CNIPA recently published the 2026 list of National Geographical Indication Protection Demonstration Zones under construction. The Regong Thangka National GI Protection Demonstration Zone in Qinghai Province was selected. Following the high-scoring national on-site acceptance of the Huzhu Highland Barley Liquor demonstration zone, Qinghai has added another national-level GI protection demonstration vehicle.

In recent years the Qinghai IP administration has advanced strategies to strengthen trademarks and promote agriculture through GIs. The province now has 118 GIs and 316 enterprises using GI special marks, with growth on both counts. GI protection projects for Qaidam goji berries and Tibetan carpets have completed provincial preliminary acceptance and been submitted to CNIPA. Regong Thangka, an important part of the Regong art intangible cultural heritage, obtained national GI product protection in 2015; 14 enterprises use the GI special mark, and the full Regong cultural industry chain has exceeded RMB 460 million in output value. During the 2026 National IP Publicity Week, Qinghai arranged for Regong Thangka GI users to appear at the 2026 China IP Protection High-Level Forum, with representative inheritors sharing on carrying forward fine traditional Chinese culture and with art exhibitions to expand brand influence. During construction of the demonstration zone, Qinghai will guide the Tongren Municipal People’s Government—as the implementing unit—to strengthen protection systems, work mechanisms, enforcement, publicity and win-win cooperation; improve local legislation and standards; apply an integrated “testing + appraisal + traceability” quality-control model; build cross-regional IP protection collaboration; create a Regong Thangka city IP; explore “GI + financial services”; and promote cultural IP conversion, aiming for annual output of Regong Thangka and related cultural industries to exceed RMB 1 billion by 2028.

Next, the Qinghai IP administration will coordinate demonstration-zone tasks, play a leading role, raise GI protection and use across the province, and empower high-quality development of plateau specialty industries.

Source：China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA)；2026-10-22；http://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2026/10/22/art_57_208711.html