An artwork of the Xiangshan bamboo root carving. [Photo/WeChat account: xsfabu]

Three intangible cultural heritage items in Ningbo, Zhejiang province have recently been shortlisted as national level ones, according to a notice by the State Council on June 10.

The three traditional skills from Ningbo, namely the Xiangshan bamboo root carving technique, the Hongbang sewing technique and the Tianyige ancient book restoration technique, are part of the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage items and its extension list, as released by the central government.

"We are very proud to have three more national intangible cultural heritage items," said Kong Yan, vice president of Ningbo Cultural Hall. "So far, there are 28 national intangible cultural heritage items from Ningbo in total."

She said that in recent years, the demand for the application and evaluation of the intangible cultural heritage list has become increasingly high, and the announcement made yesterday is a national recognition of Ningbo's commitment to cultural heritage protection.

Kong believes that an urgent task for intangible cultural heritage preservers is to build a database of the existing items in Ningbo, given that there are provincial and municipal intangible cultural heritage items that need exploitation, activation and preservation.

In addition, the development of intangible cultural heritage inheritor teams to explore the places of origin of these techniques will be a major focus of Kong's work.

The Xiangshan bamboo root carving technique features a synergy of artisanal effects and the natural grain of bamboo root. The form the finished artwork takes is determined partly by the shape of the bamboo root, and partly by the imagination and design of the craftsman.