Safeguarding intangible heritage through edutainment in China s creative urban environments

This article critically examines the role of edutainment–the combination of educational and entertainment activities–in intangible heritage preservation. Drawing upon fieldwork in southwest China’s Guizhou province, the article focuses on a cultural park that packages traditional ethnic practices into cultural products and leisure experiences for public participation and display. I consider this site as an example of a new form of hybrid cultural venue that shares similarities with earlier models of theme parks and museums, but also differs from them in important ways. This article discusses the potentials and the limitations of using interactive and experiential elements for facilitating the dynamic safeguarding of intangible heritage in creative urban environments. I argue that edutainment offers new learning opportunities to a public audience and to younger generations, but it inevitably entails transformations of traditional cultural forms and practices. Edutainment, in this context, becomes a strategic tool to preserve traditional skills and knowledge while promoting local cultures.