Clouds of Mount Huang, a fanhuang bamboo carving in the form of a three-panel room divider. [Photo/sjk.tzwhg.net]

Taizhou in East China's Zhejiang province held its first Intangible Culture Festival on June 13 in Huangyan district in celebration of China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which falls on the second Saturday of June, local media reported.

The festival promoted not only the protection of intangible cultural heritages, but also consumption.

A dazzling array intangible cultural heritage items from Taizhou were showcased at the festival, including Shen Baoshan-branded sachets stuffed with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), fanhuang bamboo carvings, and Xianju lanterns, famed for their patterns, which are made using knives and needles, as well as for their unframed body.

In addition, the festival also orgainzed a food bazaar for local specialties which have been listed as intangible cultural heritage items, including Ningxi baked sesame cakes stuffed with preserved vegetables, Yuhuan Wonton made with fish skin, and Huangyan steamed sponge cake.

The festival culminated with the publishing of the seventh group of representative intangible cultural heritage items in Taizhou, which included 15 items such as traditional dance, manual skills, and TCM.

In recent years, Taizhou has been rapidly developing its local intangible cultural heritage.

Statistics show that in 2019, nine Taizhou cultural relics were listed as important heritage sites under State protection, four intangible cultural heritage items were listed as candidates for State-level representative intangible cultural heritage items.

Moreover, Taizhou Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall was inaugurated in the same year.