A declaration calling for the establishment of a new national administrative system to oversee both cultural heritage sites and the cultural tourism industry was passed during an international conference on Friday.

The Shaoxing Declaration outlines a new governance structure to put heritage and tourism management under integrated control and empower it to develop and implement guidelines such as standards for the protection of heritage sites and surrounding areas.

The system would also manage access to heritage sites to preserve authenticity while meeting the needs of visitors, and would ensure part of the profits and revenue from tourism is reinvested into conservation of the sites, said the declaration.

Although tourism was seen as a way to preserve heritage for increased revenue, experts said unregulated tourism development threatens heritage efforts, particularly authenticity.

For example, in the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in northwest China's Gansu Province, overcrowding during peak season adversely affects the usually stable micro-environment of the caves, said Fan Jinshi, director of the Dunhuang Research Institute.

The three-day conference finished on Friday in Shaoxing of east China's Zhejiang Province.

In a related development, the State Council has listed the Spring Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture, the Legend of Madame White Snake and Shaolin Kungfu in the first batch of "intangible" cultural heritage of the country, Xinhua reported on Friday.

The list contains 518 items in 10 categories folk literature, folk music and dance, traditional opera, ballad singing, cross talks, acrobatics, fine arts, traditional handicrafts, traditional medicine and folk customs the State Council announced on its website on Friday.

The 518 items were selected by a jury organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Academy of Arts of China from more than 1,300 candidates across the country.

(China Daily June 3, 2006)