Recently, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture issued an official document announcing the second batch of Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Productive Protection Bases, covering a total of 65 institutions. Eight enterprises from our city were selected. At present, the city is home to 1 national-level and 14 provincial-level Intangible Cultural Heritage Productive Protection Bases.

The eight newly selected enterprises are Longquan Guyue Sword Workshop, Zhejiang Qier Tea Industry Co., Ltd. of Jingning County, Qingyuan Hongjing Covered Bridge Ancient Architecture Engineering Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Xinyun Wood Industry Group Co., Ltd. of Yunhe County, Longquan Sunkeng Kiln Porcelain Workshop, Zhejiang Longquan Jianzhen Ceramics Co., Ltd., Longquan Gongsanxing Celadon Workshop, and Lishui Xianrenyuan Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. of Songyang County.

Productive protection serves as a vital approach for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage items in traditional fine arts, traditional craftsmanship and traditional Chinese medicine, and it is a direct and effective way for living inheritance. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed to "build an inheritance system for fine traditional Chinese culture, strengthen the protection of cultural heritage, and revitalize traditional crafts". In accordance with the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Productive Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage issued by the Ministry of Culture and the Guiding Opinions of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government on Accelerating the Planning and Construction of Characteristic Towns, the General Office of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture issued the Notice on Launching the Application for the Second Batch of Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Productive Protection Bases in September 2016. All counties and districts in the city responded actively. Nine intangible cultural heritage enterprises made elaborate preparations and submitted application materials, among which eight were finally approved.

The establishment of the evaluation mechanism for intangible cultural heritage productive protection bases has enhanced the vitality of intangible cultural heritage itself and integrated heritage protection more closely into people’s production and daily life. It has also stimulated the enthusiasm of inheritors, laid a solid and long-term foundation for heritage conservation, boosted the prosperity and development of fine traditional culture, and met the public’s spiritual and cultural needs. Furthermore, it integrates intangible cultural heritage protection with people’s livelihood improvement, providing important support for the coordinated and sustainable development of regional economy and society as well as the construction of characteristic towns across the region.