"Blue Book of Protection and Inheritance of Twenty-Four Solar Terms" released in Chongqing

China News Service, Chongqing, November 7 (Reporters Zhong Yi and Ying Ni) At the 9th China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo held in Chongqing on the 7th, the "Blue Book on the Protection and Inheritance of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms" was released.

In 2016, “The Twenty-Four Solar Terms—the time knowledge system and practice formed by the Chinese people by observing the annual movement of the sun” was included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

He Bin, director of the China Agricultural Museum and vice chairman of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Protection and Inheritance Alliance, said that the purpose of compiling the blue book is to summarize experience and help the future.

The twenty-four solar terms are a typical representative of China’s excellent traditional culture that has lasted for thousands of years. The blue book comprehensively summarizes the specific practices and remarkable results of the twenty-four solar terms protection and inheritance in the past 10 years, demonstrates the practical results of inheritance communities relying on their own resources to carry out dynamic inheritance, and details the characteristic practices in typical fields such as cultural publishing, social education, media communication, and creative transformation.

The blue book points out that over the past 10 years, the work of protecting and inheriting the twenty-four solar terms has achieved remarkable results, which is mainly reflected in six aspects: "the protection support system continues to be strengthened", "the practice of solar terms continues to deepen", "participants become increasingly diverse", "social communication efficiency is significantly improved", "creative transformation vitality is vigorously bursting" and "the role of serving the country's economic and social development is further highlighted".

China has issued guidance documents and medium- and long-term plans for the protection and inheritance of the 24 solar terms, and the central government has allocated a total of more than 26 million yuan in special funds to drive supporting investment from local and social funds.

As of August 2026, there are 247 representative intangible cultural heritage projects related to solar terms at all levels across the country. As the lists at all levels continue to expand, the actual number is still increasing; the member units of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Protection and Inheritance Alliance have grown to 98, forming an inheritance pattern led by the government, coordinated by the leading unit, active community practice, and multi-party participation.

He Bin pointed out that while solar terms cultural creation, catering, markets, tourism, parks, etc. are constantly emerging, solar terms have become an important cultural resource that empowers the integration of culture and tourism, rural revitalization, cross-strait exchanges, and mutual learning of international civilizations.