On the morning of August 10, 2026, the Asia-Pacific Capacity-Building Workshop on “Tangible-Intangible Synergies in World Heritage Management” officially kicked off in Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. By August 14, participants had completed the workshop’s program, which included expert lectures, field trips to heritage sites in Quanzhou and Anxi, and two related group discussions.
Expert Lectures
The workshop invited five experts to deliver lectures on the synergy between tangible and intangible heritage. Anna Yau, Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Architectural Conservationists and a member of the ICOMOS Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage, focused on the ICOMOS International Charter and Guidelines on Intangible Cultural Heritage Sites, providing an in-depth interpretation of their background, core principles, and implications for heritage conservation practices. The Charter emphasizes that intangible cultural heritage is not a subsidiary element of tangible heritage but rather an integral part of heritage value and should be given equal importance to tangible heritage. Its core principles include community stewardship, respect for the dynamism of intangible cultural heritage, and a re-evaluation of the role of heritage professionals—shifting from “experts” to “facilitators.” Anna Yau further illustrated the complex interconnections among heritage sites, communities, natural resources, and intangible cultural practices by drawing on periodic reports from East Asia and case studies from Hong Kong, Japan, and other regions. These examples demonstrate that the key to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage lies not in simply preserving traditions, but in ensuring their continuity within an ever-changing social context, based on respect for community autonomy and informed consent.
Anna Yau delivers her lecture
Yan Haiming, Senior Researcher at the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute and Deputy Secretary-General of ICOMOS China, delivered a lecture titled “The Integration of Tangible and Intangible Heritage in China’s World Cultural Heritage Sites.” He introduced the development and conservation management of China’s World Cultural Heritage sites and explored the relationship between the tangible aspects and intangible elements within World Heritage sites. He proposed that the synergy between the tangible and intangible can be manifested in three dimensions: cultural space and ritual practices (the former providing a venue for the latter); environment and knowledge (the transmission of traditional knowledge and skills within multidimensional natural and cultural contexts); and historic sites and imagination (the artistic inspiration and imagination sparked by grand cultural relics and historic sites). Using case studies such as the folk beliefs surrounding Mazu and Guan Yu, the Hani Rice Terraces, the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain, as well as the Grand Canal and West Lake, he illustrated how rituals, traditional knowledge, modes of production, local memory, and literary imagination endow architecture, landscapes, and archaeological sites with enduring cultural significance. The presentation concluded with an introduction to the “Comprehensive Social and Cultural Heritage Survey of Great Wall Fortresses,” a joint research project conducted by the ICOMOS China and the Tencent Foundation. Using Great Wall fortresses as an example, it argued that even when the physical space of a heritage site becomes a ruin, the sacred bond between people and that space can still be sustained through rituals, legends, and imagination. When approaching heritage from a researcher’s perspective in the field, one discovers that the integration of the tangible and intangible is inevitably sustained through human action and practice. Therefore, heritage professionals must transcend the disciplinary boundaries between “tangible” and “intangible” and reinterpret the wholeness of heritage through bodily experience, community participation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Pictured: Yan Haiming's lecture.
Li Kuanghan, Executive Director of WHITR-AP Beijing, turned her attention to rural areas. In her presentation titled “Synergy Between Tangible and Intangible Elements in Village Cultural Landscapes,” she placed China’s rural heritage within the context of rapid urbanization and the shift in conservation focus from individual cultural relics to traditional villages and cultural landscapes. She pointed out that rural heritage comprises three interrelated layers: visible material forms; the traditional practices that enable their formation and continuity; and the social institutions and community relationships that underpin both. Using the Dong village of Dali in Guizhou—a site she has studied in depth for over a decade—as an example, Li Kuanghan proposed that rural heritage management should manage change, preserve functions and knowledge, and safeguard community participation and creative rights. She also advocated for understanding heritage in terms of change rather than permanence: future generations need to inherit traditional creative skills, effectively functioning systems, and community resilience, rather than completely unchanging material forms.
Li Kuanghan’s lecture
Du Xiaofan, a professor in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Fudan University, delved deeply into the core concepts and practical applications of “living heritage” as a research methodology. The lecture emphasized transcending the dichotomy between tangible and intangible heritage to construct a unified system of living heritage, enabling the dynamic integration of tangible structures and intangible mechanisms of meaning through the ongoing participation of community life. Through case studies such as the relationship between people and the land in Lou Shang Village and the multidimensional narratives surrounding Princess Wencheng, he revealed that the core value of heritage lies in the complex connections between people and between people and nature. At the same time, Professor Du called on researchers to conduct in-depth fieldwork, adhere to the principles of interconnectedness and dynamism, and promote heritage preservation that better responds to current needs and looks toward the future.
Du Xiaofan’s Lecture
Neel Kamal Chapagain, a professor in the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Kathmandu, Nepal, outlined the multi-level collaboration in post-disaster intangible cultural heritage projects within national parks: at the institutional level, a legal framework linking World Heritage sites with natural resource conservation; at the professional level, breaking down boundaries between architecture, nature conservation, and anthropology through collaboration among experts, disaster advisors, and local guides; and at the community level, facilitating the mutual transformation of professional methods and local knowledge. Rather than defining “culture” through technical terminology, the team identified environmental knowledge and disaster resilience in residents’ practical actions—such as recognizing floods, evacuating children, and fleeing to highland monasteries. Medicinal and edible plants, as well as forest rotation systems, also demonstrate how culture manages nature. Collaboration does not involve experts documenting the community on their behalf, but rather, through ongoing dialogue, inspiring residents’ sense of self-identity and empowering them to spontaneously interpret and pass down their own heritage.
