A 36-person delegation from the US President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanity paid an official visit to China from June 5 to 13 at the invitation of Chinese Cultural Ministry. On June 10, the delegation attended a seminar on the conservation of world heritage sites in Suitcase House in Commune by the Great Wall, a resort hotel in the suburb of Beijing. At the seminar Shan Jixiang, Director-General of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, delivered a presentation on the trends of cultural heritage conservation in China as well as China-US exchange and cooperation in the field of cultural heritage conservation.

Historical Evolution

Conservation of cultural heritage enjoys a long history in China. As early as in the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), collecting, studying and publishing stone engravings became an independent discipline and elites and scholars were fond of collecting and appreciating curios and ancient objects. In the early 20th century, modem archeologists introduced the concept of "cultural relics" to China and as a result cultural values of ancient heritage properties have been explored and protection, restoration and academic studies of historical buildings initiated.

China promulgated the "Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics" in 1982 in which a mechanism on the protection of historically and cultural significant cities was initially established. The Law was amended in 2006, incorporating historical quarters and villages into its protection scope and bringing about a pluralistic protection system for individual sites, historical quarters and historical cities. So far registered heritage sites and monuments in China amount to nearly 400,000, including some 70,000 under the special care at the central, provincial and county levels respectively. In addition, the country also boasts 2300 museums in various types.

China joined the World Heritage Convention in 1985. Since the first inclusion of its six sites in the World Heritage List in 1987, a total of 33 sites in China have been proclaimed as the World Heritage sites, including 224 cultural heritage sites, 5 natural heritage sites and 4 mixed heritage sites.