Ministry of Culture and Tourism: A second national survey of intangible cultural heritage will be conducted during the 15th Five-Year Plan period

On October 20, 2026, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce efforts to strengthen cultural heritage protection during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Shan Gangxin, Director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said at the conference that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the focus will be on system development. On the one hand, the protection system for intangible cultural heritage items will be improved, and a second national survey of intangible cultural heritage will be carried out to further clarify the overall situation; at the same time, the dynamic adjustment mechanism for the representative items list of intangible cultural heritage will be improved, and support and transmission for items in urgent need of protection will be strengthened. On the other hand, the training system for intangible cultural heritage inheritors will be optimized, the list of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage will be improved, and the evaluation and exit mechanisms will be refined. At the same time, the Chinese intangible cultural heritage inheritor study and training program will be implemented in depth, combining traditional transmission with modern education to strengthen the training of young inheritors, and promote the cause of intangible cultural heritage protection so that it is passed on from generation to generation and talents emerge in large numbers.