The State Council has designated the second Saturday of each June from 2006 as the Day of Cultural Heritage. The first such day fell on June 10, 2006 and had the theme "protecting cultural heritage and maintaining spiritual habitat." National and local authorities of culture and heritage protection held various activities on that day. The sixth list of key state-level cultural heritage sites and the first list of state-level masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage were also issued that day.

The verification of the first batch of state-level masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage progressed smoothly. Till February 2006, 501 candidates had been identified. They were selected from 1,315 entries, in the 10 categories of folk literature, music, dance, drama, folk ballad, acrobatics and sports, fine arts, handicraft, traditional Chinese medicine and folk custom, which were recommended by the departments concerned of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.