The central government plans to increase subsidies for State-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors from 10,000 yuan ($1,540) annually to 20,000 yuan starting later this year, China's Ministry of Culture announced on Wednesday.
Subsidies were established in 2008 at 8,000 yuan, which later rose to 10,000 yuan in 2011.
Ma Shengde, a representative from the Department of Intangible Culture Heritage, said the subsidy is not an living allowance and must be spent on projects that will carry on intangible cultural heritage such as training students and holding exhibitions.
In addition to providing subsidies, the Ministry of Culture launched a series of programs to train inheritors in 2015, starting with a focus on traditional handicrafts.
As part of these programs, about 200 courses to train more than 10,000 individuals have been planned for this year. These projects are expected to expand in number and scope over the next five years.
