The China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Beijing will host this week the launch of this year's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day activities. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Intangible Cultura Heritage department helped to organize the exhibition.

The event will include a showcase for the local variant of the Wangchuan ceremony, a traditional Minnan ritual practice ritual practice held to avert disaster. The showcased Xiagang Wangchuan, which is 2.38 meters long and weighs 150 kg, was made in 2018.

 
The wangchuan ceremony and related practices, which can be dated back 600 years ago, are rooted in folk customs of worshipping Ong Yah, a deity believed to protect people and their lands from disasters. On December 17, 2020, it was inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.