Something to watch.
Something to follow.

Official heritage films, a documentary archive and destination introductions. Begin with a subject, then follow it into the magazine and a possible journey.

We link to original hosts. UNESCO heritage films are short introductions, not necessarily full-length documentaries. Language, subtitles, players and regional availability vary.

Sound & performance

Guqin · introduction & film

Read the topic, view the official heritage introduction and follow the subject into a cultural journey.

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Sound & performance

Kunqu opera · introduction & film

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Textiles & dress

Nanjing Yunjin brocade · introduction & film

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Textiles & dress

Sericulture & silk · introduction & film

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Paper & print

Xuan paper · introduction & film

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Paper & print

Wooden movable type · introduction & film

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Food & drink

Tea processing & social life · introduction & film

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Writing & visual arts

Seal engraving · introduction & film

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Writing & visual arts

Chinese calligraphy · introduction & film

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Sound & performance

Shadow puppetry · introduction & film

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Sound & performance

Xi’an wind & percussion · introduction & film

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Belief & community

Mazu & maritime culture · introduction & film

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Clay & craft / Jingdezhen

Read / UNESCO heritage introduction

Read the kiln city through fragments, repeated labour and the difference between an object and the system that made it.

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Clay & craft / Longquan

Watch / UNESCO heritage film on celadon firing

A short viewing guide to glaze depth, surface and the questions worth asking a contemporary ceramic maker.

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Ports & migration / Quanzhou

Watch / UNESCO Nanyin heritage film

How Nanyin changes a maritime city visit, and how to find a performance without assuming it happens every night.

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Architecture & villages / Songyang

Read / Songyang cultural tour introduction

A better way to look at contemporary design in an inhabited rural place.

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Ports & migration / Kaiping

Read / UNESCO diaolou heritage dossier

The diaolou as a lens on money, movement and the decision to build a home far from where money was earned.

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Paper & print / Yangzhou

Watch / UNESCO engraved block printing film

Look at woodblock printing as a sequence of decisions, not a decorative souvenir image.

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Sound & performance / Rongjiang

Watch / Grand Song documentary · UNESCO archive · 10 min

How to plan a listening journey without turning a living musical tradition into a promised spectacle.

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Paper & print / Yuxian

Watch / UNESCO Chinese paper-cut introduction

Use Yuxian’s coloured knife-cut work to ask better questions about technique, authorship and contemporary craft.

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