Land

Traditional firing technology of Longquan celadon

© Longquan Celadon Industry Association

The city of Longquan in the coastal Chinese province of Zhejian is known for its celadon pottery and the traditional firing technology that imparts its distinctive glaze.

Traditional craftsmanship of the Mongol Ger and its associated customs

© 2011 by L. Ganbaatar

Craftsmanship of the Mongol Ger is a traditional enterprise involving the labour of a household or group, with men carving the wood and both women and men engaged in painting, sewing and stitching, and felt-making. The Ger is a round structure of walls, poles and a peaked roof covered with canvas and felt, and tightened with ropes. It is light enough for nomads to carry; flexible enough to fold and pack; and sturdy enough to be dismantled and reassembled. The Ger can withstand Mongolia’s fierce spring winds.

Traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving in the Republic of Azerbaijan

© R. Taghiyeva / Ministry of Culture and Tourism

The Azerbaijani carpet is a traditional handmade textile of various sizes, with dense texture and a pile or pile-less surface, whose patterns are characteristic of Azerbaijan’s many carpet-making regions. Carpet making is a family tradition transferred orally and through practice. Men shear sheep in spring and autumn, while women collect dyestuffs and spin and dye yarn in the spring, summer and autumn.

Tradition of Vedic chanting

© Indira Ghandi National Centre for the Arts

The Vedas comprise a vast corpus of Sanskrit poetry, philosophical dialogue, myth, and ritual incantations developed and composed by Aryans over 3,500 years ago. Regarded by Hindus as the primary source of knowledge and the sacred foundation of their religion, the Vedas embody one of the world’s oldest surviving cultural traditions.

Tibetan opera

© Song&Dance Troupe in Tibet Autonomous Region of P.R. of China

Tibetan opera, the most popular traditional opera of minority ethnic groups in China, is a comprehensive art combining folk song, dance, storytelling, chant, acrobatics and religious performance.

Strategy for training coming generations of Fujian puppetry practitioners

© Fujian Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center

Fujian puppetry is a Chinese performing art consisting mainly of string and hand puppetry. Puppetry in Fujian Province in south-eastern China has developed a set of characteristic techniques of performance and crafting puppets, as well as a repertoire of plays and music. Since the 1980s, however, the number of young people learning puppetry has diminished due to socioeconomic changes transforming their lifestyles on the one hand, and the long period of training required to master the sophisticated performing techniques on the other.

Shashmaqom music

© Otanazat Mat’vakubov

For over ten centuries, the classical music tradition of Shashmaqom has evolved in the urban centres of Central Asia formerly known as Mâwarâ al-nahr, an area which now encompasses present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Sericulture and silk craftsmanship of China

© China National Silk Museum

Sericulture and silk craftsmanship of China, based in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces near Shanghai, have an ancient history. Traditionally an important role for women in the economy of rural regions, silk-making encompasses planting mulberry, raising silkworms, unreeling silk, making thread, and designing and weaving fabric. It has been handed down within families and through apprenticeship, with techniques often spreading within local groups. The life cycle of the silkworm was seen as representing the life, death and rebirth of human beings.

Semah, Alevi-Bektaşi ritual

© Information and Documentation Center of Folk Culture / Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Semahs can be described as a set of mystical and aesthetic body movements in rhythmic harmony.

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