"We're going to set up a cultural protection zone for Qiang culture in Sichuan (this year) because it needs urgent protection," said Zhang Xu, director of the intangible cultural heritage department of the Ministry of Culture.

The Qiang cultural protection zone covers Beichuan, Wenchuan, Lixian and Maoxian counties.

Some anthropologists say the Qiang minority group descended from a legendary 21st-century BC Chinese emperor. Others say it is a lost Israelite tribe. Still others have traced its origin to other sources.

The Qiangs numbered only about 300,000, and as their misfortune would have it, almost all of them lived within 100 km of the epicenter, and lost about 10 percent of its population to the quake.

The quake damaged or destroyed 23 national-level intangible cultural heritage relics.

Zhang Xu said the central and local governments will share the cost of setting up the zone and will try to rebuild Qiang villages, preserve the relics, give "Qiang cultural masters" more opportunities to practice their traditions and resume their festivals, and make video-clips in the Qiang language.

(China Daily July 29, 2008)