China's Spring Festival, traditional Chinese medicine, and acrobatics are on a candidate list to become China's first group of intangible cultural heritage.

A total of 501 items in ten categories, including folklore, music, dance, drama, acrobatics, traditional medicine and folk-custom, are on the list, for which the Ministry of Culture is soliciting public opinion.

Selected from 1,315 items recommended by related departments in31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China, the list also includes the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, known as the Chinese "Romeo and Juliet".

The task is crucial to preserving China's cultural identity and maintaining cultural variety worldwide, said an official with the ministry.

The United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently announced the Art of the Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam and the Pastoral Song of Mongolian ethnic group into the world's intangible cultural heritage

In 2001, UNESCO listed China's Kunqu Opera as a masterpiece. In 2003, the Chinese guqin zither, a plucked instrument with seven strings, was listed as cultural heritage.

Editor: Wing