Nation expands intangible cultural heritage item list

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a new group of 325 national intangible cultural heritage items on Thursday in Beijing, increasing the list established in 2006 to 1,557 items.

Judges organized by the ministry selected the new items from 943 nominations from around the country falling under 11 categories, which include folklore, traditional music, dance, opera, sports, arts, crafts, medicine, and, a new category, diet.

"One reason for adding the new category this year was that nominations concerning traditional diet made up one-sixth of the total, a rather high proportion," said Wang Chenyang, director of the ministry's Intangible Cultural Heritage Department.