Maqam, a traditional folk music of Xinjiang's Uygur people, has been selected as the country's sole 2004 candidate for a place in the UNESCO's Oral and Intangible List of Humanity.

It is the third time for China to compete under this category. The final results will be released in July next year, according to Zhou Ji, a research fellow of the Xinjiang Arts Institute.

Nobody can tell exactly when Maqam, a combination of songs, dances and instrumental music, originated. But one saying attributes it to the 16th century, when the Silk Road connected China and Europe and Xinjiang was at the forefront of the conflict from the cultural exchange of the west and the orient, Zhou Ji said.

China's Kunqu opera, a popular art form in east China, and Guqin, or seven-stringed plucked musical instrument, were proclaimed by UNESCO as masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity in 2001 and 2003, respectively.