October 20, 2015
On October 20, 2015, the Symposium Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of China’s World Heritage, the 70th Anniversary of UNESCO and the Establishment of a National Park System was solemnly held in Chengjiang. At the invitation of the World Natural Heritage Protection Research Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, Sanqingshan World Heritage Site sent representatives to attend the event. Together with more than 150 experts and scholars from home and abroad, they gathered to review, share and discuss past experience and look forward to future development directions.
2015 was the 70th anniversary of the establishment of UNESCO and was the 30th anniversary of China’s accession to the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Conservation of the World Cultural and Natural Heritages. World heritage sites represent outstanding examples and typical evidence of the earth’s evolutionary history and human development, serving as precious and non-renewable natural and cultural legacies. As of September 2015, China was home to 48 world heritages, ranking second in the world in total number. Among them, 14 were natural heritage sites and mixed natural and cultural heritage sites, ranking first globally. Featuring rich types and distinctive characteristics, China’s world heritage sites occupy an important position on the international world heritage stage.
At the conference, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development officially released the Development Bulletin of the 30th Anniversary of China’s World Natural Heritage and presented plaques to the Chengjiang Fossil Site, China Danxia, Tianshan in Xinjiang, and Phase II of the South China Karst world heritage sites. Participants discussed the future roles and development strategies of world heritage sites. On the basis of consensus, they adopted the Chengjiang Declaration, which aims to protect and inherit the common values of world heritage.
