Hong Kong Showcases Intangible Heritage Through Summit and Culinary Feast
A launch event for the 2026 edition of "ICH June" was held on 4 June at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, unveiling a series of initiatives designed to advance the preservation and innovative development of the city's intangible cultural heritage.
The programme, organised by the Hua Xia Foundation, the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre, and Cultural Power, has been running annually since its inaugural edition in 2024. This year's edition adopts the theme "Shared Roots, Convergent Streams" (Tong Yuan Gong Liu), underscoring the historical and developmental ties between Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage and that of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the wider nation.
Central to the schedule is the ICH Summit, scheduled for 13 June at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, convened under the banner "Shared Roots and Convergent Streams – Cross‑Border Symbiosis and Local Innovation of ICH". According to a report by People's Daily, the summit will bring together experts from UNESCO alongside conservation specialists, academics, and practitioners from the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau to examine new pathways for the protection, management, transmission, and development of intangible cultural heritage through thematic discussions and case studies, while fostering cross‑regional collaboration. The Standard adds that findings gathered from local universities and secondary schools on eight topics concerning the current state and future prospects of ICH transmission will be presented by Hong Kong youth, with the aim of broadening public engagement and encouraging generational participation.
Alongside the academic proceedings, the ICH Feast (Fei Yi Ya Yan) forms a significant component of this year's programme. Curated in partnership with King Lung Heen, the Chinese restaurant within the Hong Kong Palace Museum, the feast draws inspiration from Hong Kong's culinary traditions and local ICH elements. Sing Tao Headline reports that the menu features dishes crafted from locally sourced ingredients, including golden five‑layer pork prepared with shrimp paste and shrimp sauce, fragrant salted fish with lettuce, and a milk tea jelly moulded in the shape of a stone lion – all of which incorporate ICH elements related to Hong Kong's food culture. The feast is scheduled to take place on the evening of the summit, with around 20 tables anticipated to seat some 240 guests. The menu is being made publicly available without copyright restrictions, a move intended to encourage the catering industry to adopt and adapt these ICH‑inspired creations.
The organisers have emphasised that Hong Kong, with its distinctive advantage as a hub where Chinese and foreign cultures converge, will continue to serve as a "super‑connector" and "super‑value‑adder" in facilitating exchanges and cooperation in intangible cultural heritage resources, thereby contributing to the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture.
