On stage, actors hold harpoons and sing Imakan, performing fishing scenes on the ice; Under the stage, tourists put on ethnic costumes, bow and shoot arrows, weave fishing nets, and are full of interest... The Heilongjiang Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Experience Museum offers a cultural and tourism project that combines fun and excitement, allowing people to experience the cultural heritage and charm of the Hezhe ethnic group. As a once endangered cultural heritage, the Hezhe Imakan has firmly established itself and revitalized itself, which not only concerns the cultural memory of a nation, but also provides a model for the protection of world cultural heritage. In December 2025, at the 20th regular session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, China's "Hezhe Imakan" was successfully transferred from the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Protection" to the "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity", and its protection plan was included in the "List of Excellent Protection Practices". This is the first time in our country that both goals have been achieved simultaneously. Only with both immediate achievements and long-term effects can protection work withstand scrutiny and be widely recognized. This is especially true for Imakan of the Hezhe ethnic group. The Hezhe ethnic group does not have written language, and Imakan relies solely on oral singing, which can easily lead to a shortage crisis. It is not an isolated rap technique, but deeply embedded in various aspects of Hezhe ethnic production, labor, festival etiquette, community communication, etc. Implementing comprehensive protection not only solves the urgent problem of intergenerational inheritance, but also protects the environment and soil that nurtures its development, so that Imakan can grow vividly in the new era. Effective protection policies must first resonate with human vigilance. Only when inheritors have sufficient motivation can the culture they carry shine from the depths of their lives. In the past 15 years, governments at all levels in China have invested more than 18 million yuan to establish study centers, record old songs, and support inheritors and apprentices, creating a good atmosphere of harmony and mutual pursuit; Develop teaching materials and introduce Imakan and Hezhe languages into primary school classrooms in Tongjiang, Raohe, and other areas, starting from childhood for inheritance and development. Rescue protection does not mean guarding isolated "project lists", but building an organic "ecological map". By twisting the community, inheritors, families, schools, and government forces together, from "a few people's steadfastness" to "a system's escort", Imakan has achieved its current situation, breaking free from the embarrassment of only five inheritors when it was listed as urgently needed for protection in 2011, and building a nearly 200 member inheritance team. In the collision with modern life, inheritance and innovation always go hand in hand. The continuous tradition, like a river, constantly absorbs new streams in the process of flowing, becoming wider and wider. Inheriting in thinking, innovating in tradition, and forging the power to move forward with the times. Hu Yi, a representative inheritor of the Hezhe ethnic group and Imakan at the provincial level born in the 1990s, has developed unique language learning methods and grammar rules, making Hezhe language spelling easier and teaching Imakan singing more systematic and accessible. Wu Baochen, a representative inheritor of the older generation at the national level, joined forces with other inheritors to try incorporating oral string instruments, drum beats, and even dance to create the "New Imakan". Be good at using new voices to moisten old tones, so that Imakan can resonate endlessly in the new era. Inheritance is not just about handing over the fire to others, but about preserving the spark. The heroic epic like Yimakan of Hezhen nationality condenses a nation's historical spirit and cultural essence, and is a nation's vivid soul. Only by attaching this soul to the living production and life, to the love and creation of generations, can a virtuous cycle of "protection inheritance utilization" be truly formed, allowing ancient traditions to be nourished by culture, integrated into current life, and become a spiritual support for the future. (New Society)