UNESCO World Heritage Sites In China

UNESCO held their 36th Session of the Committee in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from 24 June - 6 July 2012. Typically, these sessions are held annually to assess new nominations. At this session, two more sites in China were confirmed to have met the strict criteria and were inscribed upon the World Heritage List. These two sites were Chengjiang Fossil Site and the Site of Xanadu. This brings the total number of sites in China to 43.

Of these, 30 have been selected as Cultural Sites, 9 as Natural ones and the remaining 4 as a mix of the two types. No sites in China are listed as 'In Danger'.

Cultural Listings

China's unique culture means that sites here attract strong worldwide interest. Many of the sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in the early days were already household names.

Using their more familiar names:

• The Forbidden City;
• the Terracotta Warriors;
• Mogao Grottoes; and
• the Great Wall of China.

The list now also includes lesser known sites but still ones that qualify as of "outstanding universal value". Most of these cultural sites to date back to the imperial era though not all of these relate to Han culture. A good number belong to other ethnic minority groups.

Most of the sites in this group have an architectural interest, though many can also be classed as religious. Interestingly, two of the more recent inscriptions (Kaiping Diaolou and Hakka Tulou) are defensive structures dating back to periods of internal strife when whole clans relocated to avoid war and/or famine.

Natural Listings

The natural sites in China are a mix of scenic spots and wildlife ones, now including extinct wildlife in the form of fossils (see Chengjiang above). Of course, Giant Pandas feature in the list with three of the main sanctuaries in Sichuan being inscribed as one site in 2006.

Mixed Listings

The 4 mixed sites in China are all mountains. This is not a coincidence. Remote mountain retreats have played an important part in both Daoism and Buddhism in China and these sites all represent outstanding scenic areas with a range of temple structures in harmony with their surroundings. Such areas are a delight for all visitors and especially so for photographers.

The Future

The World Heritage List continues to grow and, since there is a wealth of unique places in this fascinating land, UNESCO is sure to include more sites in China in the future. The recent listing of Chengjiang in Yunnan Province is interesting as this is the first fossil site in China to be recognised. There are a many other world-class fossil sites in China and surely some of these will be amongst the next nominations.