Beijing is moving to safeguard its historic sites with a 400 million yuan (US$48.2 million) renovation program, it was announced on Friday.

Some of the capital's most famous attractions, including the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, are among 30 heritage sites that will benefit from repair work this year, said Mei Ninghua, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage.

Mei said that of the 400 million yuan funding his bureau had secured for the work, 120 million yuan (US$14.5 million) is to come from the municipal government with the remaining nearly 300 million yuan (US$36.1 million) coming from district-level governments.

The central government is also to plunge more than 100 million yuan (US$12.1 million) into renovations to the Forbidden City, Mei told reporters at a press conference held on Friday.

The total expenditure on renovations in the coming year will come close to matching the total spent between 1990 and 2000.

Kong Fanshi, deputy-director of the cultural heritage bureau, told the conference that several important structures in the Forbidden City, including the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Gate of Divine Prowess and the Cining Palace, will be repaired this year.

The massive renovation project, the most extensive and complete repair of the compound since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was toppled, began in 2002 and is expected to continue until 2020.

The repair work on the 6,700-kilometre-long Great Wall that stretches long the northern part of China is another overwhelming task. The Beijing heritage bureau has adopted a sector-by-sector solution to the problem, and this year, repair work will be carried out on sectors in the Huairou and Miyun districts, said Kong.

The city's four other world heritage sites - the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Peking Man ruins at Zhoukoudian and the Ming Tombs - as well as dozens of State-protected heritage sites will all receive attention this year, said Kong.

According to Mei, the total renovation area this year is expected to top 260,000 square meters.

"Our aim is to recreate the glory and beauty of these heritage sites as they were at their peak during the imperial era," he said.

Apart from the preservation of famous heritage sites, the city will also act to protect the old city as a whole, including the traditional alleys and courtyards, Mei added.

He said the newly-passed Beijing Regulations for Historical and Cultural City Protection has very specific stipulations on the protection of the old city, a 62.5-square-kilometre area within the city's Second Ring Road.

According to the law, passed by the municipal legislature on March 25 and set to take effect on May 1, the old city's river system, streets and lanes, old structures and signs, building colors, old trees, and even the names of old houses and lanes are not allowed to be demolished or changed.

"We have also listed 40 areas as Historical and cultural protection regions in order to preserve their original flavor. No construction should be done in these areas unless it gets the OK from the cultural relics administrations," said Mei.

Wang Yuwei, an official with the heritage bureau in charge of relics protection, said that since 2000 Beijing had entered an unprecedented era of heritage protection and renovation.

More than 200 famous heritage sites around the city, including ancient temples, imperial gardens, residences of the nobility and imperial tombs have been or are to be repaired between 2000 and 2008, said Wang.

(China Daily April 2, 2005)