01117nas a2200121   4500000000100000008004100001100001700042245011500059300001000174490000600184520079100190022001400981                                       d1 aAnne McLaren00aRevitalisation of the folk epics of the Lower Yangzi Delta: an example of China s intangible cultural Heritage  a29-430 v53 aThe folk epics of the Han people of the lower Yangzi delta in China have been entered into the national register of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). These lengthy verse narratives were sung by labouring people toiling in paddy fields or working the waterways of the delta before the establishment of socialist China in 1949. Repressed during the Maoist period, the process of their re-discovery, identification and revitalisation as valued examples of China s heritage has been a difficult one, and their transmission to future generations as a living and valued folk art is by no means assured. As argued here, the case of the folk epics illustrates the cultural and political complexities of the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in economically advanced areas of China.  a1975-3586