Two ancient mausoleums from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and an
area with abundant nature reserves in China were named World
Heritage sites this week at the 27th session of UNESCO's World
Heritage Committee, which was held in Paris.
With the addition, China now boasts 29 sites on the World Heritage
List.
The imperial "Xiaoling Mausoleum" in Nanjing, capital of east
China's Jiangsu Province, buried the first emperor of the Ming
dynasty. It is the first site on the World Heritage List for this
ancient city, which served as capital of six dynasties.
Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and his empress were buried in an underground
palace in a round hillock with a diameter of 400 meters.
To
date, the city government has spent more than three million yuan
(US$366,000) protecting the walls and patching the cracks caused by
the sinking of the ground.
The architecture of the Xiaoling Mausoleum had a great impact on
subsequent emperors' tombs in the Ming and Qing dynasties,
according to Yi Zhiqiang, official with the city's bureau of
cultural relics.
Another showcase of China's funeral architecture and culture from
centuries ago is the Ming Tombs of 13 Ming emperors and 23
empresses built outside Beijing from the 15th to the 17th
centuries.
The 40-square-km mausoleum is China's best-protected tomb group,
said Cao Pengcheng, head of the Ming Tombs Office of the Changping
District of Beijing.
The municipal government has spent about 170 million yuan since2000
to restore the original magnificence.
Some 400 million yuan will be spent in repairing seven time-worn
tombs by 2008, said Nie Youyi, deputy head of the office.
Along with two groups of Ming tombs put on the list of the cultural
heritage list, the World Heritage Committee now counts the area of
the confluence of three major rivers in southwest China's Yunnan
Province on the list of natural heritage.
The area where the Nujiang, Lancang and Jinsha rivers meet, covers
about 41,000 square kilometers in Yunnan Province and stretches to
the south of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is famous for its
peculiar physiognomy and biological diversity.
The second largest heritage site in the world, the tri-river area
is composed of nine nature reserves and 10 scenic spots. At the
shortest distance, the Jinsha and the Nujiang rivers are only 66.3
meters apart, and the Nujiang and the Lancang are separated by 18.6
kilometers.
Ancient forests, snow-covered mountains and hundreds of lakes are
spread throughout the area, which has 118 mountains above the
altitude of 5,000 meters.
Covering only 0.4 percent of China's territory, the area has over
20 percent of the country's national advanced botanical species and
25 percent of animal species. At present, 34 plant species and 77
animal species living in the area are under state protection.
The central and provincial governments have launched several
projects over the past 20 years for preventing soil erosion and
protecting the forests and wild animals.
A
total of 24 new cultural and natural sites all over the world were
put on the list by the 27th session of UNESCO committee, held from
June 30 to July 5.
To
date, 754 sites have been included on the World Heritage List,
including 582 cultural sites, 149 natural sites and 23 that fit
both categories.
China's 29 sites on the list include four natural sites, 21
cultural sites and four which are both. The most famous sites
include the Great Wall, Mount Taishan, the Mogao Grottoes, the
Potala Palace and the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian in suburban
Beijing.
The meeting has decided Suzhou, a scenic destination in Jiangsu
Province, will host the 28th session in 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2003)