International symposium explores new approach to folklore protection

NANCHANG, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Participants at the 2026 International Symposium on Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions this week said China's experience in protecting folklore provides a strong reference as the world explores new paths for folklore protection.

Nearly 400 Chinese and foreign guests from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and more than 30 countries and regions attended the event held in Fuzhou, east China's Jiangxi Province.

During the event, participants also visited ancient streets and intangible cultural heritage sites in Fuzhou, gaining first-hand insight into China's efforts to protect and promote traditional cultural expressions.

Edward Kwakwa, WIPO assistant director general, said the symposium provided an important platform for mutual learning and exchange.

Differentiated national practices and open multilateral dialogue will jointly contribute to improving global folklore copyright governance and safeguarding world cultural diversity, Kwakwa said.

Tempa Tshering, an intellectual property (IP) officer at Bhutan's Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment, spoke highly of China's full-chain service model covering folklore IP rights confirmation, utilization and protection.

Tshering said that protection and commercialization are not at odds, but rather mutually reinforcing. He explained that offering creators reasonable incentives can encourage the inheritance and protection of traditional culture.

Holton Faasau, an official with Samoa's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour, shared similar views. A copyright service system that reaches grassroots workshops and ordinary cultural inheritors can ensure cultural protection truly benefits the creators, Faasau said.

Lucille Anak Awen Jon, a jewelry designer from Malaysia, said China's grassroots IP service experience is worth learning. She noted that IP is not an obstacle to innovation but a tool that helps traditional folk art enter the modern market.

Modernization should create new value while preserving the cultural essence of traditional art, she added.

Afsana Mirzazada, an official with the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, said legal protection should not seek to freeze traditional culture at a particular point in time.

Instead, it should prevent the misuse of traditional cultural expressions while allowing them to survive and evolve as a living cultural phenomenon, Mirzazada said. Enditem