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SCIO press conference on strengthening heritage conservation to carry forward Chinese civilization

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Science and Technology Daily:

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed stepping up the protection of cultural relics and cultural heritage, and emphasized the protection and inheritance of historical culture in urban and rural development. What role have cultural relics played in historical culture protection and urban and rural development ? Thank you.

Deng Chao:

Thank you for your question. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that protecting our cultural relics is also part of the role the government should play, and said we should find a suitable way to effectively protect cultural relics and let their values be realized while promoting socioeconomic development. In recent years, the NCHA has made efforts in this regard, making our unique cultural heritage an integral part of the balanced urban and rural development. The work in this area can be summarized in the following aspects:

First, we have enhanced the protection of cultural relics in the process of urban and rural development by adapting laws and regulations. We have made substantive efforts in revising the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics and increased requirements for the identification, original site protection and regional evaluation of ungraded immovable cultural relics. We have included immovable cultural relics protection into the planning of territorial space, rigorously protecting cultural relics and other historical and cultural heritage. We also curbed large-scale demolition and construction in urban and rural development, and prohibited pulling down authentic cultural heritage sites and then replacing them with fake ones. In our capital's core function areas, cultural relics are under protection with their values being gradually explored. And the cultural relics under protection of the central government have been well preserved.

Second, the protection and utilization of cultural relics have been linked to our new urbanization initiative. Backed by the central government's special funds for cultural relics, many renowned historical and cultural cities, such as Zhengding, Chengde, Pingyao and Qufu, have been preserved in a holistic way. We made efforts to protect and repair key cultural relic sites and historical and cultural blocks, and improved the overall environment of these places, to redefine their value and redraw the cultural context. Recently, we jointly issued the notice on providing better tourism routes with cultural relic themes, along with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Development and Reform Commission. Through this effort, we gave them a new lease of life in the new era while providing an opportunity to learn about the Chinese culture. We have issued guidelines on rational use of cultural relics, as well as advice and typical cases on opening cultural heritage buildings to visitors, encouraging cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Suzhou to innovate and find better ways to hosting visitors at such facilities. Cultural relics and monuments have become important cultural landmarks and tourist destinations, with World Cultural Heritage Sites receiving more than 300 million visitors annually, and national archaeological site parks 34.6 million.

Third, we have emphasized the importance of protecting cultural relics in rural areas, thereby contributing to the rural revitalization strategy. We have researched on the theme of "Leveraging protection and utilization of cultural relics for rural revitalization," focusing on protecting cultural relics in rural areas and summarizing the experiences, actions, and typical cases in protecting and utilizing these relics. Together with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other departments, we have released the sixth batch of the Traditional Chinese Villages list. Recently, we have also collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to protect fishery culture, guiding local governments to launch a series of projects for safeguarding and restoring cultural relics, including ancient rural residences, ancestral shrines, and historic stages. We have continued the action to "save old houses" and explored adaptive renovation of ancient architecture in Songjiang, Zhejiang province, and other places. In these endeavors, our intention has been to retain cultural roots and memories while also enhancing the quality of life for local people. We have guided Sichuan province to launch a pilot project on building rural grotto cultural parks to explore the coordinated path between the preservation of ancient grottoes and the enhancement of people's wellbeing. We have advanced the project of rural heritage hotels and built rural museums and archaeological site parks, expecting cultural relics in rural areas to play a key role in offering resources to support rural revitalization. Thank you!