A statue in a Hezhen village in Tongjiang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province Photo: VCG

 
China's nomination of "Hezhen Yimakan" passed the evaluation and was transferred from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on Thursday at the 20th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in New Delhi, India, according to CCTV News. 
 
Meanwhile, the safeguarding plan for "Hezhen Yimakan" was included in the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.
 
Narrated in the Hezhen language, Yimakan storytelling is essential to the worldview and historical memory of the Hezhen ethnic group, one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in China, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Yimakan storytelling is a time-honored oral art that includes singing and speaking and has been transmitted from generation to generation by the Hezhen people. Its themes cover heroic deeds, fishing and hunting life, folk customs and romance, representing the Hezhen collective memory, education, and entertainment in seasonal labor and festivals, according to a report by UNESCO.

In May 2006, Yimakan storytelling was inscribed on the list of Chinese national intangible cultural heritage. In November 2011, it was inscribed on the UNESCO urgent safeguarding list.
 
As one of China's smallest ethnic minority groups, the Hezhen people live mainly in the areas around the Heilongjiang, Songhua and Wusuli rivers in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. 

In recent years, rapid advancements in their financial status and improvements in health care have led to remarkable population growth, leading the Hezhen population to surge from just over 300 to more than 5,300, Xinhua reported

With this new inclusion, China now counts 45 items inscribed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage lists and registers, ranking first in the world in total number.