China has nearly 400,000 known unmovable cultural relics above-
and underground. Since 1996, the State Council has listed 770 key
historical and cultural sites under state protection, more than the
total number of the past 40-odd years. The number of key historical
and cultural sites under state protection is planned to reach key
1,800 in 2015. China has listed more than 7,000 historical and
cultural sites under provincial protection, and over 60,000 under
municipal and prefectural protection. The national database for the
information of cultural relics will be completed in 2015.
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In the 1990s, China made significant investment toward protecting
cultural relics. Special subsidies by the Central Government for
the protection of cultural relics reached some 700 million yuan for
about 1,000 projects. As a result, a large number of cultural
relics have been saved from destruction. In 2004, the government of
Tibet Autonomous Region allocated 70 million yuan for the
preservation and maintenance of the Potala Palace, the Norbuglinkha
(Jewel Park) and the Sagya Lamasery. Major renovation of the
1,500-odd-year-old Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province began in
February 2004.?
In recent years, cultural relics have come under increasing legal
protection. China has already participated in the four
international treaties of preservation of cultural relics. The Law
on Cultural Relics Protection was revised in October 2002 to
institute regulations on the transfer and exchange of cultural
relics for the first time. In 2003 the government publicized the
Regulations on Enforcing the Law on Cultural Relics Protection,
Provisional Rules on Administering the Auction of Cultural Relics,
and the first special regulation on the protection of the Great
Wall - Measures of Beijing Municipality for Administration of
Protection of the Great Wall.
So far, the Chinese government has listed 101 national famous
historical and cultural cities under key protection, and also more
than 80 provincial ones. From 2001 to 2005, the government has
allocated some 15 million yuan annually for the protection of
famous historical and cultural cities. The protection of these
cities includes both the protection of the ancient buildings and
historical sectors, and the preservation of the layout, features
and traditional cultures of the ancient cities as well. A special
law on the protection of famous historical and cultural cities is
being drafted.
As a large traditional agricultural country, China has a large
distribution of many ancient villages, a rare phenomenon in the
world. The natural environments, as well as many relics of folk
culture, art and handicrafts are well preserved in these villages.
The cultural relics authority is planning a large protection
project of ancient villages. In November 2003, the Ministry of
Construction and the State Cultural Relics Bureau (under the
Ministry of Culture) together released a new list that for the
first time puts under protection historically and culturally famous
towns and villages. The list includes 10 towns such as Jingsheng
Town in Lingshi County, Shanxi Province, and 12 villages such as
Chuandixia Village of Mentougou District of Beijing.?