World Heritage Sites in China

In July 2003, the Three Parallel Rivers in Yunnan Province, the Ming Tombs of Beijing Municipality and the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum of Nanjing were added to the World Heritage List of Cultural Sites as part of Ming and Qing Imperial Mausoleums. (See Land and Natural Resources chapter for China's World Heritage List of Natural Sites.) By the end of 2003, there were 29 World Heritage Sites in China, of which 21 were cultural heritage sites, 4 were natural sites and 4 cultural and natural sites. In 2004, China will make the first large-scale renovations on six world cultural heritage sites in Beijing — the Ming Tombs, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and "Peking Man" Ruins at Zhoukoudian, which will be completed before 2008 as planned. Apart from that, China has a rich non-material cultural heritage, one of the richest in the world. Kunqu Opera and the art of playing the guqin, a seven-stringed zither, are among UNESCO's list of masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO also designated 2002-2003 as the year to celebrate the millennial anniversary of the Chinese Tibetan epic King Gesar, the longest epic in the world.

 

World Heritage List of Chinese Cultural Sites

Rated as having outstanding universal value from historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological points of view. Category Date Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province Cultural 2001 Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Cultural 2000, 2003 Longmen Grottoes  Cultural 2000 Xidi and Hongcun Villages, Museums of Ming-Qing  Architecture in Southern Anhui Cultural 2000 Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System  Cultural 2000 Dazu Rock Carvings  Cultural 1999 Mount Wuyi  Natural & Cultural 1999 The Temple of Heaven  Cultural 1998 The Summer Palace