The China Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art recently announced the launch of a project to preserve Chinese folk culture.

The project will focus on 100 outstanding artists who can develop and pass down the fragile traditions of folk art and craft.
   
The candidates may be storytellers, musicians, dancers or craftsmen, who will be recognized and recorded by the project.
   
Feng Jicai, a famous writer and initiator of another folk cultural heritage project, says preserving some folk songs, paintings and paper-cuts has been fruitful, but other art forms are likely to disappear due to a lack of practitioners.
   
The writer hopes the project will help slow down the disappearance of Chinese folk culture.

(CRI.com March 23, 2005)