Hunan's intangible cultural heritage promoted on Douyin

A salon for intangible cultural heritage livestreamers was held at the Hunan Grand Theater on March 14. In 2022, more than 150,000 livestreaming broadcasts about Hunan's intangible cultural heritage items were staged on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform, with more than 640 million views. A total of 17,000 intangible cultural heritage hosts from Hunan Province started Douyin livestreaming in the past year, with an accumulative livestreaming hours of more than 2.93 million. About 62% of the hosts received earnings. The amount increased 53% year on year.

In recent years, listening to Hunan opera and appreciating instrumental music have become a hobby of many netizens. Statistics showed that the top three art performance-related intangible cultural heritage items favored by post-00s were Hunan's flower-drum opera, guzheng (a plucked-string musical instrument), and cross talk.

The salon for intangible cultural heritage livestreamers in Changsha was the first event of a national touring salon program, aiming to carry forward intangible cultural heritage through Douyin livestreaming. The salon will be held in Hubei and Sichuan provinces. Local research institutes, media, and intangible cultural heritage hosts will be invited to probe into the promotion and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage items.