The Qiandongnan prefecture has been a homeland shared by 33 ethnic groups for centuries.

The two largest ethnic groups in the prefecture are the Miao people, who number about 1.8 million, and the Dong people, of about 1.4 million, accounting for 20 per cent and 46 per cent of the whole Miao and Dong ethnic population in China, according to Wu Shaoyang, at a local cultural bureau in Taijiang County.

As well as the enchanting natural beauty in the region, distinctive and diverse local and ethnic cultures abound in this remote, mountainous prefecture, ranging from food, costumes, music, dances, festivities and lifestyles, to handicrafts and architecture, said Ouyang Hongyu, a folk and ethnic culture researcher from Taijiang County in the prefecture.

Altogether, the prefecture reportedly boasts 396 traditional and ethnic festivals year round, 122 of which are attended each by at least 100,000 local residents.

Taijiang County is said to be famous for its Dragon Boat Festival, in which women take leading roles, and the Zimei (sisters) Festival, nicknamed by some as "the oldest festival for lovers in the world."

However, urbanization, modernization and globalization have brought rapid changes to local people's living and thinking, as well as to the local cultures, over the past two decades, said Ouyang Hongyu.

More and more people have torn down their old, wooden houses and built new ones with clay bricks and cement instead, Ouyang said.

His observation and research also shows that fewer people in his homeland wear their ethnic costumes in daily life, or can speak local dialects or ethnic languages.

Also fewer and fewer people are paying attention to the traditional folk festivities and skills such as wrestling, lion dancing, dragon dancing, dragon boat competitions, buffalo fighting, and horse racing, he said.

Five years ago, Ouyang could name at least a dozen masters of folk art who, with their hands and primitive tools and methods, commanded a complete set of folk and ethnic skills, from making intricate paper-cutting patterns, to weaving and dyeing beautiful cotton cloths, to creating embroidery with bright colors and strong allusions to folk tales and legends.

But today, only two or three of these folk art masters, in their late 80s, are still alive. The cultural heritage has gone with them.

"Simply put, our indigenous cultures and arts are vanishing fast and the cultural diversity here is greatly threatened," said Ouyang.

Over the past few years, efforts have been made to maintain local culture with various organizations at provincial and county levels.

Apart from documenting folk and ethnic art and culture in book form, and documentaries, and building museums for intangible cultural heritage, a major approach adopted by local authorities is to promote tourism industries for visitors from home and abroad, which is a good way of packing local people's purses but does not prevent local culture from dying out.

By educating the younger generations about their cultural roots, folk and ethnic culture could be better preserved, experts said at a workshop of "Dandelion Action" held in July in Taijiang County.

"The goal of preserving indigenous culture can hardly be achieved by a handful of researchers and curators at museums of ethnology and folk culture," said Qiao Xiaoguang, director of the Centre of Intangible Cultural Heritage Studies, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. "The massive involvement of local people, especially the younger generations, is vital.

"In this sense, I think that integrating local culture with fine art education may be of some help in preserving intangible cultural heritage."

Most of the young students at the art classes may not be able to earn their living as artists in the future.

But "their early memories of the knowledge and learning experience about their indigenous cultures will certainly leave an indelible mark on their hearts," said Yin Shaochun, an art professor at the Beijing-based Capital Normal University.

"Whatever they do for a living and wherever they go when they grow up, I believe their love and pride for their unique folk or ethnic culture will not fade with time.

"Only when the new generation develops a sense of preservation will Chinese folk and ethnic arts and culture be salvaged from the brink of extinction."

It is possible that some of the students may develop a real passion for their indigenous culture and decide to devote all their life to its preservation, Yin said.

(China Daily August 18, 2005)