Men and women practice taichi in the Palais Royal gardens in November 2020 in Paris.

BEIJING (XINHUA) – Chinese taichi, a centuries-old martial art and now a popular form of exercise, was inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on Thursday (Dec 17) evening Beijing Time.

The inclusion of taichi marks that China currently has 42 intangible cultural heritage items on the list, ranking first in the world, according to China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Another honoured entry is “Wangchuan ceremony and related practices for maintaining the sustainable connection between man and the ocean”, which was nominated by China together with Malaysia.

A total of 50 intangible cultural heritage candidates from 57 countries have been submitted for review by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the UNesco at the 15th session of the committee, which is held online between Monday and Saturday.

Singapore’s hawker culture has also been officially added to the Unesco list.

The successful nomination means Singapore now has its first item on the intangible cultural heritage list, which currently has more than 460 entries, including yoga in India and Belgian beer.