Jo Sun-ja: Research on the History of the Korean Intangible Cultural Heritage System

Cultural heritage serves as a stepping stone connecting the past and the present. It is an entity that signifies that traditions built over generations have become history and remain alive today. What are tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage? Let's approach this simply. Tangible cultural heritage refers to tangible items with physical forms, such as a house or personal belongings passed down from parents to their children. In contrast, intangible cultural heritage encompasses intangible assets—such as knowledge, customs, specialized skills, and arts taught to children while keeping them close, as well as various information necessary for daily life. There is no doubt that both are valuable assets essential to human life. Korea possesses 13 types of cultural heritage, including National Treasures and Treasures, with a total of 13,040 designated items. A total of 44 Korean cultural heritage items are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Among them, 19 are Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, accounting for 5.65% of the global total. Interest in cultural heritage is on the rise, fueled by the Korean Wave. This book covers the systems established to effectively preserve and transmit the intangible cultural heritage designated by Korea. It is important to summarize the evolution of the intangible cultural heritage system in accordance with the government's policies and to identify future tasks. How has Korea's cultural heritage system changed, and what factors have directly or indirectly influenced its improvement? To find answers to these questions, I examined the influencing factors while tracing the evolution of the system. The research content and results are presented in my doctoral dissertation, *A Study on the Changes and Influencing Factors of the Korean Intangible Cultural Heritage System*, which served as the starting point for this book. The overall framework and content are based on the dissertation, although the chapter structure has been slightly modified.

Korean title: 한국 무형문화재 제도사 연구

Korean author: 조순자

Korean publisher: 민속원

ISBN-13: 9788928511624