Neel Kamal Chapagain’s lecture
Field Study
Before the field trip began, Chu Baoyang, a Second-Level Researcher at the Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism, provided an overview of cultural heritage resources within Quanzhou and explained the composition and core values of Quanzhou’s serial World Heritage sites, as well as the current status of heritage protection and utilization. Sun Jing, an associate professor at the Quanzhou Cultural Heritage Research Institute, and Lina Park, a doctoral candidate at Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology, gave brief introductions to Chishi Village in Anxi and the Xiaocaopu Iron Smelting Site in Qingyang, respectively.
Chu Baoyang gives an overview of Quanzhou’s World Heritage sites.
Sun Jing gives an overview of Chishi Village.
Lina Park introduces the Xiacaopu Iron Smelting Site in Qingyang.
Chishi Village is the southern terminus of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road and the source of its tea. In Chishi Village, participants and experts toured Jusi Tower, the ancient tea garden, the tea factory, and the Bishi Ancestral Hall. During the on-site guided tour, Sun Jing pointed out that, as the southern terminus of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road, Chishi Village’s tangible heritage includes the nationally protected Jusi Tower, the Bishi Clan Hall, the Gezaidian Ancient Tea Garden, and the ancient Qing Dynasty trail; while the natural mountainous terrain and valleys form the foundation for tea cultivation. Intangible heritage includes the Lin clan’s genealogy and clan culture, as well as traditional tea cultivation and processing techniques. Ancient and modern tea gardens, roads, and settlements have fully preserved the changes in land use over hundreds of years, embodying multiple heritage values in architecture, the tea industry, and the living traditions of the clan.
Participants touring the ancient tea garden
Participants tasting tea at the tea factory.
The Xiaocaopu Iron Smelting Site in Qingyang, Anxi, is one of the 22 representative heritage sites of “Quanzhou: World Maritime Trade Center of Song and Yuan China.” Li Jiasheng, a Boya Postdoctoral Fellow at Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology, led participants and experts on a tour of the exhibition hall, the archaeological site, and the Qingyang Creek Park within the village. Li Jiasheng pointed out that, as a World Heritage site, the value of Xiaocaopu extends far beyond the remains of a single artisanal workshop. Together with Anxi’s mineral and metallurgical resources, the transportation network of the Jinjiang River system, and the maritime trade management agencies and port facilities within Quanzhou City, it forms a complete “production–transportation–trade” system. This provides empirical evidence of Quanzhou’s robust industrial capacity as a global maritime trade center during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and reveals how the mountainous hinterland was deeply involved in the early global maritime trade networks through handicraft production.
Participants visit the Xiacaopu Iron Smelting Site in Qingyang.
Li Jiasheng gives a tour of the site museum.
Su Zhiming, Director of the World Heritage Department at the Quanzhou Cultural Heritage Protection Center, and Zeng Guoheng, Assistant Liaison Officer for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, led the participants on a tour of World Heritage sites in Quanzhou’s historic city, including Kaiyuan Temple, the Prefectural Confucian Temple, the Temple of Guan Yu, and the Mazu Temple. With the coordination of Cai Jingmin, Chairman of the Quanzhou Xiazhou Mazu Temple, the organizers invited national-level intangible cultural heritage (ICH) inheritors and young innovators in the field—including Ye Benying, a master of the traditional Minnan residential construction techniques; Cai Kaidong, lead producer of the band Dian Shui Nan Music; and Cai Yun, coach of the Xiazhou Young Lions Dance Troupe—to share their insights with the experts and participants. During their time in Quanzhou, participants gained a closer look at the communities and residents surrounding these heritage sites, while also delving deeper into the integration of tangible and intangible heritage on Quanzhou’s soil through on-site sharing by the ICH inheritors. Many participants were deeply moved by the revitalization of local heritage spaces in Quanzhou and the community residents’ active participation in and transmission of intangible cultural heritage.
Quanzhou Tour
Xiazhou Mazu Temple tour
Field Study Group Photos
Small Group Discussion
In addition to field visits and lectures, the workshop organized group discussions for participants focused on the synergy between tangible and intangible heritage, based on the field observations and aligned with the workshop’s theme. The discussions centered on the differences between the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as ways to bridge these gaps. In the case of Chishi Village, the mountainous terrain provides the necessary conditions for tea cultivation and has shaped the development of the village and its practices. A cultural landscape research approach can be employed to present Chishi Village’s settlement, streams, topography, tea gardens, tulou, paths, and tea-making practices as an integrated whole. Regarding the Xiacopu Iron Smelting Site, participants suggested gathering collective input from surrounding communities and identifying a family with ties to the site. This approach might uncover additional stories and sources of information, thereby reestablishing the connection between the archaeological site and the local residents.
Small group discussion
The seminar on Quanzhou’s Old City and the Xiazhou Mazu Temple centered on three core topics: First, which areas hold the potential to explore and unleash stronger heritage synergy effects; second, how to systematically identify, proactively foster, sustainably maintain, and scientifically manage heritage synergies; and third, what are the specific connotations and manifestations of heritage synergy effects. In light of these three topics, the participants proposed that the interplay between natural and cultural heritage; the balance between the preservation of World Heritage values and the development of local community culture; the integration and collaboration between local residents and external groups; and the harmonious coexistence among different social groups (including people of different ages, genders, and nationalities) are all key dimensions in building a heritage synergy system. All of these represent noteworthy forms of synergy and integration. During the subsequent workshop session, participants may select any one of the heritage sites visited during this field trip and prepare a thematic presentation centered on the core theme of the integrated management of tangible and intangible heritage. We look forward to everyone sharing their unique insights and practical perspectives based on what they observed and learned during the field visit.
