Christoph Stark is proud that his company's program to support and finance Chinese intangible cultural heritage has been rewarded with many fruitful results.

"I am happy that the Gongguzi Dance, a folk drum performance from Gansu province that we have supported for three years, has been put on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List," said the president and CEO of BMW Group Region China.

Stark is also proud that his company along with joint venture partner BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd will sponsor the 2009 BMW China Culture Journey this month starting in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Termed "An Indestructible Spiritual Home", this year's BMW journey, its third, showcases the cultural gems in the province a year after a massive earthquake struck the region and the remarkable achievements of an optimistic and determined people have made to safeguard their spiritual home.

BMW has also contributed 1 million yuan to salvaging and protecting damaged cultural relics through its China Charity Federation BMW Warm Heart Fund. The donation has been used to protect Mianzhu New Year woodblock painting, Qiang embroidery and flutemaking, White Horse Tibetan drama, Wudu Mountain drama, the sheepskin fan and drum dance in Gansu, the Lueyang folk song and Ningqiang Duangong spiritual dance in Shaanxi and Regong art in Qinghai.

During this year's expedition, the BMW fleet will see new ways of dealing with disasters and how inheriting intangible cultural heritage can be salvaged and ecology restored.

The event also calls on society to contemplate the future of folk culture, enhance protective social consciousness and rebuild an indestructible spiritual home.

With 19 BMW vehicles carrying cultural experts, the media, BMW bloggers, associates and dealer representatives, the journey will travel deep into the earthquake zone to cities such as Mianzhu, Dujiangyan and Mao county of Wenchuan inhabited by the Qiang people in Sichuan, then on to Gansu to view reconstruction and cultural restoration progress. The roadtrip will conclude in Qinghai.

The fleet will also visit living inheritors of cultural heritage who continue traditional folk arts. "We would like to call on the society to take a greater interest and get involved in the protection and restoration of the spiritual locales of the disaster areas," says Stark.

In Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, 39 national and 141 provincial-level intangible cultural heritage items and areas suffered various degrees of damage. The greatest devastation was in areas inhabited by more than 300,000 Qiang people, whose unique culture dates back thousands of years.

A statement called the Chengdu Consensus adopted by the International Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Forum earlier this month noted that "intangible cultural heritage is an important component of cultural heritage of all humanity".

"It is not only the living memory and living genes of different human communities, but also a significant indicator of cultural identity, a fundamental source for human creativity and the spiritual homeland of various ethnic groups," the statement continued.

"The protection of intangible cultural heritage is as important as economic development in the process of rebuilding the disaster-ridden areas. It should be considered a basic necessity for the promotion of sustainable social development and building of a harmonious society in the long run."

BMW's Stark added that "a country's essence, its spiritual home, is composed of its culture and cultural treasures".

"After last year's earthquake, we are determined to see a joyous cultural festival take place here in Sichuan and applaud the people here for their determination, optimism, and remarkable achievement in rebuilding their spiritual home," he said.

"Today, by unveiling the 2009 BMW China Culture Journey on the one-year anniversary of the BMW Warm-Heart Fund, we hope to assist in further restoration and protection of cultural relics in areas of greatest need, especially to the beautiful, unique thousand-year-old Qiang minority culture. The BMW Warm-Heart Fund will continue collective efforts for the journey of practicing our long-term commitment in years to come."

When BMW's 2009 China Culture Journey concludes, the total number of cultural heritage sites visited over the three years since 2007 will surpass 100 and more than 3 million yuan will have been donated for 28 aspects of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

The number of journalists involved in the event will have exceed 600 over the period, who together generated thousands of informative and colorful media clippings. BMW said their reports have greatly enhanced the public's awareness of protecting intangible cultural heritage by presenting vivid displays and multiple perspectives.

"Active social participation has been key to the remarkable progress in intangible cultural heritage protection. BMW’s China Culture Journey has had a significant impact on promoting protection work and enhancing social awareness," said Zhang Qingshan, deputy director of Chinese National Academy of Arts and Protection Center of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China (PCICH).

In October, BMW and the PCICH will host an exhibition on the three years of expeditions that will share with the general public and culture enthusiasts memories and knowledge through photos, videos and a collection of cultural relics and artifacts gathered during the period.

                                                                                                     Source: China Daily