01763nas a2200265   4500000000100000000000100001000000100002008004100003260000800044653001200052653003300064653004200097653003200139100001500171700001400186700001100200700001700211700001600228245009500244856015000339300001400489490000700503520096700510022002001477       2020                            d  cdec10aXiangxi10aIntangible cultural heritage10anational eco-cultural protection area10aregional overall protection1 aLiu Chunla1 aWu Liping1 aXu Mei1 aZeng Fanchao1 aJiao Lipeng00aBuilding national eco-cultural protection areas and the Xiangxi practice in Hunan Province  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85098068285&doi=10.1007%2fs11442-020-1828-2&partnerID=40&md5=4b224fe297ee9eb87e5bde95b8229979  a2076-20920 v303 aSince 2007, the Chinese government has initiated the building of national eco-cultural protection areas (NECPAs), thereby embarking on a significant transformation of the model of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) protection in China. To understand the origin and outputs of this policy, this paper demonstrates the context of China’s NECPAs. It proposes a conceptual NECPA framework that mainly features regional overall ICH protection. This is followed by an examination of the case of Xiangxi in Western Hunan as a pilot zone for China’s eco-cultural protection. Xiangxi has performed much related work to promote NECPAs and made great progress in regional overall ICH protection. This insight suggests that there are benefits and costs associated with promotion of China’s NECPAs and regional overall ICH protection. Despite the advantages of institutional innovation, the unexpected side effects actually undermine the success of plan implementation.  a1009637X (ISSN)