Warning over commercialising heritage sites
Analysts say preservation should always come before economic gain
China is the only country to have had at least one site inscribed into Unesco's World Heritage List each year over the past decade, but analysts warn that an official obsession with such listings for economic gain could compromise the nation's heritage conservation efforts.
The site of Xanadu, the remains of the summer capital of Yuan dynasty ruler Kublai Khan, north of the Great Wall, was inscribed into the World Heritage List in June, becoming China's 43rd such site.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage said last month that more than 500 heritage protection laws and regulations had been enacted, underscoring its conservation efforts, particularly over the past decade.
The director of Nanjing University's Cultural and Natural Heritage Research Institute, Professor He Yunao , attributed the large number of Chinese sites on the list to the country's abundant heritage resources as a major Eastern civilisation.
He said central and regional governments' enormous interest in the list was a result of globalisation, because every city longed for some branding vehicles to boost its international profile.