Students play with shadow puppets at the No. 6 Middle School in Shahe City, north China's Hebei Province, April 21, 2021. The middle school has invited local artists to introduce the traditional shadow play to students as a part of effort to have its students better know intangible culture heritage.(Photo: Xinhua)

Beijing has promoted the protection of intangible cultural heritage by providing subsidies to the inheritors and assistance in the building of traditional craft brands, an official said Sunday.

Eighteen local intangible cultural heritage items were listed as representative national items in 2021, including traditional preserved fruit production techniques, said Liu Bin, spokesperson of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

In order to make intangible cultural heritage more "tangible" to the public, the bureau has also designed the "Journey along Beijing's Central Axis," encouraging companies to set up intangible cultural heritage experience bases, Liu added.

The bureau also published many tour itineraries themed on the Olympic Winter Games and the Great Wall, offering seasonal selections to the public and an opportunity to appreciate the Games as well as enjoy winter leisure tours, the spokesperson noted.

Multiple activities will be held in Beijing in 2022, Liu said.

To date, there are 92 national-level representative intangible cultural heritage inheritors and 242 municipal-level representative inheritors in Beijing.  

Xinhua