China was on Friday officially awarded its 31st World Heritage
Site, the Historic Center of Macao, during the 29th session of the
World Heritage Committee, being?held in Durban, South
Africa.
Macao's bid under the name of Historic Center of Macao has been
designated as China's only nomination this year to apply for the
inscription on the World Heritage List of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Macao preserves China's largest clump of urban historical
properties, as it had nearly five centuries of uninterrupted
contact between East and West, after the Portuguese navigators
settled in Macao in the mid-16th century.
The Historic Center of Macau embraces 12 priceless cultural
heritage sites, including China's oldest church, Christian
cemetery, lighthouse and western theater.
The Macao Special Administrative Region has spent 150 million
patacas (US$18.8 million) on some 100 programs for the protection
and maintenance of the heritage sites since 1999 when the Chinese
government resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macao.
With the support from the Chinese government, the Macao Special
Administrative Region officially launched the procedures for the
world heritage bidding in July 2002.?
The relics, most are still in use, have witnessed the earliest
pervasion of western religious culture in the oriental continent as
well as its ensuing co-existence with the local culture.
Joining UNESCO's Convention Concerning the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985, China now has 31 sites
on the World Heritage List, the third most next to Italy and Spain,
and it is now playing an active role in protecting the world
heritages.
During the Durban meeting, China has pledged US$30,000?to
support a feasibility study of setting up an African World Heritage
Fund for protecting the African sites.
The 29th session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is being
held from July 10 to 17 in South Africa, the first ever in
sub-Saharan Africa and it will decide new sites out of the 42 that
have filed their application for inclusion on the UNESCO's World
Heritage List.
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(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2005)
