Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of intangible cultural heritage in the Yellow River Basin

Given the background of ecological protection and high-quality development strategies in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), studying the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing mechanisms of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in the YRB is of great significance for objectively understanding the entire process of cultural occurrence, evolution, protection, and development in the YRB. Considering 787 counties in nine provincial areas of the YRB as the research area, this study adopted density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN), kernel density estimation (KDE), and GeoDetector, and explored the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing mechanisms of 892 national-level ICH items. The results showed that the entire ICH was spatially agglomerated in the YRB. Concurrently, regional differences were apparent, mainly concentrated in the middle–lower reaches and several cultural areas. Although all 10 ICH types showed spatial gathering characteristics, the degree of agglomeration of folk art and literature, traditional sports recreation, and acrobatics was relatively low. DBSCAN clustering showed that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were the core areas of ICH and various types of ICH clustering. The kernel density also showed an agglomeration distribution trend and formed a "3 + 4 + 5" kernel density hierarchy, exhibiting prominent "center–periphery" characteristics. Among the natural environmental, socioeconomic, and historical–cultural factors, the socioeconomic factors significantly affected ICH spatial distribution, whereas natural environmental factors were less influential. The gross domestic product (GDP), national historical and culturally famous towns and villages, populations, and museums strongly influenced ICH spatial distribution. The factor interaction explanatory force was greater than that of a single factor, indicating synergistic effects between the factors. The explanatory force of GDP, urbanization level, population, minority population, and traffic interaction with other factors on ICH spatial distribution significantly improved.