In May 2022, against the backdrop of the spring in the grassland, the ruins of Yuanshangdu showed a spectacular scene. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Peng Yuan
The picture shows the Chengjiang Fossil Site World Natural Heritage Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Xinbo
From September to mid-October 2022, the rice paddies of the World Heritage site Hani Rice Terraces ripen one after another, and villagers harvest them from the foot of the mountain to the top. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Wenyao
Huashan rock paintings attract a large number of tourists to visit. Photo by He Huawen
Fanjing Mountain is home to wild animals and plants represented by golden snub-nosed monkeys and Fanjingshan fir, and is one of the most important habitats for subtropical biodiversity. The picture shows the red-breasted horned pheasant female, orange-winged noisy crane, red-breasted horned pheasant male bird and squirrel photographed in April 2022 in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve in Guizhou. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He and Yang Wenbin
The picture shows the Chaotian Gate, one of the seven ancient city gates of Quanzhou. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Song Weiwei
2012 Yuan Shangdu Ruins
In 2012, the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee in St. Petersburg, Russia, inscribed the Yuanshangdu site nominated by China on the World Heritage List.
The ruins of Yuanshangdu are located in the Zhenglan Banner of Xilin Golmeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north of Longgang and south of Luan River. The ruins of Yuanshangdu are composed of city sites (including Miyagi, Imperial City, and Outer City) and the guanxiang and urban flood control canals outside the city walls, including the remains of city walls, gates, roads, moats, flood control canals, palaces, temples, residences, warehouses and other building sites and tomb groups.
It completely presents the overall pattern and construction characteristics of the "summer capital" of the Yuan Dynasty, and is the earliest, longest-standing, unique pattern and best-preserved site created in the series of capital cities of the Yuan Dynasty in China.
2012 Chengjiang Fossil Site
In 2012, at the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee held in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Chengjiang Fossil Site in China was inscribed on the World Heritage List, filling the gap of China's fossil natural heritage.
The Chengjiang fossil site, located in Chengjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, covers an area of 512 hectares, dates back 530 million years, and was discovered in 1984, known as "one of the most amazing paleontological discoveries of the 20th century".
The Chengjiang fossil site accurately records the historical facts of the early Cambrian explosion of life, which is the best example of the early Cambrian explosion of life. At the same time, the Chengjiang fossils have significant species diversity characteristics, showing the complete early Cambrian marine biome and ecosystem, and are a window to understand the structure of early Cambrian biomes.
2013 Tianshan, Xinjiang
In 2013, the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee inscribed China's nomination of the Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang on the World Heritage List. The Xinjiang Tianshan World Natural Heritage Site declared this time consists of Bogda, Bayinbrook, Tomur, Karajun-Kurdenin and other regions.
Located in the hinterland of Central Asia, far from the ocean and surrounded by vast deserts, the Tianshan Mountains show the world's most representative comprehensive natural landscape of temperate arid mountains, with significant landscape diversity and unique natural beauty. At the same time, the "Xinjiang Tianshan Mountains" has significant biodiversity, and is an important habitat for the remnants of the Central Asian mountains and many rare and endangered species and endemic species, highlighting the biological evolution process of this area gradually replaced by the modern xerophytic Mediterranean flora.
2013 Honghe Hani Rice Terraces Cultural Landscape
In 2013, the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee inscribed China's nomination of the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces Cultural Landscape on the World Heritage List.
The "four-element isomorphism" system of forests, water systems, terraces and villages embodied in the cultural landscape of Honghe Hani Terraces has outstanding universal value, and its perfect reflection of the sophisticated agricultural, forestry and water distribution systems has been strengthened by the unique socio-economic and religious system formed for a long time, highlighting an important mode of interaction between man and the environment.
2014 Grand Canal
In 2014, the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee examined and approved the application submitted by China, and the Grand Canal was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List as a cultural heritage.
The Grand Canal World Heritage Site is distributed in 27 cities in 8 provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) and consists of 31 independent heritage areas. The World Heritage Site of the Grand Canal includes 27 sections of the Grand Canal of China and 58 canal hydraulic remains, canal ancillary remains, and canal-related heritage. These properties are located in 31 heritage areas according to their geographical distribution. These properties showcase historical developments, river navigation landscapes, water management technologies and canal-related urban landscapes, historic sites and cultural traditions.
The Grand Canal is still an important inland transportation mode to this day, and has played an important role in ensuring China's economic prosperity since ancient times.
2014 Silk Road: The network of the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor
In 2014, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan jointly declared the "Silk Road: Road Network of the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor" to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The "Silk Road: Road Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor" spans nearly 5,000 kilometers, including 5 types of representative relics of central towns, commercial and trade settlements, transportation and defense relics, religious relics and related relics, a total of 33, 22 archaeological sites and ancient buildings in China, and 8 and 3 ruins in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan respectively.
2015 Toast Ruins
In 2015, at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee, China's Tusi sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The Tusi site is located in the mountainous southwest of China and includes a series of tribal territories. The Tusi site reflects the political system of ancient China in the 13th and early 20th centuries in the mountainous areas of the southwest to administer ethnic minority areas. The series of heritage of Tusi sites testifies to the unique management wisdom of ancient China, as a unified multi-ethnic country, for the multi-ethnic areas in the southwest mountainous areas of "cultivating politics and cultivating and governing according to customs", which has promoted the sustainable development of ethnic areas, contributed to the long-term unification of the country, and has outstanding significance in safeguarding the inheritance of ethnic cultural diversity.
