Asian Performing Arts: From the Traditional to the Contemporary

In the late 1990s UNESCO initiated a programme to safeguard Intangible Cultural Heritage, a move that aroused great interest around the world. Many countries submitted nomination, and, since 2001 and until 2011, 250 'Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,' were named, of which fifty-two were from China and Japan, over one-fifth of the total number. This prominence attests to the seriousness with which these two countries regard their own intangible cultural heritage, and to their enthusiastic participation in UNESCO's initiatives...

[...]

... Towards those goals, Zuni organised a symposium in November 2011 entitled 'Asia ICH Performing Arts Forum: In Search of the Future of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Performing Arts)' to create a platform for sharing of experiences and exploring ideas on how to move forward. Speakers from twelve Asian cities and the US were invited to participate. This volume compiles their symposium reports and afterthoughts, along with four invited/selected essays by distinguished writers Helen Rees, Fu Jin, Danny Yung and Yu Siu-wah, as well as a dialogue between Zhou Long and Jessica Yeung.

– Bell Yung 

(Source: Asian Performing Arts: From the Traditional to the Contemporary preface)