Chinese World Cultural Heritage

Since the People’s Republic of China joined the ranks of the state parties to the Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage on December 12, 1985, as of 2015, it has been approved by UNESCO to be included in the list. There are 48 Chinese world heritage sites on the World Heritage List (including 10 natural heritage sites, 34 cultural heritage sites, and 4 natural and cultural heritage sites), including 1 transnational project (Silk Road: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor). road network). Ranking second in the world in terms of quantity, second only to Italy (50 items).

China is one of the countries with the most complete categories of World Heritage in the world, and it is also the country with the largest number of natural and cultural heritage in the world (tied with Australia, both with 4).

Beijing, the capital of China, is the city with the largest number of heritage projects (7) in the world. Suzhou is the only city in China that has hosted the World Heritage Committee (2004, 28th session)

Cultural Heritage

Cultural relics: From the perspective of history, art or science, they have outstanding , buildings, sculptures and paintings of universal value, compositions or structures of archaeological significance, inscriptions, caves, settlements and complexes of cultural relics of all kinds; architectural complexes: from a historical, artistic or scientific point of view, because of their architectural form , identity and its place in the landscape, a group of individual or interconnected buildings with outstanding and universal value; site: a man-made project or project of outstanding and universal value from a historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological perspective. A unique masterpiece of man and nature, as well as an area of ??archaeological sites.

Natural Heritage

Natural features consisting of geological and biological structures or groups of such structures that have outstanding and universal value from an aesthetic or scientific perspective; from a scientific or conservation perspective From the perspective of science, conservation or natural beauty, there are only natural scenic spots or clearly demarcated natural areas of outstanding and universal value.

Cultural landscapes

Landscapes intentionally designed and constructed by humans: including gardens and parklandscapes built for aesthetic reasons, often (but not always) associated with religious or other A monumental building or group of buildings that is connected; an organically evolved landscape: it arises from an initial social, economic, administrative, and religious need and develops into its present form through connection or adaptation to the surrounding natural environment ; Relevant cultural landscapes: This type of landscape is included in the World Heritage List and is characterized by its connection with natural factors, strong religion, art or culture, rather than by cultural evidence. Lushan Mountain, Wutai Mountain, Hangzhou West Lake Cultural Landscape and Honghe Hani Rice Terraces Cultural Landscape are the only four cultural landscapes among the 47 "World Heritage" in my country.

World Agricultural Heritage

Since 2002, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Program and the Global Environment Facility have begun to establish globally important agricultural cultural heritage projects. According to FAO's explanation, world agricultural heritage is part of world cultural heritage and is conceptually equivalent to world cultural heritage. The world agricultural heritage protection project will protect the globally important threatened traditional agricultural culture and technology heritage. World Agricultural Heritage is not only an outstanding landscape, but also plays an important role in preserving globally important agricultural biodiversity, maintaining restorable ecosystems and passing on high-value traditional knowledge and cultural activities.

Irrigation Engineering Heritage

In order to better collect information about ancient irrigation projects, understand the history of irrigation development and its impact on civilization, learn the wisdom of ancient people on sustainable irrigation, and protect As a precious historical and cultural heritage, the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) decided to select the "World Irrigation Engineering Heritage" every year starting from 2014. According to the explanation of the ICID Executive Committee, the World Irrigation Engineering Heritage is part of the World Cultural Heritage and is conceptually equivalent to the World Cultural Heritage. Projects applying for World Irrigation Engineering Heritage must have the following values: they are a milestone or turning point in the development of irrigated agriculture, and they have contributed to agricultural development, increased grain production, and farmers’ income; they must be significant in engineering design, construction technology, project scale, water diversion volume, and irrigation area. Ahead of its time in one or more aspects; increased food production, improved farmers' livelihoods, promoted rural prosperity, and reduced poverty; was an innovation in its construction era; contributed to the development of contemporary engineering theories and methods ; Pay attention to environmental protection in engineering design and construction; It is an engineering miracle in its construction era; It is unique and constructive; It has the imprint of cultural tradition or civilization; It is a classic example of sustainable operation and management.

International Wetland Heritage

Wetlands Alliance (WAP) logo

International Wetlands are part of the world heritage. In 2009, Wetlands International Alliance officially launched an international Wetlands are included in the World Heritage protection strategy. Wetland World Heritage assessment projects have been planned in China, including Qinghai Lake, Dongting Lake, Lugu Lake and other wetlands.

