Mapping intangible cultural heritage: The use of virtual reality and participatory mapping for teaching local history and heritage conservation

Jiao festival (太平清醮) is a large scale communal festival which is inscribed to the intangible cultural heritage of Hong Kong because of its historical and socio- cultural significance. Although the Bun Festival in Cheung Chau Island shared the same Chinese name, Jiao festivals in the New Territories which are originated mainly from lineage based traditional rural society, have completely different festival cycle, organizers, rituals, activities and traditions. This project aims to incorporate VR materials of the festival setting in order to explore the dynamics of local communities and heritage practice, and to provide a valuable representation of the intertwined relationship between ritual, spatial distribution of sacred sites, kinship pattern, overseas connections and local history.