China and central Asian countries on Friday made a blueprint to
jointly apply for listing of historical sites along the ancient
Silk Road in UNESCO's world cultural heritage list in the next
three to five years.
Archeologists and cultural officials at an ongoing multinational
application convention in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region reached the
agreement entitled "Action Plan for Multinational Application for
Silk Road in UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List."
"The action plan will be the initial step of the multinational
application," said Gu Yucai, director of cultural relics protection
department under the State Cultural Heritage Administration.
Under the plan, countries along the Silk Road would take
measures to protect cultural relics, improve the environment at
sites, and carry out promotional campaigns, said Gu.
The protection would focus on substantial relics such as ruins
and tombs, as well as valuable non-material relics, such as
traditional ballads and dances still performed along the route.
The 2,000-year-old Silk Road was mainly a trade route linking
Asia and Europe. It extended from the city of Xi'an, capital of
northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to Europe via south and
central Asia countries. It was 7,000 kilometers long, more than
half of which is in China.
Along this road, gunpowder, papermaking and printing
technologies were sent to the West, while Western mathematics and
medicine came to China.
In 1987, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, also known as the
Caves of 1,000 Buddhas in northwest China's Gansu Province, were listed as a UNESCO world
heritage site.
But in 1994, China had to withdraw its application for the world
heritage listing of the ancient Jiaohe City, a cultural relics site
along the Silk Road in Xinjiang, because of inadequate
preparation.
In the 1990s, countries along the ancient Silk Road began to
seek a multinational world heritage application for historical
sites along the route, said Tong.
Also in the early 1990s, UNESCO carried out three major
inspections of historical sites along the route.
In 2003 and 2004, the UNESCO organized two teams of experts to
conduct inspections of the cultural relics sites on Silk Road in
China.
Six historical sites in five central Asian countries have been
listed separately as world heritage sites, each with its own
specialties, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Center's
Asia-Pacific Region Program.
"A multinational application will be a better choice if we want
to present the whole historical culture of the ancient Silk Road,"
said Jing Feng, an official with the program.
China began this year a comprehensive protection plan for more
than 20 key historical sites along sections of the Silk Road in
Xinjiang. Investment for these projects is estimated at 420 million
yuan (US$52 million).
Reinforcement of a 3,000-year-old city in Turpan, Xinjiang,
started on Wednesday, marking the beginning of the comprehensive
project.
The convention, held in Turpan from Wednesday to Saturday, has
attracted more than 50 experts and heritage officials from UNESCO
and China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan which are
expected to make the joint application.
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(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2006)
