Material No.2 for the 2008 Group Interview at Beijing International Press Center
Intensification of Protection and Inheritance of
China’s Natural and Cultural Heritage
The Press Office under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the
People's Republic of China
July 28, 2008
I.
The Basic Situation
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (hereinafter
called the Ministry) is responsible for making development plans and
policies for scenic spots across the country and guiding their
implementation; for the approving ， supervising and managing the
State-level scenic spots; for organizing and examining declaration of
world natural heritage; for examining declaration of world natural and
cultural heritage and for protection, supervision and management of
famous historical and cultural cities (towns and villages) together with the
State Bureau of Cultural Relics and other relevant departments.
Up to now, there have been 187 state-level scenic spots in China,
accounting for 1% of the land area; 109 national famous historical and
cultural cities; and 157 national famous historical and cultural towns and
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villages. Among them, 24 scenic spots, historical and cultural cities
(towns and villages), and urban gardens have been included in the World
Heritage List. These resources are both treasures of the Chinese nation
and common wealth of all mankind.
II. Achievements in Heritage Protection and Management
Attaching great importance to the protection of scenic spots, famous
historical and cultural cities (towns and villages), city gardens, and world
heritage, the Ministry conscientiously implements the guidelines of
"scientific planning, strict protection, unified management, and
sustainable utilization", and has made remarkable achievements in
resource
evaluation,
planning
and
management, protection
and
supervision, which are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1. Strengthening law and regulation building and protection plan
preparation in heritage sites. The Ministry strictly implements the "Urban
and Rural Planning Law", the "Ordinance of Scenic Spots", the
"Protection Ordinance of Famous historical and Cultural Cities, Towns
and Villages", the "Urban Green Line Management Measures", the
"Urban Purple Line Management Measures", and other laws and
regulations and departmental rules. As for heritage site protection, it
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adheres to the principle of "planning first", intensifying protection plan
preparation and implementation. The development and construction in
heritage sites have been standardized gradually through constant
reinforcement of planning and construction management.
2. Through intensification of scientific and technical protection, heritage
site protection, supervision and management have reached the world's
advanced level. The Ministry pays much attention to introducing
advanced technical means to monitor heritage sites. Under its guidance,
most heritage sites have established technical monitoring systems
represented by satellite remote sensing monitoring of scenic spots,
capacity monitoring of scenic spots and other cutting-edge technical
monitoring systems, achieving real-time dynamic monitoring of heritage
land use, construction projects, the ecological environment, fire
emergencies, natural disasters, the tour order and other protection and
management work. In particular, the application of satellite remote
sensing monitoring system of scenic spots has greatly improved the
protection and management level and work efficiency, thus realizing
regular and irregular monitoring of heritage site planning and
implementation and of resource and environment protection. Through
implementation of satellite remote sensing monitoring of scenic spots in
heritage sites in a large area, it has improved the heritage site
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management level of modernization, scientification, informationization
and digitization.
3. Sticking to serving the society and rationally using precious resources
in heritage sites. For 20 years, the Ministry has been dedicated to guiding
all heritage sites to achieve reasonable utilization and serve the society on
the basis of protection, so as to promote sustainable use of heritage
resources. In different places, world heritage, scenic spots, famous
historical and cultural cities (towns and villages), and urban gardens are
taken as main carriers to develop the tourism industry, greatly promoting
the economic and social development. Great improvement has been made
in transportation, communication, electricity and other infrastructural
services in and around remote and poverty-stricken heritage sites, where
many jobs were offered and people became prosperous. Furthermore,
great stress is laid on the function of popular science education and
display in various heritage sites, where education on resource and
environment protection and other aspects has been given in order to
improve the national awareness of resource conservation
and
environmental protection.
III. Further Strengthening China's Policies and Measures for
Heritage Protection
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Although great achievements have been made in heritage resource
protection and standardized management, there is still much work to do in
heritage protection and management in China. Therefore, the Ministry
will further reinforce heritage protection and management on the basis of
previous work, and take effective measures to resolve issues in protection
and management in China.
1. To further reinforce China’s protection, management and plan
preparation work of world natural heritage sites and world natural and
cultural heritage sites, establish and perfect the protection, management
and planning system of major cultural and natural heritage, and complete
overall plan preparation and approval. By scientifically delimiting core
scenic spots, the Ministry will strengthen the preparation work of core
scenic spot protection plans, include this delimiting task into the overall
planning as mandatory content, and make specific protection measures
for strict implementation.
2. To perfect relevant laws and regulations and standards. The Ministry
will establish and improve the performance evaluation system of
supervision and inspection, protection and management of major cultural
and natural heritage, for the purpose of enhancing supervision and
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inspection of protection and management in world natural heritage sites
and natural and cultural heritage sites in China, and optimizing the
long-term management mechanism of major cultural and natural heritage.
It will do well in publicizing and implementing the “Ordinance of Scenic
Spots” and the "Protection Ordinance of Famous Historical and Cultural
Cities, Towns and Villages", and study and formulate the “Codes for
Scenic Spot Management Technology”, the "Famous Historical and
Cultural Towns (Villages) Heritage Resource Classification and Survey
and Evaluation Criteria" and other technical standards and norms, in
order to promote standardized management of cultural and natural
heritage resources.
3. To intensify regulatory capacity building. By establishing and
improving the regulatory information system engineering of major
cultural and natural heritage, the Ministry will conduct remote sensing
dynamic monitoring of protection and plan implementation. It will
actively promote infrastructure construction of heritage site digital
management, perfect the technical and service support system, and
comprehensively reinforce scientific research on heritage protection.
Through intensification on propaganda, more attention can be drawn from
the entire society to protection of major cultural and natural heritage.
Active in staff training and education, the Ministry will improve the
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technical ability of people in the profession. With expansion of financing
channels, public funds will extensively be absorbed for major cultural and
natural heritage protection, and a sound and stable investment security
mechanism will be established.
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