CHINA World Culture and Nature Heritage

Summarization
The nummber of the signatory states has reached 145 since the Convention of the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was passed by UNESCO in Paris in Oct. 16, 1972. China became the signatory state of the Convention in 1985. The first World Cultural and Natural Heritage list was declared in 1987.
There are 582 items was announced in 22 lists from 1987 to 1998. And there are 21 items in China.
Another two items were declared to be world cultural and natural heritage in December of 1999. They are Wuyi mountains of Fujian Province and the Dazu Grottoes of Chongqing.
The Name List Of CHINA World Culture and Nature Heritage
1- The Imperial Palace in Beijing
2- Great Wall in Beijing
3- Remains of Peking Man at Zhoukoudian in Beijing
4- The Summer Palace in Beijing
5- The Temple of Heaven in Beijing
6- Chengde Mountain Resort and Surrounding Temples (Hebei Province)
7- The Ancient City of Pingyao (Shanxi)
8- The Classical Gardens of Suzhou (Jiangsu)
9- The Huangshan Mountain (Anhui)
10- Wuyi Mountains (Fujian)
11- Mount Lushan (Jiangxi)
12- Mount Taishan (Shandong)
13- Temple of Confucius,Maneionof Confucius and Confucian Woods (Shandong)
14- Ancient Building Groups on the Wudang Mountain (Hubei)
15- Wuling Yuan (Hunan)
16- Nine-Village Valley in Sichuan Province
17- Huang Long in Sichuan Province
18- Mount Emei and the Giant Leshan Buddha in Sichuan Province
19- Dazu Grottoes (Chongqing)
20- The Ancient City of Lijiang (Yunnan)
21- Potala Palace (Xizang/Tibet))
22- Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (Shaanxi)
23- Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang (Gansu)

