Huanjiang focuses on supporting ethnic culture development

In recent years, Huanjiang Maonan autonomous county in Hechi has excavated and developed Maonan cultural resources, as well as carried out various foreign publicity and exchange activities to continuously promote Maonan culture around the country and the world, achieving remarkable results.

The county has incorporated ethnic cultural construction projects into its overall plan for economic and social development, setting up work funds from the county-level fiscal budget for support in terms of human resources, material resources, financial resources, and policies. It has invested 20 million yuan ($2.88 million) in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritages and cultural relics.

Specially allocated funds from the county government have also been given to commend and reward organizations and citizens that have made outstanding contributions to the protection of intangible cultural heritages, as well as to the inheritors of various cultural heritages at the national and autonomous region levels.

The county has established a county-level traditional ethnic cultural protection work group, as well as an intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance center. It has also formulated relevant regulations, established digital files, as well as carried out surveys and applications for the protection list of intangible cultural heritages.

Huanjiang has set up an ecological protection zone for Maonan ethnic culture and a protection zone for Maonan traditional dwellings. It has also strengthened cooperation with universities, carrying out research on the protection and inheritance of Maonan culture, as well as focusing on the cultivation and training of various related professionals. In recent years, the county has held 16 training courses for Nuo opera, Nuo face mask carvings, and hat weaving, training more than 600 students.

To date, Huanjiang has registered a total of 1,442 intangible cultural heritages on protection lists, including two national-level items, four autonomous region-level items, five municipal items, and 141 county-level items. It boasts two representative inheritors of intangible heritages at the national level, 10 at the autonomous region level, and 15 at the municipal level.

In addition, Huanjiang has held large-scale ethnic festivals for many years to widely publicize and promote the unique ethnic culture of Maonan, while continuously bolstering the influence of Maonan's cultural brands.

Moreover, the county has also carried out foreign publicity and cultural exchange activities. Traditional Maonan performances and activities have been part of cultural exchanges in Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United States, Australia, Thailand, and other countries.