China's '24 Solar Terms' Listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

China's '24 solar terms' was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) world intangible cultural heritage list on November 30.

The announcement was made during the 11th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritages in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. The five-day session will last until Dec 2.

China's '24 solar terms' is a knowledge system and social practice formed through observations of the sun's annual motion, and cognition of the year's changes in season, climate and phenology.

Kids learn to make dumplings at a kindergarten in Yiyuan county, East China's Shandong province, Dec 21, 2015, to reveive the coming of "Dongzhi", the 22nd of the 24 solar terms in Chinese lunar calendar.

© Photo : China Daily

The 24 terms include Start of Spring, Rain Water, Awakening of Insects, Spring Equinox, Clear and Bright, Grain Rain, Start of Summer, Grain Buds, Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice, Minor Heat, Major Heat, Start of Autumn, End of Heat, White Dew, Autumn Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost's Descent, Start of Winter, Minor Snow, Major Snow, Winter Solstice, Minor Cold and Major Cold.

The collective terms are among the 37 requests for inscription on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Another five nominations were also proposed for the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, in its 10 years of service, has inscribed 336 elements onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

This article originally appeared in China Daily.