Cultural lessons

But the work became more financially appealing after Li and his sister received various performance invitations in China and from foreign countries after their performances were broadcast on television.

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center recruited students aged from 14 to 20 years old, receiving both traditional arts and cultural lessons for free.

Quite a few masters of cultural heritage give lessons at the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center, while students may travel to remote villages to learn from masters who are too old to travel.

Certificates are presented after graduation.

Though teacher Li cannot make promises since students have not yet graduated, he is optimistic because of the attention focused on preserving traditional indigenous arts in recent years.

Supportive policies from local and central government also encourage dancers. They may include competitions as well as making traditional folk arts part of standards state curriculums.

How to preserve traditional music and dance in modern, globalized society is a universal topic, says president Yang of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

"Should we preserve it in a museum-like way or transfer and combine it with modern life? There isn't a definite answer yet and there won't be a universal answer for everyone," he says.

The National Intangible Cultural Heritage List is a positive movement of China to preserve traditional art in a museum-like way, but it also faces the problem of too much commercialization that damages traditional arts.

"Different methods may work for different arts in different regions and ages. Experts and artists worldwide are making their approaches as though they are crossing a river by feeling the stones," says Yang.

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