From The Development Of Cultural Industries In Guangzhou City, The Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection And Development Of Management Models

In the long history of social development, ancestors of every nationality and ethnic group have created the rich and valuable cultural heritages, including visible and tangible cultural heritages as well as invisible and intangible cultural heritages. For a long time, however, Chinese folk cultures have been destructed, suppressed and ignored such that it is almost at the edge of culture. As China opens its door to western world, the traditional cultures are severely challenged by strong infiltration of Western culture, therefore speeding up the damage and loss of intangible cultural heritages during the modernization process.Intangible cultural heritages are characterized by dynamic, changing and innovative features. Each intangible cultural heritage is the product of history, which reflects not only the level of scientific knowledge and aesthetic concepts, but also habits and attitudes, customs and beliefs as well as other taboos at the different historical periods. Being the witness of history in each society, intangible cultural heritage itself evolves along with civilization and social development. Today it is still of historical, spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic and economic values. Intangible cultural heritage is the essence of the public society and thus belongs to the area of public culture.In this paper, the Guangzhou municipal intangible cultural heritages such as herbal teas, traditional Chinese medicines (Chen Li Ji and Pan Gao Sou), folk arts and crafts as well as Cantonese-style furniture and Spring Festival flowers markets, are described in detail and analyzed as how they can still survive in the modern society. It is concluded that the protection and therefore survivability of intangible cultural heritage items in the market economy depend on their unique cultural values as well as level of acceptance from the public.Responding positively to society's increasing demands, Chinese government commits to promote the protection of intangible cultural heritage. Although remarkable achievements have been made in recent years, the heritage protection task remains challenging. In the article, research about Guangzhou Municipality's work on intangible cultural heritage protection is carried out. The protection management characteristics from four domestic cities and four foreign countries are compared and analyzed. The following four management models for effective protection of intangible cultural heritages are proposed: 1) Government as leading role in continuing promotion of traditional cultures, speeding up the establishment of the legal system, and adhering to the basic protection; 2) Heritage management as key element in strengthening protection of inheritors, establishing featured folk museums, and accelerating personnel training; 3) Industries as solid foundations in generating prosperity and integrated resources to enhance development of folk art and traditional handicrafts; 4) Citizen's active involvement as critical factor in utilizing non-governmental resources in grass-roots community protection of intangible cultural heritages.