Wei said there has been a rising sentiment in academic and educational communities in recent years that China should revert to its previous writing system.
In contrast to such optimism, the preparatory office of the official Headquarters Administration of the Cultural Heritage Council, which conducted a feasibility assessment on the UNESCO bid, listed a number of practical difficulties for the campaign other than political factors pertaining to China.
The main obstacle to the campaign was that applicants have to be members of the UN and state parties of the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, said Wang Shou-lai (王壽來), director of the preparatory office.
Another concern was whether traditional Chinese characters meet the condition of “intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding,” which defines such assets as ones “that are threatened by disappearance or marginalization as a result inter alia of conflicts, intolerance, excessive merchandizing, uncontrolled urbanization or rural decay,” the report said.
The definition was stipulated in the Istanbul Declaration proposed by the Third Round Table of Ministers of Culture of the UNESCO in September 2002, the report said.
Meanwhile, the procedures for registering intangible cultural heritages set by the UN in 2007 stipulate that applicant governments are required to draw up a set of comprehensive and feasible measures to protect and promote the heritage and take resolute action to implement the protection programs.
RSS