Abstract

Background: There is a long history of the safeguarding of cultural heritage in East Asian countries. Since the 20th century, a growing number of countries have begun to highlight the safeguarding and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, among which China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), the two East Asian countries, have also actively participated in it. Objective: This paper compares and discusses measures taken by China and the ROK in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage by analyzing relevant content of the intangible cultural heritage safeguarding and inheritance system between the two countries in its attempt to put forward reasonable suggestions for the safeguarding and inheritance of China’s intangible culture heritages in the future while drawing lessons from relatively complete safeguarding and inheritance measures of the ROK and taking the national conditions of China into consideration. Methods: This paper sums up relevant measures taken by China and ROK in the protection of intangible cultural heritage through literature review and draws further a conclusion from comparative analysis. Results: The ROK, also as an Asian country, has established a systematic management scheme for the safeguarding and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage earlier than its neighbor China in the region. Despite a late start, China has also established a relatively complete scheme of systematic safeguarding and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage in a short period of time. The sound practices of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the ROK can shed some light on China. Conclusions: China can draw on related measures of the ROK for the safeguarding and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage in the future. Constructive suggestions can be proposed from the aspects of strengthening school education communication, enhancing financial support, promoting on-stage presentation, improving the standardization of festivals or celebrations, and adding more museums for inheritance and education.