China world Heritage

Always attaching great importance to the protection of items of cultural and natural heritage, the government of the People's Republic of China actively takes part in activities designed to protect the world's cultural and natural heritages carried out by UNESCO and the WHC. In November 1985, at the proposal of relevant experts, scholars and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress gave China approval to become one of the signatory states to the Convention on the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritages of UNESCO. In 1986, China requested that the Great Wall, the Imperial Palace in Beijing, the relics of Peking Man at Zhoukoudian, the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang and the Terracotta Army and Mount Taishan be included in the World Heritage List. The request was approved by the WHC in 1987, after careful examinations. China was elected one of the members of the WHC at the Eighth Conference of the Signatory States to the Convention on the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritages in October 1991. China's representative was elected vice-president of the committee at the 16th and 17th conferences of the WHC in 1992 and December 1993, respectively. Early in 2002, some 28 sites in China had been put on the List.

The culture and traditions of the Chinese nation have had an unbroken history of several thousand years. As a country composed of many ethnic groups since ancient times, China has created a brilliant multi-ethnic culture in the process of its long historical development, represented by many masterpieces, such as the Potala Palace and the Chengde Mountain Summer Resort and the surrounding temples. The murals and painted sculptures in the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, and the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang and his TerracottaArmy are also world-famous cultural treasures. In the realm of natural heritage, scenic spots such as those of Jiuzhaigou and Wulingyuan are characterized by unique geological and topographical features, animals and plants, and heautiful scenery. Many sites with both natural and cultural heritage features, including Taishan, Wuyi and Emei mountains, and the Giant Buddha of Leshan Mountain, reflect the integration of China's long history and culture with its natural environment, which is rarely seen in other countries. Meanwhile, the cultural scenic spot of Mount Lushan has been approved for putting on the List as "an ingenious work integrating a beautiful natural environment with excellent human artistry."

As a contribution to protecting, studying and giving publicity to the world's cultural and artistic heritages, We introduces sites in China which have been recognized by UNESCO as heing worthy of inclusion in its list of the common cultural and artistic wealth of mankind.

Definitions of cultural heritage:

1. Cultural relics: Viewed from the historic, artistic or scientific angle, the buildings, sculptures and paintings of prominent and universal value, components and structures of archaeological significance, inscriptions, caves, residential areas and various combinations of the above.

2. Buildings: Viewed from the historic, artistic or scientific angle, independent or associated buildings of prominent and universal value due to their style, structure or position in the landscape.

3. Ruins: Viewed from the historic, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological angle, artificial projects or common masterpieces of man and nature, and archaeological ruins of prominent and universal value.

Evaluation standards for cultural heritage:

• Masterwork representing a unique achievement or creative talent.

2. Work that has had a significant influence on the development of architecture, urban construction or landscape designs during some period or in some cultural region in the world.

• Work that can offer a unique or at least special evidence for a lost civilization or cultural tradition.

4. Work that shows one or several important stages of human history as an example of the masterwork of a kind of building or landscape.

5. Vulnerable site as an example of the human residential area or usable land of one or more cultural traditions, especially if an irreversible change threatens.

6. Material object of special universal significance, directly or substantially associated with modern current traditional ideas, beliefs or literary or artistic works. (According to experts, this article can be considered as a standard for a cultural heritage site listed in the World Heritage List only under some special situation or when it is jointly considered with other standards.)

Definition of natural heritage:

1. Viewed from the aesthetic or scientific angle, geological or biological structures of prominent and universal value or the natural features of similar structures.

2. Viewed from the scientific or protection angle, geological or natural geographical features of prominent and universal value, and explicitly designated habitats of endangered species of animals and plants.

3. Viewed from the scientific or natural aesthetic angle, natural scenic spots of prominent and universal value, or explicitly designated nature reserves.

Evaluation standards for natural heritage sites:

1 . Outstanding examples of the important stages of the history of global evolution.

2. Important phenomena occurring during the process of geological or biological evolution, and important examples of the

relations between man and the natural environment.

• Unique, rare or ingenious natural phenomena or topographic features, or locations of rare natural beauty.

• Habitats of rare or endangered animals or plants.