Following the call for nominations for the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia Pacific Regional Register (15 February-15 June 2022), we are pleased to share that thirteen (13) nominations have been deemed admissible for assessment by the MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee (RSC) as outlined under Section D of the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia Pacific Regional Register Process.
The title and a summary for each nomination form that has been accepted for assessment can be found in the table below. The summary is based on the information provided by nominators in Section 2 of the nomination form. A full text of nominations accepted for assessment will be provided on request to interested parties (a request can be submitted to the MOWCAP Secretary-General via email to mowcapinfo@gmail.com)
MOWCAP invites comments on these accepted nominations from National MoW
Committees and National Commissions or from any interested individual or organisations, to be submitted to the MOWCAP Secretary-General by 15 August 2022.
Comments that support or provide other information relevant to aspects of any current nomination are welcome, for instance, the sender may wish to provide information to supplement the nominator’s case. All comments received shall be transmitted forthwith to the Chair of the RSC for consideration by the RSC in the process of its assessment.
Any contestations must be made using the specified form and process outlined under
Section N of the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia Pacific Regional Register Process.
| # | Country | Title | Summary |
| 01 | Singapore | Historical Asian Children’s Collection (1890 – 1990), The Asian Children’s Literature Collection” | The only known research collection of children’s books in the region. Over 10,000 titles, mainly in Singapore’s official languages – English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. The works draw links to Singapore’s rich multi-cultural heritage and historical connections to China, India and Southeast Asia in folk tales, fairy tales, myths and legends and selected non-fiction. . |
| 02 | Republic of Korea (ROK) | Naebang-gasa: Song of the Inner Chambers | A collection of 348 naebang-gasa works created, recited, and recorded by Korean women from 1794 to the late 1960s — individual single-leaf documents, scrolls, and a codex. The works are rare testimony of women’s independent activity from the 18th to mid-20th centuries in East Asia, despite the dominance of patriarchy at the time. It also demonstrates the process in which the Korean alphabet, or Hangeul new writing system was established as the official script of a social group, prior to becoming the official script. |
| 03 | Republic of Korea (ROK) | The Archive of Taean Oil Spill Experiences The Narrative of the Incident and Recovery | A detailed record of an oil spill of 10,900 tons after a tanker collision off the Taean Peninsula of the Republic of Korea on December 7, 2007 and the recovery from the oil spill. Unprecedented for its severe impact on the natural environment of Korea, as well as the tremendous response of 1.23 million volunteers who rushed to the area. Comprised of 222,129 materials in various forms such as hardcopies, electronic files, photographs, videos, publications, and oral records, on the massive recovery effort, the compensation procedures, and the establishment of effective countermeasures. Despite many oil spills having occurred across the world, this is the only archive documenting in detail the long-term recovery process. |
| 04 | Republic of Korea (ROK) | Samguk yusa Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms | A book on ancient mythology, folkways, institutions, religion, life, and literature in Korea., written from 1281 to 1285 by the Buddhist monk Ilyeon in the aftermath of the Mongol invasions of Korea (1231-1270). Originally printed in five chapters bound into two volumes from woodblocks in 1394 and in 1512. No complete set of the 1394 edition remains. The nomination includes two volumes from two different sets of the 1394 edition and one complete set of the 1512 edition., respectively designated National Treasures of South Korea. Samguk yusa clearly evidences that ethnography was practiced in Korea as early as in the 13th century and that Korea constructed collective consciousness among its people and ultimately established an independent perspective of history in the effort to fight against Mongol control (1270-1356). In the 13th century, countries in East Asia desperately needed to bring their peoples together and imbue them with a sense of community in order to counter the expanding power of the Mongol Empire. |
| 05 | Vietnam | Sino-Nom Documents in Truong Luu Village, Ha Tinh Province (1689-1943) | Consisting of: (1) 26 royal edicts issued by the Kings of the Le and Nguyen dynasties, honouring or conferring titles or posts upon people from Truong Luu Village; (2) 19 documents sent to/from the Nguyen authorities from/to people in Truong Luu Village; and, 3 laudatory hanging scrolls written in Chinese and Nom characters on special dó paper or silk during a period from 1689 to 1943. Each of the documents is seen as an original work of art, they provide authentic evidence on history, education, politics, culture, celebrities, gender equality and praise of women, the learning tradition, and the respect for the elderly. |
| 06 | Vietnam | Ma nhai (Inscriptions) on the Marble Mountains, Da Nang city) | Precious documentary heritage in Chinese and Nom (Sino-Nom) characters, 78 documents (76 Chinese and 02 Nom inscriptions) including: inscriptions, encomiums, poems, introductory words, name writings, parallel sentences… bonzes of high virtues, emperors and mandarins of the Nguyen Dynasty, and generations of well-known poets who wrote on the cave wall, dated from the first half of the 17th century to the last decades of the 20th century. |