1. The Imperial Palace
The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, was the imperial palace of emperors in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is located at the centre of beijing. There were 14 emperors in the Ming Dynasty and 10 emperors in the Qing Dynasty had been enthroned and ruled here.
The Forbidden City, rectangular in shape and 720,000 square metres in size, owns 9,999 and a half rooms, the floor space of which is about 160,000 square metres.
The palaces are surrounded by purplight-red walls 3,400 metres long and a moat 52 metres wide 4.1 metres deep.
At the middle of each four walls stands a gate tower; the Meridian Gate in the south, the Godly Prowess Gate in the north, the Donghua Gate in the east, the Xihua Gate in the west, and at each of the four comers stands a tower. The whole Forbidben City looks like a strongly fortified castle.
It is composed of two parts, the outer palace where the emperors held grand ceremonies, and discued state affairs with high-ranking officials.
The inner palace where emperors conducted routine govemment affairs and empresses, concubines, princes, princesses resided, amused themselves and worshipped gods.
There are 920,000 pieces of historical relics in the Imperal Palace. It is the largest and most complete existing ancient wooden architectural complex both in China and in the world.
2. Great Wall
Construction of the Great Wall began during the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period,Several ducal states built wall fortifications along the precipitous mountain ridges to ward off the plunder of nomadic people and the invasion of each other. In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang ordered to link the walls up after he united China.
During the following dynasties, the Great Wall was destroyed continuously by natural disasters and human beings.Amongst the remained broken pieces of walls, those constructed in Ming Dynasty are the most well-preserved and splendid ones.
The Great Wall stretches some 6,300km from Jiayuguan Pass in the west to the Yalujiang River in the east, traversing 11 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. It is the most magnificent ancient military defence work and one of the most remarkable ancient buildings in the world.
3.Remains of Peking Man at Zhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian is a village of Fangshan County, about 50km from Beijing . The nearby Dragon Bone Hill is the home of Peking Man. Pei Wenzhong, a Chinese paleontologist, excavated a complete fossil skull cap, some teeth and bones of primitive apeman in 1929.
The remains of Peking Man's daily life, hunting and the use of fire were also discovered, which testified the existance of apeman in Beijing region five hundred thousand years ago. The excavation marks its valuable position in the field of anthropology.
Up to now, the remains of Peking Man in Zhoukoudian boast the most plentiful humanfossil, the most various species of associated animal and plant fossils in the world and the most extensive research work in then has been carried out.
4.The Summer Palace
The Summer Palace, originally named as Qingyiyuan (Garden of Clear Ripples), was designed by the famous court architect Lei Jiaxi, and was bui1t between 1750 and l764. Covering about l90 hectares, the imperial garden is chiefly composed of the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake.
It was burned and destroyed by the British-French a1lied army in 1860. The Empress Dowager Ci Xi had it renovated in l888 with the 5 million taels of silver that had been appropriated for building the Chinese navy, and changed its name to the present Yiheyuan, or the Garden of Harmonious Unity.
Blended harmoniously with the landscape, the halls, towers, pavilions, corridors, walkways and bridges in the gardcn display exquisite workmanship.
pThe Summer Palacc is the best preserved imperial garden in the world with rich scenes and concentrated structures.
5.The The Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420, the eighteenth year of the regin of Emperor Yongle of Ming Dynasty. It was where the emperor of Ming and Qing Dynasty worshipped the Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is divided into the inner and the outer parts .
Danbiqiao (a raised grand open-air passage) links the Altar of Prayers for Bumper Harvests of Grain in the north and the Circular Mound in the south forming an axis-line. The main buildings are near the line. Thousands of ancient Cypress trees surround the buildings solemnly.
All above are the treasure of the ancient buildings and the masterpiece of the ancient masters, being in an major position in the architectural history of China.
The main buildings in the park include the Hall of Prayers for Good Harvests, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, the Circular Mound, the Hall of Abstinence, the Echo Wall and the Long Corridor. the famous spots of the park are the Chinese Rose Garden and the Double-Ring Pavilion.
6.The Chengde Mountain Resort and Surrounding Temples
Chengde Mountain Resort and Surrounding Temples are located in Chengde, Hebei province. It is the largest existing imperial garden in China. From the reign of Emperor Kangxi , all the emperors wou1d spend six months each year in the resort to take vacaticons, conduct state affairs and to receive high-ranking officials, foreign envoys and nobles of minority nationalities.
The resort consists of four parts: palace area, lake area, plain area and mountain area. The buildings stand by groups. The resort possessed the characters of Chinese finest gardens. The buildings were constructed on the slopes of mountains or beside the streams.
In order to strengthen the unification of all the nationalities, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong ordered to build the surrounding temples, which combined the architectural beauties of Tibetan Buddhism and Han Buddhism. At present, it has become a famous scenic spot in China.
7.The Ancient City of Pingyao
The Ancient City of Pingyao locates in center Shanxi province , in the middle reaches of Fen River. It is 100 kilometers away from provincial capital Taiyuan. Pingyao Ancient City is the most complete maintained county town of Ming - Qing period. It is typical of , ancient county town for Chinese Han Nationality in the Center Plain of China.
The city walls, streets, residence homes and temples in the city are undamaged by and large and construction style are maintained. They are the cultural relics and living specimen in study on Chinese politics, economy, culture, military, architecture and art. The cultural relics are unusual and with high value.
The founding of the first money exchange shop Rishengchang in the city marks the birth of contemporary new style financial business without being noticed form it counterpart at late stage of Chinese feudal society.
8. The Classical Gardens of Suzhou
Suzhou is one of the famous historical and culture city in China. The construction of private gardens in Suzhou started during the 6th centry B.C. and was in vogue during the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 170 gardens in the city and its suburbs. Hence Suzhou is known as the "garden city".
The city has still a dozen gardens. The famous gardens are the Surging Waves Pavilion, Lion Grove, Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, West Garden, Fisherman's Garden and Pleasure Garden and etc
- Private gardens
- Conceived in traditional Chinese painting of landscape and flowers and birds, inspired by the Tang and Song poetry, the gardens are vary from garden to garden
- Create an artistic effect of viewing big scenes in a small garden.
9. The Huangshan Mountain
The Huangshan Mountain in southern Anhui Province, is full of miraculous scenic spots celebrated for peaks, rocks, pines, clouds and springs. The renowned Four Wonders of the Huangshan Mountain are the spectacular peaks, odd-shaped pines, hot springs and seas of cloud. It is named the "fairyland on earth" for the diversity of sceneries in the four seasons.

