June 11 marks the annual National Cultural and Natural Heritage Day in China. As one of the featured celebratory events, the 2022 Intangible Cultural Heritage Shopping Festival kicked off last Saturday. Relevant departments of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism organized multiple major domestic e-commerce platforms to showcase the essence of Chinese cultural heritages and bring those cultural products to people's daily lives.

Through intangible cultural heritage workshops and some time-honored brands, the festival aims to support rural economic revitalization and consolidate achievements made in poverty alleviation.

The theme of this year's festival is "connect modern life and demonstrate historical charm". Various platforms launched live streaming, flash purchase and other activities to help inheritors and handicraftsmen, especially those from poverty-alleviated areas, to sell their products, boost employment and promote economic developments in the intangible cultural sector.

Poster of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Shopping Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

An official with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that since 2020, China has been promoting the protection of intangible cultural heritage, helping inheritors and enterprises get through the challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and helping to win the battle against poverty.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Commerce and relevant departments of the National Rural Development Administration have been supporting e-commerce platforms to hold the shopping festival on the National Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. Over the past two years, the festival has received active responses from various e-commerce platforms, media and provinces around China. It has now grown to be a popular brand activity for the Chinese people.