China is to stage the largest exhibition of intangible cultural heritage items in its history in Beijing from February 9 to 23, according to the Ministry of Culture.

The event is intended to showcase the progress in protecting intangible cultural items.

The show will involve activities such as paper-cut paintings, printing, pottery, carving, tea brewing, embroidery and traditional medicine, a ministry official said yesterday. Another key category will be cooking, featuring 230 restaurants from across the country.

The show will include 133 items of folk arts and crafts on the list of state and province-level intangible heritage items.

Fourteen state-level masters and 130 representative heirs to those arts and crafts will be invited to give live performances. In addition, 1,176 folk artists will be taking part in the show.

Zhou Heping, vice minister of culture, said: "The show is intended to showcase the varied and profound traditional Chinese culture and raise public awareness of cultural heritage protection."

In November, the central government said it would give a yearly stipend of 8,000 yuan (about US$1,160) to hundreds of people designated as heirs to folk arts, crafts and rituals, many of which are in danger of dying out.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2009)