Jinzhong to be recognized as national culture reserve

The Jinzhong Experimental Culture Reserve in North China's Shanxi province was recently recommended to be one of five national culture reserves by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

A national culture reserve refers to a specific area with well-preserved historical and cultural heritage, and culture forms that have distinctive characteristics, which focuses on protecting intangible cultural heritage items.

The city of Jinzhong is a hometown to historic Shanxi merchants, who were one of the most famous business groups during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

In 2010, the State approved the establishment of the Jinzhong Experimental Culture Reserve, which covers the entire area of Jinzhong.

Over the past 12 years, the culture reserve has focused on farming culture on the Loess Plateau and the culture of Shanxi merchants. It has strengthened the protection of local cultures, and completed construction goals on schedule.

According to the Shanxi Department of Culture and Tourism, this recognition was an important achievement that boosts the overall regional protection of Shanxi's intangible cultural heritage. This will also motivate Shanxi to further protect, inherit, develop and make good use of its intangible cultural heritage.

Next, Shanxi will continue to develop the culture reserve, as well as advance the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture.