Intangible cultural heritage, a traditional culture carried on by peoples all over the world, is related closely to common life of ordinary people, undertaking all kinds of cultural room and style. It is an intangible living cultural heritage and wisdom that has been transmitted by humans in oral forms from generation to generation. It is not only a witness to historical development, but also a precious cultural resource with important value. Therefore, it is of far-reaching strategic and realistic significance to protect intangible cultural heritage for all countries.
I am an expert at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Association for the Protection of Intangible Culture, specializing in the protection of intangible cultural heritage around the world. My home country, Saudi Arabia, attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. It has formulated a series of laws and policies, established a heritage protection agency to protect the intangible cultural heritage in the country, and passed the intangible cultural heritage as a national bond and wealth from generation to generation.
Recently, I turned my research perspective to the protection of the intangible cultural heritage of the Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Since China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are both members of UNESCO, today, in the context of globalization, learning and complementing each other has already been the inevitable trend of each country’s development. In order to accomplish my research project as soon as possible, I immediately set off to travel to Xinjiang, China to conduct a field survey to investigate and analyze the protection situation of the local Uighur intangible cultural heritage. After more than a month of field investigations, I completed a research report on the protection of the Uighur intangible heritage in Xinjiang, China after I returned to my country, and concluded that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the protection of the Uyghur Minority’s intangible heritage in Xinjiang, and has taken many rescue and protection measures that made it possible for Uighur’s intangible cultural heritage to be protected for a long time. I am really moved by and admiring the approaches provided by Chinese government.
Xinjiang Uyghur ethnic group owns rich traditional cultures including oral literature, folk music, folk dance, sacrifice dance, folk art, opera, traditional crafts and techniques, festivals and celebrations. However, with the continuous change of the social environment and the constant impact of various cultures, the intangible culture of many ethnic groups,especially Uyghur Muqam Art in Xinjiang, is already on the verge of extinction. Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam Art is a general term for various Muqams spread in various Uyghur settlements in Xinjiang. It is a large-scale comprehensive art form combined songs, dance with music, being widely distributed, owning maximum followers and having widest impact in Xinjiang. And it was selected as the representative list of human oral and intangible heritage in 2005.
In Xinjiang Uyghur areas, on festivals and celebrations, people almost always invited folk performers to perform Muqam and other Uyghur folk music, and Uyghur folk music has always been transmitted in parallel in oral teaching and spectral determination. However, with the popularization of modern pop music, traditional music is gradually being replaced by popular music. The number of people who can sing Muqam songs and perform Muqam dance has become increasingly scarce. In addition, because of the outdated preservation methods, there is an urgent need to convert the previous recordings and video materials of Muqam performing into digital carriers to facilitate off-site storage in various ways.
With a long history, Xinjiang’s intangible cultural heritage is valuable and it is rich in resources. Therefore, in order to protect the intangible cultural heritage, inherit and carry forward excellent cultural traditions, and solve the protection problems of Xinjiang Uyghur ethnic minority’s intangible cultural heritage, the relevant departments of the Chinese government have taken a series of protection measures in time to help to inherit and promote the intangible cultural heritage’s value. For example, on April 1, 2008, the Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage were enacted and put into force. On July 28,2010, the Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on the Protection of Uyghur Muqam Arts, the first case of provincial-level local single legislation, were promulgated and put into force, showing that the Chinese government attaches great importance to and highly supports the protection of Xinjiang’s intangible cultural heritage. Moreover, in 2017, Xinjiang also formulated a plan for revitalizing traditional crafts. Through the establishment of a catalog of traditional crafts revitalization, the training of inheritors, and the establishment of development funds to promote the industrialization of traditional crafts, a number of traditional crafts with Xinjiang characteristics have been protected and developed. A group of poor people were encouraged to engage in the development of traditional craftsmanship, and precision poverty alleviation was achieved. On June 9, 2018, Xinjiang launched a series of intangible cultural heritage week events to showcase Xinjiang’s intangible cultural heritage, which played an important role in enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the Xinjiang Uyghur people.
Therefore, in terms of protecting Xinjiang Uyghur intangible cultural heritage, the Chinese government has issued a series of protection policies and regulations, which on the one hand reflects the Chinese government’s emphasis on Xinjiang Uyghur Muslim intangible cultural heritage. On the other hand, the Chinese government issuing preferential policies on Xinjiang Muslims shows the advanced nature of China’s ethnic and religious policies, and also shows that China is a big family united by multiple ethnic groups. Many practices in China are worth learning by my home country, Saudi Arabia.