The next three or four decades will be critical ones for China's heritage, as the nation's cities encroach on the countryside, a senior government official warned on Thursday.

Vice-minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing yesterday said important villages and towns of historical and cultural value are being threatened by urban sprawl.

"Generally, protection work nationwide has stagnated as urban expansion and migration increasingly threaten national treasures inherited from our ancestors," Qiu told China Daily.

But the government has decided to take tougher measures to stop bulldozers from razing buildings of historical interest in towns and villages, he said.

He said the State Council is likely to unveil a special regulation soon to protect such villages and towns.

"A strong legal framework is most powerful tool at hand to perform this demanding task," said Qiu.

He was speaking after yesterday's ceremony, organized by his ministry and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, to name China's most historic towns and villages.

East China's Jiangsu Province and Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality each have three towns on the list. Only 10 towns were named this time.

Twelve villages have been listed as the country's famous villages.

Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said the listings would remind the villages of better protecting their heritage.

"If the heritage of these towns and villages comes under threat in the future, we will warn them and list them as endangered heritage sites," said Shan.

Vice-minister Qiu said China has a long way to go in protecting its heritage, compared with developed countries. "The government should bring more sites under its protection as soon as possible," he said.

He said Scotland, while far smaller than China, has more than 500,000 protected heritage sites. But China, which has a civilization dating back several thousand years, has only about 100,000 such sites.

"It is a shame that some local officials just focus their energy on economic development and lack heritage protection awareness," said Qiu.

(China Daily November 28, 2003)