The 55 ethnic minorities have maintained their own rich traditions and customs. 

From the hinterlands of the north, to the lush jungles in the south, from the mountains of Taiwan in the east, to the top of the world in the west, China serves as a home to 56 distinct ethnicities. The largest group, the Han, make up over 92% of China's vast population, and it's the elements of Han civilization that the world considers to be "Chinese culture."

Yet, the 55 ethnic minorities, nestled away on China's vast frontiers, have maintained their own rich traditions and customs, and are all part of Chinese culture. At the just-concluded the Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference, or CPPCC, China's top advisory body, minority delegates were demanding that more attention be paid to the protection of ethnic cultures, some of which are even in danger of extinction.

How many minority folk songs can you sing? Ask this question to a child of a big Chinese city and you may receive a disappointing answer.

A CPPCC member, Jin Man, says that she once conducted this kind of survey in a Beijing primary school, only to discover that over 80 percent of the pupils knew no more than ten ethnic songs.

"I'm very worried about such results. China is a multi-ethnic country. Its 56 ethnic groups together make up its spectacular civilization, but many ethnic cultures are not well protected, let alone developed and promoted. Some of them are even dying out."

Also a famous singer, Jin Man comes from the Korean minority of north China's Jilin province. Last year she made a proposal to the Ministry of Education, suggesting that more ethnic music be included in primary and middle school education. She wants every kid in China to be able to sing at least 100 famous ethnic folk songs.

She adds that this doesn't mean every child needs to become a musician or cultural expert. Instead, this education could help them gain a basic understanding of the country's ethnic music, one of China's priceless cultural legacies.

"If the economy is the backbone of a nation, its unique culture is its soul. So the combined culture of our 55 ethnic minorities is the soul of China. Our next generation knows so little about those ethnic cultures, especially concerning their intangible and oral forms. Our urgent priority is to first bring them out of the shadow of extinction, and then later develop them further. We really have a long way to go."

Jin Man's words were echoed by Dedema, another ethnic CPPCC delegate from Inner Mongolia. Although also a well-known ethnic singer, Dedema pays more attention to the education of ethnic languages.

"My proposal is to promote bilingual education in our minority regions. More schools should be built to offer courses in both the Mandarin and the Mongolian language. The language gap is a handicap for many Mongolian youths who have left home for further education in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Some even drop out from college because they can't read Mandarin."

She said that going to university in big cities is a dream from many of the children in ethnic regions. It's a real pity for them to have to quit college just because of this language gap, which is in effect draining China of some of its natural talent. The scale of the problem becomes clear when you consider that 21 of China's ethnic minorities have their own written languages.

Besides the music and language, the protection of ethnic literature was also a hot topic during the CPPCC session.

As a Tibetan member from west China's Qinghai Province, Nuo Erde is a researcher on Gesar, the greatest work of Tibetan literature, and also the world¡¯s longest epic.

Gesar is a heroic epic created collectively by the Tibetan people. As a product of oral tradition, Gesar has been passed down through Tibetan generations for over 1,000 years as a combination of song and narrative. So far, Gesar has been collected into a work composed of more than 120 volumes. In turn, these volumes contain over 1 million lines of verse, and over 20 million words, making it 25 times the length of that famous Greek epic, the Iliad.

"China's ethnic literature is such a rich mine. Gesar's image and story are still being reborn in carvings, paintings, woodcuts, songs, and dances. The research projects devoted to the study of Gesar have been listed as key state projects."

Nuo Erde is proposing that Gesar be applied for UNESCO's Oral and Intangible Heritage list. This will be a huge undertaking, but he says that his suggestion has won support from relevant departments in the central government. Moreover, Gesar scholars from China's Academy of Social Sciences will this year help him build a research center in Qinghai Province.

During the ten-day CPPCC session as a whole, the ethnic delegates all had a common call, which was that in the midst of economic progress, special attention should be paid to the protection and development of ethnic culture.

"Every ethnic minority has its own cultural heritage, including history, tradition, customs, religion and literature, all of which are irreplaceable."

That was from Professor Ma Yuxiang, a scholar on ethnic studies from northwest China's Gansu Province. He said that as the development of western China continues, protecting ethnic culture has become an urgent task for the local and central government.

"I think that economic development and ethnic cultural protection go hand in hand. People often have different understandings of the concept of protection, which actually does not intend to isolate these cultures from the outside world. Only through social-economic development and communication with the outside world, can an ethnic culture be appreciated, preserved and encouraged."

Professor Ma said that last year, a national seminar was held in southwest Yunnan province on how to develop the economy and promote the local culture of ethnic minorities. Scholars from different parts of China made many suggestions.

For example, to rescue the dying language of the 10,000 strong Bao'an minority in Gansu Province, local scholars are compiling a dictionary of this unique language and setting up trial language courses in local schools.

Meanwhile, Professor Ma said that promoting local tourism through the attraction of folk customs will help not only the local economy but also the popularization of various ethnic cultures.

Some provinces have held tourism festivals featuring minority cultures. Their unique singing, dancing, traditional costumes and cuisine have attracted tourists from both home and abroad.

For example, tourists visiting Inner Mongolia can participate in the Nadam Festival, a traditional festival practiced for over 700 years. During the event, many sports activities take place, such as horse racing, archery and Mongolian wrestling.

Professor Ma said that this year he is pushing for a national law on ethnic minorities, including the protection and support of their culture, language and education.

 
Editor: Catherine