China has witnessed marked progress in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage since the promulgation of the Law on Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011, according to a report submitted for review to the ongoing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Tuesday.

The NPC Standing Committee had earlier launched an inspection of the enforcement of the Law on Intangible Cultural Heritage. This inspection took place from May to September 2024.

According to the report, China now boasts nearly 870,000 intangible cultural heritage items. Among them, 43 items have been added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List -- ranking first in the world.

Since 2011, the central budget has allocated a total of 10.35 billion yuan (about 1.46 billion U.S. dollars) to support the protection and inheritance of representative projects of national intangible cultural heritage and the activities carried out by representative inheritors of such cultural items at the national level, read the report.

Meanwhile, efforts have been made to continue improving the system of intangible cultural heritage laws and advance groundwork such as investigation and recording of intangible cultural heritage, the report stated.

Currently, China has established a four-tier system of intangible cultural heritage lists, said the report, adding that over 90,000 individuals have been recognized as representative inheritors, of whom 3,068 are at the national-level.

In addition, efforts have been made to bring intangible cultural heritage closer to the people. For example, educational authorities specified that intangible cultural heritage education should be incorporated into the curriculum of primary and secondary schools.

Intangible cultural heritage has contributed to economic and social development, said the report, noting that it has fueled the development of tourism and rural revitalization, among other fields.