2016 Zuojiang Huashan rock art cultural landscape
In 2016, at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Istanbul, Turkey, the Zuojiang Huashan Petroglyphic Cultural Landscape nominated by China was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is located in Ningming County, Longzhou County, Jiangzhou District and Fusui County, Chongzuo City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and is composed of three most representative cultural landscape areas with dense distribution of rock art, including 38 rock art points (a total of 107 rock paintings, 3816 images), the mountain where the rock paintings are located and the opposite platform, and about 105 kilometers of Zuo Jiang and Mingjiang River sections.
2016 Hubei Shennongjia
In 2016, at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in Istanbul, Turkey, Hubei Shennongjia was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Shennongjia Nature Reserve has a complete subtropical forest ecosystem and rich biodiversity. In 1990, Shennongjia joined the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and in 2013, it was inscribed on the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network list. The World Heritage Committee believes that Shennongjia has the most complete spectrum of vertical natural zones in the world, and its biodiversity fills the gaps in the World Heritage List.
In 2021, at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Fuzhou, Fujian, China, Chongqing Wulipo National Nature Reserve became an integral part of the World Natural Heritage Hubei Shennongjia through a boundary fine-tuning process.
2017 Qinghai Kekexili
In 2017, at the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee in Krakow, Poland, Qinghai Kekexili was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Kekexili is located in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average altitude of more than 4,500 meters. The Kekexili World Heritage Project was officially launched at the end of 2014, covering a total area of about 6 million hectares.
The IUCN said in its assessment report that the expanse of Kekexili has hardly been affected by modern human activities, and the beauty is "breathtaking". The complete migration route of Tibetan antelope between the source of the three rivers and Kekexili is preserved here, and the Tibetan antelope can migrate undisturbed.
2017 Gulangyu Island: Historical International Community
In 2017, at the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee in Krakow, Poland, Gulangyu: A Historical International Community in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China, was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Gulangyu Island is located at the mouth of the Jiulong River. The heritage reflects a complex modern community made up of 931 groups of historic buildings, natural landscapes, historic roads, historic gardens, etc. with diverse indigenous and international architectural styles. Through the joint construction of local residents and returned overseas Chinese, Gulangyu Island has developed into a community with outstanding cultural diversity and modern quality of life. As a unique example of cultural integration, Gulangyu Island is the product of years of cultural exchange, clearly reflecting the organic urban structure formed by the continuous integration of multicultural elements over the decades.
2018 Van Jing Shan
In 2018, at the 42nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Manama, Bahrain, China's nomination of Fanjing Mountain was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Covering an area of 402.75 square kilometers, the Fanjingshan Heritage Site preserves a large number of ancient, rare and endangered and endemic species, with 4,395 plant species and 2,767 animal species, making it one of the most species-rich hotspots in the Oriental Deciduous Forest Biological Region.
2019 Migratory Bird Habitat in the Yellow (Bohai) Sea, China (Phase I)
In 2019, at the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, it was considered to be inscribed on the World Heritage List of "Chinese Yellow (Bohai) Sea Migratory Bird Habitat (Phase I)". The project was recognized for its "outstanding universal values" and the protective measures taken by the Chinese government.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the migratory bird habitat of the Yellow (Bohai) Sea in China has the world's largest intertidal tidal flat, and is the central node of the "East Asia-Australasia" international migratory bird migration route with the largest number of endangered species and the highest degree of threat. The Yellow Sea Wetland in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, where the first phase of the project is located, has more than 680 vertebrate species and more than 500 species of invertebrates, including 415 species of birds, and is a resting, moulting and wintering ground for millions of migratory birds around the world.
The area provides habitat for 23 species of birds of international importance and supports the survival of 17 IUCN Red List species, including 1 critically endangered, 5 endangered and 5 vulnerable. At the same time, it is also the survival of the world's rarest migratory migratory birds, spoon-billed sandpiper and small green-footed sandpiper, and is also the largest wintering ground for Chinese red-crowned cranes.
2019 Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins
In 2019, at the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, the "Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins" in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The ruins of the ancient city of Liangzhu, located in the Yangtze River Delta off the southeast coast of China, show an early regional state with a unified faith supported by rice farming in the late Neolithic period. The site consists of four parts: Yaoshan Site Area, Valleymouth High Dam Area, Plain Low Dam - Shanqian Long Causeway Area and Cheng Site Area. Through large-scale earthen architecture, urban planning, water conservancy systems and social hierarchies embodied in different burial forms, these sites have become outstanding examples of early urban civilization, and show the outstanding contribution of the Yangtze River Basin to the "diversity and unity" characteristics of the origin stage of Chinese civilization with its early time, high achievements and rich content.
2021 Quanzhou: Song and Yuan China's World Ocean Trade Center
In 2021, at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, China's cultural heritage nomination project "Quanzhou: World Ocean Trade Center of Song-Yuan China" was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The heritage components include administrative architectural sites, religious buildings and statues, historical sites of cultural monuments, kiln sites and iron-smelting sites, and a transportation network consisting of bridges, piers and buoys, reflecting the maritime area, socio-cultural structure and trade structure of Quanzhou in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Through a series of heritage components, highly integrated regional structures and key administrative, transport, production, trading and socio-cultural factors are highlighted.
(Source: State Administration of Cultural Heritage, etc.)
Source: People's Daily - People's Daily Overseas Edition Author: Zhao Xiaoxia