China will compete with countries around the globe to have one of its cultural sites listed on the World Heritage List this year.

The country will search for a site of "outstanding universal value" to submit to the World Heritage Committee, which will admit 40 sites worldwide to the prestigious list this year, an official disclosed yesterday in Beijing.

"As the committee decided to reduce the quantity of World Heritage sites that are admitted each year, China has to choose the best candidate on our tentative list to submit," said Du Yue, director of Division of Projects under the National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Last year, the World Heritage Committee added 61 new cultural and natural sites, four in China, to the World Heritage List.

The list now has 690 sites of "exceptional universal value" in 122 countries and regions across the world, including 27 Chinese sites.

Du also tried to cool the "application fever" that has spread nationwide as more and more Chinese cities and local governments are applying for their sites to be added to the World Heritage List.

Some local governments hope the inclusion of their sites on the World Heritage List will help boost tourism and other economic sectors.

"We can understand the minds of some local governments and we know the trademark of world heritage will bring much profit to them; however, we have our standard that it must have 'outstanding universal value,'" Du said.

"However, tourism destinations and world heritage differ in many ways," Du said.

The application process is complicated and time-consuming, Du said, and the responsibility of it falls to the governmental agencies involved.

"It is serious and the procedure is very strict. We must decide among the candidates according to the World Heritage Committee's standards," he said.

Every year, a final list is approved by the State Council before it is submitted to the World Heritage Committee, Du said.

Candidates on the final list are selected by the Ministry of Construction, the State Bureau of Cultural Relics and the China National Commission for UNESCO, which are the departments responsible for the country's annual World Heritage application.

"In the past, we strictly adhered to the standard, and in the future, we should continue this endeavor," he said.

Du also said the majority of China's 27 World Heritage List sites are well protected.

Meanwhile, the sites are attracting more and more visitors from around the world and the local tourism industries are booming, Du said.

"However, I just want to point out that our mission is to protect those cultures and species of international significance, and we want to hand over those safely to our offspring," Du said.

(China Daily 03/30/3001)