East China’s Shandong province has invested a total of 170 million yuan ($26.76 million) for intangible cultural heritage preservation during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period (2011-15).

According to the finance bureau of Shandong province, it provides a 10,000-yuan subsidy for every national cultural heritage inheritor and 6,000 yuan for each provincial inheritor every year.

The province has taken a series of measures to protect its cultural heritage, including establishment of archives and pilot zones for cultural and ecological preservation.

It invested 33.3 million yuan in the construction of the Weishui cultural and ecological preservation pilot zone, and 3.3 million yuan for nine provincial pilot zones, including Zhoucun village, Taierzhuang canal and a zone to preserve Zoulu culture.

More than 10 million yuan was allocated for the annual Chinese intangible cultural heritage expo, which has been held for three years with a turnover exceeding 50 million yuan.

In addition, the province has established three national intangible cultural heritage preservation demonstration bases, including Dong'e Ejiao Co Ltd, the largest Chinese maker of donkey-hide gelatin (a traditional Chinese medicine) by market share and 13 provincial demonstration bases.

At present, there are 60 national inheritors, 313 provincial inheritors, 1,617 city inheritors and 4,339 county inheritors in Shandong province, the leading numbers in China. Eight cultural heritage items, such as Yantai paper cutting and Tai'an shadow puppetry, have appeared on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.