| 07 | Iran | Collection of documents of Goharshad Mosque | Goharshad Mosque was built in 821AH(Islamic calendar) by Goharshad Begum, wife of Shahrokh Teymouri in Mashhad, regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Timurid period, covering Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and India. The 2,500 pages of the existing document from the Safavid period to the Qajar period (1344-lOOOAH) represent one of the most codified remaining information about the management of a mosque and its endowments in the Islamic world. Due to the lack of documents of other mosques in this region at the time of study and its architectural and functional commonalities, the introduced documents can be recorded as a symbol of the importance of Timurid mosques in political, social and cultural relations of the region. |
| 08 | Indonesia | The UNESCO Global Geopark (UGG) Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu Archives (1995-2000) | The Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu, West Java is a geological nature with geological heritage formed more than 65 million years ago (the Cretaceous Age), recognized as UNESCO Global Geopark (in 2018. The archive collections created in the process of recognition as Global Geopark, acquired by the West Java Provincial Archives, reflect its richness in geological heritage, biological and cultural diversity. |
| 09 | Indonesia | Archives of Segara Anakan Conservation and Development, Cilacap 1996-2000 | Segara Anakan is one of the largest lagoons in the world which ecologically has been in damaged condition due to large-scale and continuous exploitation, threatening the sustainability of fine shrimp, Metapenaeus elegans, and more natural resources in the surrounding areas. The Indonesian government in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) organized a Conservation and Development program for the Segara Anakan Area to minimize the impact. |
| 10 | Indonesia | Prof. Dr. R. Soeharso Rehabilitation Centrum Archives, Surakarta-Central Java (1950- 1980) | Post Indonesian revolutionary war (1945-1950), many victims were physically injured and suffered mental illness. The Rehabilitation Center of Prof. R. Soeharso Surakarta became Asia’s first and largest rehabilitation center implementing the integrated concept of rehabilitation services. It was the referral center not only in Indonesia but also in the Asia-Pacific region in the 1950s-1970s. It not only provided medical treatment, but also the empowerment of the economy, social, and culture of the people with disabilities, notably providing equal treatment for women and girls with disabilities. The archives consist of textual (475 files), and photographic (2157) documents). |
| 11 | China | Shui Character Documents of Guizhou Province, China | Written in pictographs and pictorial symbols by the Shui people in the southern mountainous region of Guizhou Province, China, Shui character documents are interpreted in the language and songs of Shui ethnicity and are the original religious classics mastered and used by Shui character masters (wise men). The documents that cover all aspects of social life such as astronomy & calendar, seasonal festivals & sacrifices and agricultural production not only serve as a memory system to maintain the folk beliefs and production and life of the Shui people, but are an important cornerstone of the social governance and cultural inheritance of the Shui people, well preserving the early human civilization. These 17,714 documents reveal about 2,000 hieroglyphs and picture symbols which are mnemonic characters, mainly written on Tupi paper as thick and rough as clay with a bamboo stick dipped into the ashes of the pot bottom. Experts have found that some commonly used words in Shui character documents appeared under the influence of Chinese characters. |
| 12 | China | Archives of the Initial Dasheng Spinning Factory | The Factory was founded in 1895 by Zhang Jian, a pioneering industrial entrepreneur and social reformer, the Number One Scholar of the Imperial Exam in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a leading enterprise in the then sprouting cotton industry across China and East Asia, combining traditional Chinese wisdom in economic governance with the world’s advanced technology, equipment, capital and forms of business organization. The Archives consist of 205 volumes, offering a holistic record of the operation of shareholding system, the hiring of Western engineers and legal consultants, the introduction of foreign capital, the purchase of foreign machines and materials, and the development of modern education and charity during 1896-1907. These archives reflect Zhang Jian’s profound reflections on modern entrepreneurship that lays equal emphasis on innovation and social responsibility, and his historic contribution to advocating the emancipation of women and developing modern women’s education. |
| 13 | Bangladesh | “Sultana’s Dream” by Rokeya S. Hossain, an Early Feminist Work with Ever-growing Impact. | R.S. Hossain’s ‘Sultana’s Dream’, a sci-fic about an utopian ladyland was published in a magazine in 1905 and as a book in 1908 by S. K. Lahiri & Co., Kolkata, India. The manuscript has not been found but copy of the first-edition is available. The book narrates a ladyland in future with green urbanscape where people travel by helicopter, use solar power, but most significantly women are running the affairs of the state and society. Originally written in English by a woman from conservative Muslim society who didn’t had opportunity for formal education. Her achievement in life and work for education for girls are remarkable. She was much ahead of her time and society gradually came to understand her contribution. It is from the 1960’s, Rokeya began to draw attention with her social work and writtings. ‘Sultana’s Dream’ has been recognised as an unparallel work having lasting legacy. The research and academic treatise on ‘Sultana’s Dream’ made it one of the most influential feminist writting from the Indian sub-continent. The book has been translated in many languages. Sultana’s Dream became synonymous with the dream of women for emancipation in Bengal, in the Indian Sub-continental and the region beyond. |