28th Session of the World Heritage Committee

China Makes Great Progress in Heritage Conservation

World Heritage Conference to Kick off

The King Gasar Applying to Be Intangible World Heritage

Nanjing Yun Brocade, Candidate for Intangible World Heritage

China's World Heritage Protection Praised

2004-7-7 15:44:07 CRIENGLISH.com

The 10-day World Heritage Conference comes to an end on Wednesday in east China's Suzhou city. Government officials and experts from around the world have had in-depth discussions on how to better protect world heritage. Hosts China is receiving high praises for its efforts in heritage protection and the success of organising the largest-ever conference of this kind.

This was the first time that literary and video information on all 754 world heritage sites around the globe were brought together at the annual World Heritage Conference.

China, with almost 30 world heritage sites, has become a shining star at the conference.

Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO expresses his appreciation for China's efforts.

"China already has 29. there are only 2 countries now, Spain and Italy which have more than China. The number of China will succeed, with one new inscription every year. So we believe China will take over Spain and Italy eventually and become No.1."

As it's an urgent task facing the international community to strengthen protection of the world heritages, hosting the conference provided China with a golden opportunity to display what the country has contributed to the world.

During the past 2 decades, more than 10 laws have been made to protect relics in China. And the country has signed cultural exchange agreements with 150 countries to participate in international cooperation on cultural heritage protection.

Mongi Bousnina, Director General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, highly endorses China's raising awareness of world heritage protection.

" China has done excellent work in protecting world heritages, both tangible and intangible. Many Chinese scenic spots have been inscripted in the world heritage list, which proves that the country has made the protection of world heritage, natural scenery and historical and cultural relics part of its cultural policy. I think China's policy and legal criteria are in line with international standards."

Besides examining and approving world heritage candidates, the conference also discussed setting an international strategy in protecting world heritages.

According to UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, China's contribution to the world heritage protection should be attributed to the government's attaching great importance to cultural and natural heritage protection.

"I think China has the capacity to protect these sites. What's important is to get cooperation from local authorities and also from local people. It's important to establish a reliable management plan by the central government in cooperation with the local authorities. That management plan must be implemented by the local authorities in cooperation with the local people."

The UNESCO chief also notes challenges and problems facing China's heritage protection. Some places haven't realized the importance of the issue, and have over exploited local resources, which should draw more government and public attention.

It's reported that China is drafting its "World Heritage Candidates List", and is preparing to start the legal procedure, trying to be accepted by the intangible world heritage convention by the end of this year.

Xiao Yu, CRI news.

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