Chinese specialists have published four academic papers to report their latest achievements in research on the site of capital cities and tombs of the ancient Koguryo Kingdom of China.

The academic papers are the first complete documents on Koguryo issue ever written by Chinese. Before this, the only archaeological report about the Koguryo Kingdom ruins in the world was published in Japan in the 1930s, according to Jin Xudong, head of the Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

The four academic papers, with pictures and verified data, are compiled by Chinese archaeological workers who had participated in excavating the Koguryo Kingdom ruins, most of which are scattered in Ji'an City of northeast China's Jilin Province and Huanren County of the neighboring Liaoning Province.

The Koguryo Kingdom ruins was inscribed into the World Heritage List on Thursday.

Published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House and with 4,000 copies in circulation, the academic papers feature Wunu Mountain City, Guonei City, Wandu Mountain City, and the imperial tombs of Koguryo Kingdom in Ji'an, respectively.

"These documents present the readers with a complete and reliable information about the Koguryo Kingdom ruins based on materials and data collected via modern high-technology such as GPS and unified standards used for studying Koguryo Kingdom ruins," said Jin.

China has the richest Koguryo Kingdom ruins resources in the world. In Ji'an City alone, some 10,000 tombs belonging to the Koguryo Kingdom have been found in 75 places.

Professor Geng Tiehua with the Koguryo Kingdom Ruins Research Center of Tonghua Normal College of Jilin Province, said: "though Chinese researchers are late with the research on the Koguryo Kingdom subject, the historical site has been well protected inside the country."

Established in 37 BC and destroyed in 668 AD, the Koguryo Kingdom lasted for 705 years and played a big role in the development of Northeast Asia.

Wei Cuncheng, a professor of history with the Jilin University and expert on Koguryo issue, said, "The Koguryo regime was a regime established by ethnic groups in northern China some 2,000 years ago, representing an important part of Chinese culture."
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2004)