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Preserve cultural heritage

By Amy Stone (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-13 07:06

China has been pumping up attention for its cultural heritage sites in the same spirit as its rush to economic development. The country now has the third largest listing of UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Sites.

Unfortunately, China has put a lot more effort into getting cultural heritage site listings than in protecting the sites from construction that threatens their integrity. The guiding principle seems to have been: If it's good for tourism and any other forms of economic development, it's good for our heritage.

But things may be changing. Last November, a new law was passed to properly manage the country's 33 treasures on the UNESCO lists of World Heritage Cultural Sites and combined Natural and Cultural Sites.

The 2006 law finally puts into place the requirements for proper site management that China agreed to when it signed the UNESCO World Heritage Treaty. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) is in charge of monitoring and inspecting the sites and can give provincial administrators deadlines for dealing with problems.

What's especially encouraging for citizen involvement is the provision for SACH to set up a system for volunteer organizations to monitor the sites and provide them with proper training.

The next step should be to extend this protection beyond UNESCO cultural heritage treasures to the many more sites under State protection.

Just last year, SACH increased the number of State-level cultural protection sites to 2,352, and SACH Director-General Shan Jixiang says there should be more.

The 2002 cultural protection law which guards these sites is considered wise. Its broadly written legislation protects both the tangible and the intangibletreasures.

What this picture of pride misses is the rate at which economic development is bulldozing tangible cultural sites into oblivion. Local citizens are well aware of the destruction of local treasures, but most are unaware of the laws that protect their heritage.

If the central government is truly serious about protecting the nation's cultural heritage, it must require that governments at all levels make publicly available construction plans that involve any changes within the vicinity of State-protected cultural sites.

The 2002 law sates that it is the responsibility of every individual and institution to protect the country's cultural heritage. Requiring the public listing of construction that could be at odds with this heritage is a major step in giving the caring public a basic tool needed for this responsibility.

(China Daily 03/13/2007 page7)