HONG KONG, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition opened here Saturday to give the public a chance to appreciate the forms and expressions of the intangible cultural heritage of China.

    Featuring more than 300 pictures, 100 items/sets of artifacts and a series of demonstrations by heritage practitioners, the " Exhibition of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China" covers almost all aspects of Chinese people's lives, including ballads, proverbs, songs, dances, acrobatics, opera, "quyi", folk art, folklore, rituals, handicraft, and traditional Chinese medicine.

    The exhibition, which will last until Feb. 16, 2009, opened Saturday by Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing, the Vice-Chairman of the National Expert Commission of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Work Zhou Xiaopu and some other officials from Beijing.

    According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage", the "intangible cultural heritage" means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills, as well as the instruments, objects and artifacts.

    In 2001, 2003 and 2005, UNESCO issued three proclamations of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. China leads other member states with four masterpieces listed in the document, including the Kunqu Opera, the Art of Guqin Music, the Art of Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang, and the Mongolian traditional folk Long Song (jointly proposed with Mongolia). Currently, there are 1,028 items listed under national intangible cultural heritage in China, covering folk arts and traditional craftsmanship, traditional performing arts, language, medicine, festivals and ceremonies.