China joined the "Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage" on December 12, 1985. On October 29, 1999, China was elected as a member of the World Heritage Committee. China began to apply for world heritage projects to UNESCO in 1986.

From 1987 to June 2013, China has successively approved 45 world heritage sites to be included in the World Heritage List. In 2014, it reached 47 locations.

Impact

In addition to being a kind of reputation for a place or a country, world heritage also brings opportunities for local tourism and local products. Many scenic spots in China Being named a World Heritage has attracted a large number of tourists and business opportunities from all directions. However, due to the protection and management of heritage, excessive tourism development and man-made destruction, some historical sites and natural features have been damaged. adverse effects. However, there are also some lesser-known monuments that have received special attention and protection from scholars, governments, and even people everywhere because they have been included in the World Heritage List. For example, the ancient city of Lijiang in China has benefited from this.

World Heritage Application Craze

“World Heritage Application Craze” is the abbreviation of “World Heritage Application Craze”. Because China has a vast hinterland and a long history, the number of heritage sites is also large. Since the first successful application in 1987, almost every application has had multiple records selected as World Heritage. Due to the huge economic benefits and honors brought by world heritage, various places have rushed to recommend and apply for world heritage, forming an upsurge. Until 2001, more than 50 of the more than 170 countries based on the World Heritage Convention still did not have a World Heritage. Therefore, the World Heritage Committee's "Cairns Resolution" made a decision based on the principle of balance, and selected projects around the world every year. Nominations are limited to 30, and each country can only have one place selected as a World Heritage site each year. This major change has greatly subsided China's "mania for applying for World Heritage status" and has kept the number of names on China's preliminary list piling up. The purpose of this change is to restrict some countries from adding a large number of new world heritage sites while neglecting the protection of old world heritage sites. For example, the collapse of the Zhoukoudian ruins occurred in China. In fact, this change is more beneficial for small countries to be selected, but it is not good for large countries such as China to apply. Although the World Heritage Committee made this decision based on the principle of balance, some Chinese scholars believe that this is unfair to a country with rich resources and culture such as China. They advocate that the first consideration in the application project should always be the quality of the heritage rather than the country. measure.

At the 28th World Heritage Conference held in Suzhou, China, in July 2004, it was decided to amend the "Keynes Resolution" from one item per year for each country to one item per year for each country. The total number of nominations for natural heritage and one cultural heritage has also been increased, from 30 to 45.

World Heritage in China High Definition Documentary

The large-scale documentary "World Heritage in China" brings together experts from various related fields in China to analyze China's natural culture and human beings from an international perspective. The oral intangible heritage has been introduced and interpreted in the most authoritative, systematic and scientific manner. The producer invested nearly tens of millions of dollars, gathered a large number of outstanding domestic and foreign documentary creators, adopted the world's most advanced high-definition (HD) production technology, and used a variety of special shooting methods such as aerial photography and underwater photography to bring the film to life. The entire film is produced. The filming and production of this documentary took 7 years. More than 200 creative staff went deep into 33 heritage sites in China, including 4 natural heritage sites, 4 cultural and natural heritage sites, 3 human oral and cultural heritage sites. It included intangible heritage and 22 cultural heritage sites, interviewed more than 300 experts and scholars, traveled 100,000 kilometers, and shot about 50,000 minutes of material. It became the longest production span and the largest production scale in the history of Chinese documentaries.

International Relations

Wetlands International Union (WIUN), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations Development Program, International Commission on the Environment of Lakes, United Nations Fund A number of international organizations and public welfare funds such as the Society, the Global Environment Fund, and the World Heritage Foundation are working with the China Wetland Alliance (WAP public welfare organization) around the world to carry out wetland ecological protection, world heritage protection, and environmental education. The Wetland Alliance (WAP organization) has accepted and evaluated wetland projects that require protection planning in China and the Asia-Pacific region. Individuals and local wetlands can propose "public welfare protection" to the Wetland Alliance. Representatives from international organizations and public welfare investment and financing protection Expert Mr. Zeng Decai has provided project evaluation and supporting protection from international public welfare funds for multiple regional wetland protections. The organization is currently accepting regional and local “wetland protection applications”. The conservation alliance is carrying out public welfare investment and financing services, responsible tourism, ecological settlements, environmental education, international ecological economic circle plans and other protection and planning work for a number of "threatened" and "disappearing" wetland heritage.