World Heritage status sought for corridor

Since 2006, the UNESCO World Heritage Center has promoted the transnational World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Road. This is the first transboundary World Heritage Nomination that China has shared with other countries.

In 2007, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan signed a concept paper addressing the World Heritage application at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

The project has attracted up to 12 participant countries, and some 50 potential Silk Road Heritage Corridors have been identified, of which 20 are considered a medium priority.

The initial section of the Silk Road and the Routes Network of Tian-shan Corridor in China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, are top priorities.

The application will be submitted to next year's 38th World Heritage Convention in Doha, Qatar. If it succeeds, it will be the first World Heritage inscription from the transnational Silk Road Nominations.

There are 33 tentative sites along the corridor, of which 22 are in China, eight in Kazakhstan and three in Kyrgyzstan.

International Council on Monuments and Sites President Gustavo Araoz said: "It's important that China - like so many other countries in Asia - integrates its physical cultural sites with its intangible cultural traditions, realizing that one cannot exist without the other and giving each mutual meaning. That's something the entire world can learn from China."

China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage said that if the cultural route is successfully inscribed, it will significantly improve the capacity for heritage preservation.