The UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC), currently holding its 28th session in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, began discussing on Tuesday the 48 proposed additions to the World Heritage List.

The candidates include 33 cultural sites and eight natural sites, which have been submitted by 36 countries, said Zhang Xinsheng, chairman of the convention. Another seven are extension applications of existing world heritage sites.

China has submitted three historical sites for consideration at this session. The first is the capital cities, mausoleums and tombs of the ancient Koguryo kingdom (ca. first through fifth centuries AD) in Ji'an City, Jilin Province. Next are the three mausoleums of the Manchu rulers that preceded the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) emperors, entombed together with their families in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province. Also in Shenyang is the Imperial Palace of the early Qing dynasty.

The candidate sites will be assessed by the WHC, which will announce its selections on July 2.

The current list comprises 754 sites of "outstanding universal value" in 129 countries, including 582 cultural, 149 natural and 23 mixed sites.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ratified the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972. Its 178 member countries elect 21 representatives to form the WHC, which designates sites around the world of outstanding cultural value or unique natural beauty and inscribes them on the World Heritage List.

China became a signatory to the convention in 1985, and has since had 29 sites inscribed on the list, the third highest number of all member counties.

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2004)