On July 25th, at the 44th World Heritage Conference held in Fuzhou, “Quanzhou: the World Ocean Trade Center of China in Song, Yuan and Yuan Dynasties” was successfully reviewed and listed in the World Heritage List. What is the significance of this successful application? What experiences can we learn from the legacy application? In the future, how can we better protect this precious cultural treasure? Focusing on these issues, Li Qun, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, accepted an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency.
Demonstrated the glorious history of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and other civilizations in the world.
Q: What is the significance of this project being listed on the World Heritage List?
A: First of all, this project demonstrates the history of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and other civilizations in the world. Quanzhou, as an important window for China’s foreign trade, material exchange and personnel exchanges in Song and Yuan Dynasties, with the help of the prosperity and development of marine trade, promoted the spread of China’s ancient advanced agricultural technology, literary classics and philosophical thoughts overseas with the attitude of equality, mutual trust, dialogue and exchange, and provided important nourishment for the civilization and cultural development of various countries. At the same time, with an open and inclusive mind, Chinese civilization accepts the harmonious coexistence of multiculturalism in Quanzhou, and actively learns from the achievements of civilizations of various countries and regions.
Secondly, the project shows important achievements in the development of Chinese civilization and human civilization. The project is composed of 22 representative historic sites, sites and their associated environments and spaces, which have extremely high historical, artistic, scientific, social and cultural values. It reveals the reason why Quanzhou became the maritime hub of East Asia and Southeast Asia’s trade network during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, shows Quanzhou’s outstanding contribution to Asia’s economic and cultural development and the common progress of human society in the 10th to 14th centuries, and embodies the spiritual characteristics of Chinese ancient working people’s perseverance, tenacious struggle and courage to innovate.
Focusing on this application, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage instructed the local authorities to strengthen the protection of Quanzhou’s archaeological and historical and cultural heritage, supported high-level professional institutions such as Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and China Institute of Architectural Design to set up resident workstations or jointly run schools, and carried out archaeological excavation and historical research of important sites in Quanzhou with Fujian Museum, thus filling the gap in the archaeology of Quanzhou ancient city. It has promoted the establishment of professional archaeological teams at the provincial and municipal levels, formulated and implemented archaeological plans and special laws, regulations and plans for the protection of ancient cities, and organized and implemented a number of projects for the protection, display and utilization of cultural relics, so that important historical sites, sites and the overall style of Quanzhou ancient city have been properly protected.
In addition, the successful application of this project provides an example for future international cooperation in the field of world cultural heritage declaration in China. In 2018, after the 42nd World Heritage Congress made the resolution of “returning the project to be discussed”, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage guided Quanzhou city, professional institutions and the International Council of Monuments and Sites to cooperate closely in accordance with the resolution of the Congress and the opinions of international professional advisory bodies, and made major adjustments to the positioning of Quanzhou project, adding six new declaration points, reorganizing the logic of declaration points, refining and highlighting the universal value, and clearly proposing a brand-new theme with the important history of China’s marine trade in Song and Yuan Dynasties as the object, finally ensuring the application for heritage.
Heritage declaration is the means, and protection and inheritance is the purpose.
Q: What is the successful experience of this application?
A: The success of this application is due to China’s accumulated rich experience in the application and protection management of world heritage for many years, and the professional technical route and solid working foundation that are in line with the project’s own characteristics, which are mainly manifested in the following four aspects-
Adhere to the professional-led, academic-led work ideas. In recent years, the difficulties and challenges of world heritage declaration have been increasing. To win the understanding and support of international organizations and contracting parties through solid and high-level professional work is the most effective means to deal with external challenges. Guided by the application for World Heritage, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized high-level professional institutions and authoritative experts in China to cooperate with local professional institutions and experts in Fujian and Quanzhou to carry out the work of archaeology, historical research, value interpretation, planning and management in Quanzhou, which was recognized by the World Heritage Committee and the International Council of Monuments and Sites.
Adhere to the scientific concept of giving priority to protection and giving priority to value. Declaration of heritage is the means, and protection and inheritance is the end. The protection of Quanzhou’s heritage series takes the inheritance of historical and cultural values as the goal, resolutely implements the protection principle of “minimum intervention” and “research first”, guides and encourages the joint participation of archaeology, architecture, cultural relics protection, structural materials and other disciplines, implements a number of cultural relics protection projects, implements various protection systems for lightning protection, fire prevention and theft prevention, establishes an early warning and emergency response mechanism for natural disasters such as typhoons and floods, and properly protects the outstanding universal value and authenticity of historic sites.
The local government strongly supports it. Since the early 1980s, Fujian Province and Quanzhou City have been aware of the importance of protecting the style and features of ancient cities, and have always taken “protecting ancient cities and developing new areas” as the guiding ideology of urban planning and protection construction, strengthened protection legislation and planning design, and promoted the “five-in” of cultural heritage protection, so as to properly protect the overall style and features of ancient cities and set a good example for the protection of historical and cultural cities.
Encourage social participation and persist in benefiting people’s livelihood. Making cultural heritage the common memory and common property of the public is the foundation of sustainable protection. On the one hand, we can improve the living conditions of local people by promoting the opening of heritage sites to the public, rectifying the surrounding environment of heritage sites and improving the living environment. On the other hand, through the establishment of heritage identification and explanation system, the construction of heritage exhibition halls and other measures, the public’s awareness of heritage can be enriched, and the whole society’s consciousness of participating in protection can be stimulated.
World cultural heritage protection has a long way to go.
Q: What will we do around the tasks of follow-up protection and management?
A: Being listed in the World Heritage List is not only a great honor, but also a higher requirement for the protection and management system of the heritage, which requires the heritage site to shoulder the glorious mission.
In order to better study and protect Quanzhou’s historical and cultural heritage, according to the suggestions of international organizations, we have included the entire ancient city of Quanzhou into the buffer zone of world heritage. Next, we will guide Quanzhou to continuously strengthen the archaeological research and historical and cultural heritage protection of ancient cities in accordance with the requirements of the resolutions of the World Heritage Committee, and do a good job in revising the management plan and compiling a series of special plans for heritage protection. Refine the management requirements and control indicators of heritage areas and buffer zones and incorporate them into the unified management of land and space planning system, improve the long-term coordinated management mechanism, strengthen the safety supervision and daily maintenance of heritage, explore the inheritance mode of living heritage protection, and build a more perfect protection and management system for this complex series of heritage.
It is the solemn commitment of China government as a party to the World Heritage Convention to properly protect and inherit the world heritage as the precious wealth of all mankind. As a world heritage country, China should undertake more international responsibilities and obligations in the field of world cultural heritage. In the future, we will further strengthen our in-depth cooperation with UNESCO and relevant international professional institutions, further promote the concept of world heritage protection, and share our China experience and China concept accumulated in the work of world cultural heritage protection with the world peers through various forms, so as to make unremitting efforts with other countries for a better future.
(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 25th, Xinhua News Agency reporters Shi Yucen and Wang Peng)