Efforts needed to protect ethnic culture and language in Yunnan
Villagers prepare masks for the Guansuo play in Xiaotun village, Chengjiang county in Yunnan province. The play is a ceremony to pray for good weather and a bumper grain harvest. [China News Service]
National legislators and political advisers have called for improved efforts to protect the unique heritage in Yunnan province, where the language and culture of some of its 25 ethnic groups are in danger of dying out.
National People's Congress deputy Bao Hongyi, from the Va ethnic group and a primary school teacher in Cangyuan county in southern Yunnan, said: "Many children can't speak the Va language or write its characters. I can just speak a few simple phrases, but cannot write in the language."
She said her family usually speaks Mandarin at home. "Before my 9-year-old son was 6, he could not speak the Va language, so we have been teaching him our language since then. Now he can use the Va language in daily conversation," she said.
In the past, Va people were so poor that many families could not afford tuition fees, leading many of their children to drop out of school, she said.
Thanks to the introduction of free education, Va children are able to attend school, but their native language faces a crisis, she said.
Qi Dechuan, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee from Yunnan, suggested that a museum should be built as soon as possible for the Jingpo ethnic group to step up the protection of its intangible heritage.
"By constructing such a museum, we can utilize and protect the rich resources of the group by developing tourism, a move that can also promote the local economy, culture and education."
Rongba Shena, an NPC deputy and a performer in the native cultural troupe of Nujiang Lisu autonomous prefecture in Yunnan, submitted a proposal calling for greater efforts to preserve the cultures of ethnic groups.
She said a database should be constructed to ensure the long-term preservation of ethnic culture.
