach the top of the pole will be hailed with applause and firecrackers. Surprisingly, all of the performers return to the ground safe and sound, without any scratch.

Legends say it is the mugwort, an essential ornament of Lisu people, that keeps the performers from harm. Though the plant is a kind of herbal medicine, the explanation is not convincing. Experts are still searching for the secret methods used by the courageous Lisu people.

This age-old tradition has become widely known to people beyond its origin in Southwest China. But no matter how many unsolved mysteries there are, the traditional culture of Lisu people will continue to thrive as a cultural heritage in modern society.

Qinghai-Tibet Railway gets green ticket

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest altitude railway line, had caused little impact on the surrounding environment and wildlife, according to one evaluation report. The landscape, lakes and frozen earth are all well preserved and wildlife migration remains unchanged after the opening of the railway last year.

Construction of the railway had initially caused international concern because the plateau's ecological environment is believed to be very fragile. The Qinghai-Tibet railway links the remote Himalayan region with the rest of China, making the region more accessible to the outside world. The new railway is expected to open the floodgates to a massive influx of new businesses. Many enterprises, lured by the wealth of natural resources in Tibet, plan to expand business in Tibet. But local government pledges to give top priority to environmental protection, stressing that economic progress in Tibet will not come at the cost of environment. To build a region with great strength in green economy, local authorities have very strict regulations on environmental protection, which effectively keeps polluting industries from the area. So far the government has set up several natural reserves comprising 34 percent of the total area in Tibet.

Since the completion of the railway, the number of tourists has sky-rocketed. Environmentalists worry that the influx of tourist will threaten the ecology of the once remote area, but local authorities have accelerated efforts to protect the environment..

'Chinese craze' rising all over the world

 

In 2006 the Chinese government sent 1,004 teachers and 1,050 volunteers to 34 countries to meet the booming demand for Chinese language proficiency worldwide. A number of teaching programs such as "900 Chinese Sentences," "Xinchengfeng Chinese" and "Great Wall Chinese" have been developed to feed the demand. The Chinese Language Council International launched a project in 2003 to strengthen cooperation with educational institutions in foreign countries. Over the past four years, over 100 experts from 45 countries and regions have come to China as visiting scholars. In the meantime, the Chinese government is recuiting 5,000 qualified teaching candidates, trained in different foreign languages, to meet the demand in non-English speaking countries. HSK (Chinese proficiency test) is a standardized test designed to assess the Chinese language proficiency of non-native speakers and will include a new category of business Chinese this year.

"The Chinese government has taken active efforts to promote the Chinese language overseas. So far the big problem is the shortage of qualified language teachers. It's estimated that 10,000 teachers are needed every year around the world while China can only send 2,000," according to Xu Lin, director of Chinese Language Council International.

Chinese age-old printing technology thriving in Tibetan temple

 

Block printing, the most ancient printing technique, was invented in China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (AD 420-581) followed by the world's first movable printing press around 1040. Over the course of the next 1,000 years, printing technology made tangible progress and the printing industry today has stepped into the high-resolution digital era.

Block printing is still perserved, however, and applied in the Gege Sutra Printing House of Gengqing Monastery which is tucked away in the depth of mountains in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. Like their ancestors generations ago, dozens of artisans still use woodblock printing methods involving dozens of steps to produce sutras.

Viewed as a cultural treasure house at the foot of the snow mountains, it is the largest of the three major sutra printing houses in the Tibetan-inhabited areas in western China.  The house has the most Buddhist printing boards, the most sophisticated printing skill and the best-protected historical relics. With a history of over 200 years, these printing boards are regarded as a treasure of the monastery and are worshipped by Buddhist pilgrims.

Since many of the boards have been worn away over the years with the inscriptions blurry, the craftsmen have to recarve the old boards. In the meantime experts in the printing house have spared no efforts to collect the vanishing sutras and Tibetan literature works over the past few decades. Once the sutras and literature works are recovered, local craftsmen will carve the printing boards and print new editions of these old works. Thus the printing house has gradually expanded its collection of Buddhism sutras and Tibetan books and enjoys growing fame among Tibetan Buddhist.

