UNESCO, Nation state, Local government: Regional application of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention in the case of Chinese Korean ethnic(Chaoxianzu) prefecture

UNESCO intangible cultural heritage convention has a certain influence to Chinese national government and regional government of Chinese Korean ethnic (Chaoxianzu) of the domains of intangible cultural heritage definition, the value of community participation and emphasis on living heritage. Chinese intangible cultural heritage law, however, shows a strong nationalism and sets ‘masterpiece’, which is the main value of world heritage rather than intangible cultural heritage, as a main criteria. The regulation of Yanbian Chaoxianzu prefecture does not put emphasis on national identity compared to national law, and gives more focus on transmitting person, but promotes branding by allotting singular heritage for each villages, which is against the value of cultural diversity. Under the circumstance of the vanishing community people, the importance of person in heritage is advocated by government and academia, but the actual participation of community people cannot be expected. The community is also facing the dilemma that for the protection of cultural heritage, commercialization is inevitable. Upon the urgency of registration of cultural heritage and the need for commercialization, the matter of authenticity is considered flexible. It partly reflects the nature of Chaoxianzu community which has no archetype to refer to, and also demonstrates the chance for revealing regional creativity. Turning to Korean case, intangible cultural property law still sticks to tradition and history, and follows standardized prototype. Considering the fact intangible cultural heritage puts importance on cultural diversity and community participation rather than outstanding universal value, regional creativity presented by Chaoxianzu intangible cultural heritage has implication to the Korean intangible cultural property policy.