Research On The Protection Of The Rights Of Intangible Cultural Heritage’s Inheritors

As one of the four great ancient civilizations in the world, China has five thousand years of history from which she draws a rich Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) which containing enormous cultural and economic value. Because of ICH’s intangibility and living inheritance, the focus of its protection rests upon protecting the rights of its inheritors. China’s protection of ICH is currently mainly based on public law. However, the protection from private law has proven inadequate and heirs are excluded from the benefit-sharing in the course of ICH development, resulting in the plight of ICH protection, and eventually leading to its destruction. Therefore, in order to protect the development of ICH, the protection of inheritors’ rights should be emphasized. In three parts, this article examines the nature and content of the inheritors’ rights and searches to implement a framework for their protection.Part I of this article introduces the concept, characteristics, and classification of ICH and its inheritors. By examining the status quo of China’s relevant legislation and the relationship between the plight of ICH protection and inadequate protection on the inheritors’ rights, this part emphasizes on echoing the doubts cast by academia upon the protection of ICH private rights, and demonstrating the necessity for protecting these rights.Part II analyzes the nature of the rights of ICH’s inheritors. Based on the perspective of promoting ICH development and the nature of ICH, this part clarifies the specific rights of the inheritors and necessary restrictions.Starting by integrating the experience of the external into China’s current legal system, Part III identifies the protection framework of the inheritors’rights most suitable for China. This part discusses the construction of a protection framework, the distribution of benefits, and how to supervise the inheritors.