In a bright classroom in Nanjing, Lin Liangzheng watched students discover something unexpected: the tea, bridges, and silk all around them were not just everyday objects, but living pieces of history passed down through generations. Lin, a curriculum designer from China, had traveled there in July 2026 to join the final gathering of a three-year project that asked a simple but powerful question: what if cultural heritage could become part of everyday learning?
The project, called "Teaching and Learning with East Asian Shared Heritage," was run by UNESCO's East Asia office and CRIHAP, a UNESCO training center based in China. Starting in 2024, it brought together teachers, museum staff, and experts from across the region — China, Japan, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea — to figure out how to weave intangible cultural heritage, or ICH, into school life. ICH is a term for the traditions, skills, and practices that communities pass down from parent to child, like how to weave bamboo baskets, brew tea, or build wooden bridges.
From July 6 to 9, 2026, Nanjing hosted the project's last workshop. Seventeen people attended — educators, museum workers, and even representatives from businesses. They came from places like the China Ports Museum, the Osaka Science Museum in Japan, and the Chinggis Khaan National Museum in Mongolia. Over four days, they listened to lectures, worked through role-play exercises, and visited heritage sites together. One session called the "partnerships clinic" challenged groups to brainstorm real barriers that stop museums and schools from working together, then come up with solutions. Another, called "cross-sectoral pitching simulations," had participants practice convincing each other to collaborate — a skill they could then use back home.
The workshop also highlighted a partnership already underway in Ningbo, a city in eastern China. A local curriculum research institute teamed up with the China Port Museum to build educational programs around local heritage. Bamboo, tea, porcelain, silk, bridges, ships, rice, salt, and ports — all familiar parts of daily life in Ningbo — became the subject of hands-on lessons. Students did projects that mixed craft, critical thinking, and real-world practice, keeping the city's traditions alive in ways that felt relevant to their own lives.
Since 2024, the project has reached more than 20 schools and engaged over 300 students in heritage-based learning. Teachers reported that students showed stronger cultural awareness, and lessons felt more engaging when connected to living traditions rather than textbooks alone. One of the project's key outputs is a guide titled "Living Heritage in the Classroom: A Teacher's Companion," designed to help educators bring ICH into their daily teaching without needing special expertise.
Lin, reflecting on what the workshop taught him, put it simply: cultural heritage is not a relic locked in the past — it is a living force that can walk right into a classroom and help students feel connected to who they are.