10. Wuyi Mountains
- A national park of China, lies in the south of Wuyishan City, Fujian Province, with an area of 60 square kilometers.
- Wuyi sceneries can be divided into seven groups, including Jiuqu (Nine Turns) Stream, Water Curtain Cave, Wuyi Palace, etc. Jiuqu Stream runs nine kilometers around the mountain with nine turns and eighteen bends.

- One taking a bamtoo raft downstream will be fascinated by the 36 rock formations and peaks along the route, each given a name of the animals it resembles.
- Ascending the summit of Dawang Peak, (Peak of the Great King) one can get a full view of the 36 lesser peaks in a posture to bow to Dawang Peak.
- Wuyi Palace built in the Tang Dynasty

- A place for the rulers to hold sacrificial service to honor the Lord of Wuyi.
- A place the Confucians preached Confucianism. As a result of these events, a large number of cultural and historical relics have been unearthed here.
11. Mount Lushan
- Mount Lushan is a well-known beautiful scenic area with sheer peaks and precipices, changeable clouds and fogs, silver springs and flying waterfalls, deep valleys and secluded forests.
- More than 500noted figures in Chinese history have been to the mountain. They have left behind some 4000 pieces of verses, over 400 inscriptions on the cliffs and large quantities of writings, paintings, calligraphic works.
- Mount Lushan is thus reputed as "the Kingdom of Prose and Mountain of Poetry".
- On the mountain there are Buddhist and Taoist temples, Christian and Catholic churches and Islamic moeques.
- Donglinsi (East Grove Temple) is the birthplace of Jingtu (Neat Earth) sect of Buddhism. Bailudongshuyuan (White Deer Cave Academy) was one of the four biggest academies in ancient China.
12.Mount Taishan
- Mount Taishan, is located in the middle of Shandong Province.
- It is one of the birthplaces of the ancient culture along the Yellow River, and is regarded as the first of the Five Sacred Mounts.
- Mount Taishan is celebrated for the precipitous peaks and the miraculous sceneries.
- In Chinese history, emperors of the past feudal dynasties would take journey to Mount Taishan
- It was considered the symbol of heaven, to worship and offer sacrifices to the heaven.
- Writers and artists had left numerous pieces of poems and calligraphy works when they toured Mount Taishan.
- which provide plenty of valuable evidences to make research on Chinese ancient history and calligraphy.
- Mount Taighan is not only a mountain of scenery, but also a mountain of culture.
13.Temple of Confucius ,Mansion of Confucius& Confucian Woods

- The Temple of Confucius and the Mansion of Confucius are located in Qufu, Shandong Province.
- Qufu is the hometown of Confucius, the great philosopher, statesman, educator and the father of Confucianism in ancient China.
- A grand building complex with 9 courtyards came into being. The total 466 halls, pavilions, chambers and rooms were separated by 3 major gateways starting from the entrance.
- It measures over 1km from north to south and occupies an area of 220000square metres.
- The Mansion of Confucius lies next to the Temple of Confucius. It was the official residence .
- After several times of enlargement and renovation, now it covers more than 160,000square metres, with 463 halls, chambers and rooms.
-The Confucian Woods, where the tomb of Confucius is located, is 1.5km north of Qufu. The cemetery is surrounded by walls and is crowded with old cypresses and pines.
- Most of Confucius' descendants were also buried here.
14.Ancient Building Groups on the Wudang Mountain

- The construction of buildings on the Wudang Mountain began in the Tang Dynasty, and was enlarged in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
- After hundreds of years' rises and falls, the area became desolated in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
- The major buildings are the palace of Supreme Harmony, the Palace of Zixiao, the Palace of Nanyan, the Taoism Temple of Fuzhen and the Archway of Zhishixuanyue.
15. Wuling Yuan

- Wulingyuan scenic area is situated in Wuling District in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province.
- Three major sightseeing spots: Zhangjiajie National Park, Suoxi Valley, Mount Tianzi.
- It is celebrated for the five wonders: spectacular peaks, grotesque rocks, secluded valley, clear streams and karst caves. The abundant water resources and beautiful valley sceneries give the area the name "Eight Hundred Beutiful Streams".
16. Nine-Village Valley

