A dialogue themed on safeguarding and the transmission of Chinese intangible cultural heritage was held in Beijing on Friday. It was jointly organized by "Decoding Zhonghua" platform of National Ethnic Affairs Commission of China and Beijing Overseas Talents Center and attracted nearly 40 foreign youths and experts located in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei from 17 countries including Spain, India, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Afghanistan and the United States.

Before the dialogue, the participants visited an exhibition of cultural relics and ancient texts of China, which wowed them.

"Everything here today impressed me! I didn't know much about Chinese intangible cultural heritage, so it's important to be here to learn, even just something about it," said Paula Vega, a student of Translation and Interpreting of Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid, Spain.

For the dialogue, three topics were included — safeguarding and the transmission of intangible cultural heritage: national experiences and international cooperation, my story with Chinese intangible cultural heritage and youth's responsibility in safeguarding and transmitting intangible cultural heritage.

Ma Shengde, director of the expert committee of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition and Protection Center, introduced China's protection of the intangible cultural heritage.

"The dialogue is especially important because it heightens our awareness of intangible cultural heritage conservation and it gives me more energy to protect the intangible cultural heritage," said De Diego Navarro Patricia Paloma from Spain, a student of Minzu University of China.

The dialogue is one of the series activities of the "Generation Z Dialogue" and the "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Foreign Talents Carnival", during which young people, experts and scholars exchanged ideas and shared the experience of intangible cultural heritage conservation at home and abroad.

Li Ren contributed to this story.