2026 "Chinese New Year Celebration with ICH" cum ICH Chinese New Year Shopping Month
"Guangdong Goods Go Global, Culinary Delights of Guangdong" Event 

Held in Guangzhou, the 2026 "Chinese New Year Celebration with ICH" cum ICH Chinese New Year Shopping Month event brought together over 130 intangible cultural heritage (ICH) items from across Chinese Mainland, including 15 provinces / autonomous regions / municipalities, as well as Hong Kong and Macao. The ICH Office, as the supporting unit of the event, invited three veteran ICH practitioners in Hong Kong — Master Chow Yin-wan, Master Tse Chung-tak, and Master Sit Kim-ping — to demonstrate and introduce "Cantonese opera headdress crafting technique", "Hong Kong-style milk tea making technique", and "blown sugar technique", promoting Hong Kong's ICH items to a wide audience. In celebration of Chinese New Year (also known as the Spring Festival) among the public, the event also fostered vibrant cultural exchange.

Featuring the ICH item "Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of traditional new year" as inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the fair in this event integrated Lingnan Spring Festival customs such as the flower market and the lantern carnival, through which the participants immersed themselves in the festivities encompassing diverse ICH.

This significant cultural event drew an enthusiastic response, with over 300,000 attendees basking in the upbeat vibe. The Hong Kong's ICH items were popular with the visitors and received much attention from the mainland media.

Event Highlights

Under the guidance of the masters, visitors created their own Cantonese opera headdress and blown sugar, and savoured fresh-brewed milk tea, gaining a deeper understanding of the unique techniques of Hong Kong's ICH. 

(Some photos are by courtesy of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province)