- Nine-Village Valley, is a scenic spot located in Nanping County, Sichuan Province.
- Beautiful lakes, waterfalls, shallows, streams, snow-cupped peaks, forest, and Tibetan culture
- The blue lakes, dozens of metres deep, are as clear as crystal.
17. Huang Long

- Huang1ong is located in songpan county of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Ethnic Group Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
- The area is covered with plenty of well preserved peculiar natural sceneries. Apart from the snowcupped mountains, valleys, waterfalls, it owns grand surface karst topography.
18. Mount Emei and the Giant Leshan Buddha

- Mount Emei locates in Emeishan City of Sichuan Province (The city's name came from Mount Emei).
- There are many kinds of geologic physiognomy, plants and animals. Mount Emei is the "Nature Geological Museum", "the Nature Arboretum" and "the Kingdom of Animals".
- Hundreds of nature scenic and many temples are dispersed over the mount. More than 5,000 kinds of plants and more than 2,300 kinds of animals are existed up to now.

- The living fossil of wood plant-Davidia involucrata and cyathea spinulosa, a rare plant on the verge of distinction, are under Grade-A protection.
- The existing temples include Baoguosi Monastery, Wanniansi Monastery, fuhusi Monastery, Xianfengsi Monastery, Qianfo Monastery, the Elephant-washing Pool and Huazang (Avatamsaka) Monastery on the Golden Sumit, etc.
- The world's biggist stone statue of seated Maitreya made in the Tang Dynasty - the Giant Leshan Buddha totals 71 metres high.
- The head measures 10 metres in diameter, the eyebrow 3.7 metres long, the eye 3.3 metres, the nose 5.6 metres, the mouth 3.3 metres and the ear 7 metres. The foot is large enough for 100 people to stand on.
19. Dazu Grottoes
- 0ver 60,000 carved stone figures relating mainly to Buddhism are spread around 76 places within Dazu County 160 kilometres to the west of Chongqing.
- The content and craftsmanship are best at Beishan and Baoding hills. The art of Dazu, which emerged in the late Tang Dynasty (6l8-907AD) and flourished in the Song Dynasty (960-1127) represents an important chapter in China's cultural and religious history.
- In the treasure of Dazu stone sculptures, the well designed groups of nineteen grand reliefs cover a wide scope of artistic themes, and most of them present Buddhist figures as human beings and depict scenes from everyday life. They are rarely seen in any other part of the world.
20. The Ancient City of Lijiang

- The ancient city of Lijiang is located at the foot of the snow-capped Yulong Mountains, which is in the southeastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau known as the "roof of the world" and the northwestern part of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.
- The ancient city is formed of three separate ancient towns, namely, Baisha, Shuhe, and Dayan. It is called the "soul of Lijiang" because the city itself is located where the Han, Tibetan, Nanzhao and Naxi cultures converge and has been a caretaker of civilization for over 1,000 years.
- The ancient city of Lijiang is by no means a fossil. It is alive and full of vigor with its "poetic style of living", its aesthetic norms, its simple way of life, and its classic art of city construction.
- Lijiang Prefecture is home to people of more than 2O minority ethnic groups, the bulk of whom are the Naxi. Each of these ethnic groups has a unique culture and history, which match into the beauty of the land, setting an example of a harmonious relationship between man and nature.
21.Potala Palace

- Potala Palace, situated on the Hongshan Hill in Lhasa, means "the Sacred Palace of Buddhism" in Sanskrit. It was built in the 7th century by king Songtsan Gambo for his bride, the princess Wen Cheng of Han nationality, and was enlarged and renovated by the successive Da1ais.
- The 13 story palace, 117 metres high, 360 metres east-west, with an area of 130,000 square metres was constructed completely by stone and wood.
22. Mogao Grottoesin Dunhuang

- Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, is situated at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 25 km southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu Province.
- It measures 1,680 metres north-south. The grottoes created in different periods of time are clustered on the steep cliff which is 15-30 metres high.
- Began in 366 and completed in 1386, these grottoes evidenced a thousand years of history. There are 492 grottoes containing murals and painted statues, over 250 residential caves, 2,400 painted statues, 45,000-square-metre murals, and 5 caves with eaves built in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
- These are the vivid records of China's Buddhism history, art history and social life. Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang are the 1argest Buddhist grottoes with the longest history and the richest treasures both in China and in the world.
23. Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang