The Fifth China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, which will open on Sept 13 in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, is the country's largest ICH event and is scheduled to engage more participants than in previous years.

According to the organizing committee, branch activities of the expo will be held in 300 residential communities and 25 schools, as well as in other public places, to promote the country's rich and colorful cultural legacies and gain greater interaction with local residents.

As one highlight of this year's expo, the branch activities will feature traditional folk arts and dance performances. Nearly 100 teams composed of 400 performers from all over the country will stage performances such as Anhui province's Huangmei opera, Suzhou's Pingtan opera, Fujian province's Nanyin opera and Hunan province's flower drum opera.

What's more, the history and skills of intangible cultural heritages will be taught in 50 selected schools in Jinan, with support funds from the government. 

Adding intangible cultural heritages to school curricula will help the younger generation learn more about Shandong's rich traditional culture and improve their artistic accomplishments, said an official from the Shandong department of culture.

Jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Shandong provincial government and the Jinan municipal government, the Fifth China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, with a main venue in Jinan and a sub-venue in Weifang, offers a platform to display the country's rich and colorful cultural legacies as well as its achievements in intangible cultural heritage protection.

Stage performances, exhibitions, competitions and interactive exhibits will take place. About 200 intangible cultural inheritors from across the nation will demonstrate their crafts onsite, and forums will be organized to share case studies and solve difficulties facing the preservation of intangible cultural heritages.

Wang Kaihao contributes to this story.

A poster for the Fifth China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo. [Photo/WeChat account: zgfy2018] 

An artist of Tu ethnic group performs paper-carving at the Third China Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition in Jinan, the capital city of East China's Shandong province, Oct 10, 2014. [Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily] 

A food festival featuring intangible cultural heritages will be held in Jinan from Sept 13 to 17 as part of the expo. [Photo/WeChat account: zgfy2018]