Source: The Seattle Times           Date: August 17, 2011

China's claim to the traditional form of Mongolian throat singing has generated outrage and despair from at least one Mongolian artist. The controversy stems from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization's (UNESCO) decision to approve China's claim to Khomeini, the difficult practice of producing two pitches for song commonly known as throat singing, for the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” listing.

A master of the art, B. Odsuren, claimed he has been traveling to china for the last twenty years to teach the skill to Chinese students. Although his students were eager, they were very much beginners because the practice was foreign to Chinese culture. China's claim to the cultural practice seems to a general follow a trend to usurp the arts of Tibet, Kyrgyzstan, and Korea in an effort to rally support from ethnic minorities to the state, reported the Seattle Times. In 2009 and 2010, more than a quarter of all items listed on the roster were attributed to China.

"I was in shock. I taught them, and then they say it is theirs," told Odsuren to the Times. "I don't like people lying and claiming something that everyone knows is Mongolian."

A representative of UNESCO responded, an item's listing doesn't necessarily mean it belongs to China, but the group is reviewing its decision. Currently, both Mongolia and China share credit for khoomei.