All of the sutras are printed on a traditional handmade paper produced by skilled artisans in the monastery, which makes Dege different from ordinary printing houses.

Young man interested in Manchu language

Every Saturday is a special day for a Manchu young man named Tong Liang. This is the day he has to go to a two-hour class to study Manchu language.

His interest in his native language was aroused by a documentary he watched when he studied in university. According to the documentary, there are about 2 million copies of historical and ancient records in the Manchu language that trace the 268-year history of the Qing Dynasty. It will take 100 people about a century to translate all these records into mandarin. What surprised Tong most was that there are fewer than 50 professional Manchu language translators and only 20 of them have mastered written Manchu language.

Tong happened to know that Harbin Engineer University has a course of Manchu language. "I'm going to take the class no matter how much it costs," Tong said to himself. He made a phone call to the university and was surprised to learn that only two of 30 students actually complete the course. And the class is completely free. Even the textbooks are free and all the teachers are volunteers.

After studying for a period of time, Tong has made some progress and is able to speak some simple words. But he also faces new problems. Since the language has not been widely used for over 100 years, there are no equivalents of many new words. "In many cases you may find it hard to express yourself correctly in Manchu language due to the lack of vocabulary," Tong says. "The more you learn, the more you are frustrated. It seems like a never-ending process of learning." Even if one can speak or write the language, he doesn't have the opportunity to use it in real life. Tong began to hesitate whether to continue the study which is consuming both his time and energy. But in the end he made up his mind to go on.

Many dying ethnic languages like Manchu language are a concern for Chinese experts. Efforts have been made to save these languages from extinction. For instance, a primary school in Fuyu County, Qiqihar City of Heilongjiang Province, has launched a pilot program to teach Manchu language. Though the school has to deal with many problems such as a shortage of teachers and money, the project shows new hope for the survival of the language. More and more young people like Tong will join the effort to keep the language alive.

Health tourism booming in Qinghai

 

Qinghai Province recently promoted its Tibetan medicine culture to tourists from home and abroad. The tourism project includes a visit to a Tibetan medicine museum where people can learn about the production of Tibetan medicine and enjoy the Tibetan spa, and a visit to a facility that produces Tibetan medicinal herbs.

According to local officials, the health tourism effort is spearheaded by the Chinese Tibetan Medicine Museum, the only one of its kind in the world to showcase the history and development of Tibetan medicine. Visitors can get a better understanding of the origins of the ancient medicinal heritage. Also they can take a close look at the production of Tibetan medicine and experience the magic of a Tibetan spa.

Mongolian medicine quickening its pace of modernization

 

The Chinese Mongolian medicine industry has achieved great development over the past few years. So far there are 76 medical institutions above the county level in Inner Mongolia. In addition to two Chinese-Mongolian hospitals in Hohhot, locals can go to Mongolian or Chinese-Mongolian hospitals in most cities of the region. Those living in rural areas can go to local clinics which have Mongolian doctors and provide Mongolian medical service.

According to Wu Lan, vice director of the Inner Mongolian Health Bureau, the largest Mongolian hospital is now under construction with an investment of 200 million yuan. The region is planning to expand 26 Mongolian hospitals next year as part of the effort to improve the region's healthcare system.

By the year 2010 all the community healthcare institutions will be able to provide comprehensive Mongolian medicine and treatment, with good medical equipment and qualified medical staff, to meet the demand of local Mongolians for health services.

Reviving 1,000 ethnic minority sports

Research on China's ethnic minority sports has progressed at a rapid rate since the founding of New China in 1949. Statistics show that Chinese experts have found out over 1,000 ethnic minority sports throughout the country. So far, 155 pilot sites have been set up in 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to promote ethnic sports. In addition, 12 universities including Beijing Sports University and Central University of Nationalities, now offer courses and majors in ethnic sports. Many primary and high schools in ethnic minority areas include traditional sports in the curriculum.