Inheriting and developing: Long road ahead

Liu says that their work has just begun since they have only covered 10 out of 55 ethnic minority groups in China. His team is planning to record minority folk songs in Southwest China's Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and, if possible, he also hopes to travel to the Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions, as well as Yunnan Province .

The research team will return to the areas in April to deliver CD-ROMs and anthologies of folk songs to local primary and middle schools to help promote a solid traditional culture.

Ethnic folk arts are the particularities of a nation that distinguish it from the others. As a result of these efforts, China's seven-stringed plucked musical instrument was listed by UNESCO among the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003 after listing China's Kunqu Opera in 2001. Now, China is working to add the Tibetan Opera and the Dong Dage to the world heritage list.