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The Digital Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China: A Survey

  • Yaolin Zhou , Jingqiong Sun ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Yujing Huang
Published/Copyright: July 8, 2019

Abstract

The digital preservation of intangible cultural heritage has become a major emphasis and challenge in China. This study investigated the state of the field by examining the activities of the local Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Centers at Nanyang, Kaifeng, Xianning, Chibi, Sanming and Jingdezhen, using semi-structured interviews to document the status of digital preservation of intangible cultural heritage in China. This study found that the digital preservation system of Chinese cultural heritage has a clear structure and pluralistic components. The centers are rich in digital resources, but disordered in their storage, and are supported by policies, but weak in the area of management. It is necessary to further clarify these institutions’ rights and responsibilities, formulate storage standards, build shared platforms, and strengthen digital preservation management.

Funding source: Key Program of National Social Science Foundation of China

Award Identifier / Grant number: 16AZD056

Funding statement: This study is supported by the Key Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 16AZD056). We would like to thank the other members of the research team who participated in the survey on the digital preservation of ICH in China. They are Jia Congcong, Ji Mingyan, Ji Rongwei, Zhang Li, Dong Yu, and Yao Lixuan. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, which improved this paper.

Appendix 1

Semi-structured Interview on the Digital Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)

Part One: Entities

  1. What are the main entities for the collection and storage of ICH resources?

  2. What are the main entities of ICH resources management?

  3. Does your organization have a cooperative mechanism for the digital preservation of ICH?

Part Two: Digital Resources

  1. What is the origin of digital resources for ICH?

  2. What is the quantity of ICH resources?

  3. How do you classify digital resources of ICH?

  4. What are the storage forms of digital resources for ICH? What storage formats are these forms used?

  5. Is the database or information management system used in the digital storage process of ICH?

Part Three: Preservation Management

  1. Is there any policy or standards for digital preservation of ICH?

  2. Is there training for professionals for the digital storage of ICH?

  3. What is the funding for the digital storage of ICH?

  4. What technologies are used to ensure the safety of digital resources of ICH?

  5. Is there a security management strategy, for example, is there a corresponding measure to ensure information security, physical security, etc.?

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Published Online: 2019-07-08
Published in Print: 2019-07-26

©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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