On December 11, at the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in New Delhi, India, China’s “Hezhe Imakan” successfully passed the review and was transferred from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The “Hezhe Imakan Safeguarding Program” was also selected for the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, marking significant international recognition of this ancient oral tradition.
Imakan is performed in the Hezhe language and uses a mixture of poetry and prose to narrate the ethnic history, heroic legends, fishing and hunting life, and ritual customs of the Hezhe people. It is known as the “oral encyclopedia” of the Hezhe ethnic group. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, only five inheritors remained, highlighting an urgent need for preservation. In recent years, China has built a systematic safeguarding network through archival recording, establishing training centers, digitalizing performances, and introducing Hezhe language courses, revitalizing this cultural heritage.
Today, multiple Imakan training centers have been established in Hezhe-populated areas, with over a hundred inheritors actively participating. National-level inheritor Wu Baochen, together with younger representatives such as Hu Yi, has promoted the integration of tradition and modern creativity—bringing Imakan into schools, stages, and digital media, and further strengthening its vitality through cultural tourism.
The successful “list transfer” of Imakan not only affirms the cultural resilience of the Hezhe people but also demonstrates China’s achievements in shifting its intangible cultural heritage protection from emergency rescue to sustainable, living transmission. As the Hezhe people say, “As long as the rivers flow, the songs of Imakan will never cease.”
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