Ji Haibo is an official dedicated to protecting and spreading information about the intangible cultural heritages of Taishun county, Zhejiang province. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Ji Haibo, who has been dedicated to preserving intangible cultural heritages (ICH) in Taishun, Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, for nearly three decades, is hailed as the guardian of the county's time-honored culture.

Taishun is known for its long history and profound culture. In recent years, Ji has discovered and reported around 150 items of ICH in the county, greatly contributing to the preservation of its cultural roots.

Ji was born into a family of ICH inheritors. His father is an inheritor of puppet performance and his mother is devoted to inheriting and promoting the making of Taishun's traditional wooden toys. Ji's sister was included in the list of national ICH inheritors for her techniques for engraving and painting on puppets.

Ji chose a different way to protect ICH items. As an ICH worker, he is well aware of the current conditions of heritages which he is determined to protect and promote. However, it is not easy to make frequent field trips to remote areas in the mountainous county. Ji said thanks to work experiences over the last 30 years, he has become familiar with every mountain and every turn of the mountain roads in Taishun.

In Ji's eyes, the protection of ICH is a race against time. "Some elderly ICH inheritors are in poor health, so we need to record what they say and what they do in words or videos in case the old traditions become extinct," he said.

Every time he finds a good ICH item, Ji is excited like a child. He conducts surveys tirelessly, according to Lin Zongyi, one of Ji's workmates.

Taishun is described as the hometown of China's covered bridges whose history can be traced back to the middle of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Dong Zhiji, an inheritor of bridge building skills, was found by Ji a decade ago.

These days, the ICH worker is a frequent caller to Dong's family and filmed the elderly inheritor imparting his skills to young apprentices. 

Ji discusses with a worker the restoration of covered bridges at a construction site in Taishun in 2016. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]