Promoting the creative evolution and development of fine traditional Chinese culture is a major issue, and one that President Xi Jinping has been paying great attention to.
In his inspection tours to different places across China over the years, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, praised efforts to preserve and carry forward intangible cultural heritage in the country.
The following are some of the highlights of several such visits made by Xi over the past three years:
Zhejiang, March 2020
During an inspection tour in Zhejiang Province, east China, Xi visited the Xixi National Wetland Park in the provincial capital of Hangzhou.
Stopping by vendor booths that make Hangzhou's well-known Longjing tea and sell local, signature products, Xi encouraged the vendors to inherit and develop traditional handicrafts and other forms of intangible cultural heritage.
Henan, September 2019
Xi visited Dongyue Village of Wenshu Township in Guangshan County during an inspection tour of central China's Henan Province.
Two performers of the Guangshan Huagu Opera, a local folk art on the national intangible cultural heritage list, presented a show for Xi on the spot and won warm applause.
Inner Mongolia, July 2019
Xi watched local artists perform the classic "Epic of King Gesar" at the Chifeng Museum during an inspection tour of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Xi stressed the importance of preserving and promoting the culture of ethnic minority groups.
The epic tells stories of King Gesar, a legendary 11th-century hero who fought evil and helped the weak. It has been passed down orally by singers, herders and farmers in Inner Mongolia, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and northwest China's Qinghai Province.
Sichuan, February 2018
During his inspection tour in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Xi visited Zhanqi Village of Chengdu City and watched the exhibition of a number of handicrafts of intangible cultural heritage, including Shu Embroidery.
He bought a pair of cloth shoes made by local people.
Jiangsu, December 2017
During an inspection tour in Xuzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Xi visited a sachet-making workshop at Mazhuang Village.
He praised the craftsmanship demonstrated by a representative inheritor of sachet-making, a local intangible cultural heritage skill, and bought one sachet.
"I also want to give you my support," Xi said.
