In recent years, the Macao government has shown more concern about the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. Intangible cultural heritage is a cultural tradition or practice that has been passed on from one generation to another. However, with the advance of modernity and globalization, people are ignoring these traditions, which are in danger of extinction if we are not going to preserve them.

In 2009, the draft of the bill for cultural heritage protection was launched, even though there were technical problems and lack of consensus in society. Three years later, the government introduced the draft bill to the Legislative Council for the legislative process. In October last year, the Legislative Assembly (AL) gave its preliminary approval for the draft bill, which was later, forwarded to an AL committee for debate and amendments in its details. However, the government does not state clearly in the bill what they will do to help preserve the intangible cultural heritage; therefore, the law may have a very limited impact.

The draft of the bill for cultural heritage protection has referred to the information provided by the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and includes the idea of intangible cultural heritage protection. According to UNESCO definitions, intangible cultural heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

In Macao, we have10 pieces of intangible cultural heritage including Yueju Opera, Herbal Tea, Woodwork—Macao Religious Figure Carving, Cantonese Naamyam (Narrative Songs), Taoist Ritual Music in Macao, Feast of the Drunken Dragon, Mazu (A Ma) Belief and Customs, Na Tcha Belief and Customs, Macanese Gastronomy and Macanese Theatre (Theatre in Patuá).

However, critics argue that the bill for cultural heritage protection may not be effective because there are only seven articles out of the 100 in the bill talking about the intangible cultural heritage. But the words used are too vague and the bill does not mention about actual practices that the government will adopt to protect the cultural heritage.

Ng Kuok Cheong, a legislator in Macao, said, “The Macao government has a huge amount of revenue in the Treasury. Therefore, they have their own way to preserve the intangible cultural heritage, which is putting money in it.” He said that the role of the government is just being a sponsor and it does not have any future plans about how to effectively preserve the heritage. Ng also stated that intangible cultural heritage must be cherished and preserved whether the law is passed or not. “The reason for the law may only be used to comfort the public and we are an international community which is responsible for our cultural heritage,” Ng added.

When talking about the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage, Dr. Lam Fat Iam, associate professor of Macao Polytechnic Institute, describes preserving intangible cultural heritage as a “a difficult task”. He said, “Preserving heritage relates too much to commercial concern.” He argued that people should understand the core meaning of the festivals rather than holding ceremonies to celebrate just for the sake of performing for tourists. For instance, some performers are paid to perform in intangible cultural shows, and this makes the situation more and more commercialized.