A four-month-long world cultural and natural heritage exposition opened Saturday in northeast China's Liaoning Province, as one of the events held nationwide to arouse people's awareness of cultural heritage protection.

The expo, held in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning, showcases 33Chinese and 57 foreign World Heritage sites by means of pictures, videos, models and films, with an exhibition area of 30,000 square meters.

Models carrying replicas of world cultural heritages over their heads perform at the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Exposition in Shenyang, Liaoning Province June 9.

Forums, lectures and performances of folk arts will also be held to mark the country's Second Cultural Heritage Day, which fell on Saturday to promote public awareness of the preservation of cultural diversity and heritage protection, according to expo organizers.

"The expo is most interesting and is in line with one of the principal priorities of UNESCO: the safeguarding and protection of world heritage," said UNESCO Secretary-General Koichiro Matsuura at the opening ceremony.

"It will be a welcome opportunity to educate a wide public on world heritage conservation," he said.

Chinese State Councilor Chen Zhili also attended the ceremony. The expo will last until October 9.

China has currently a total of 33 sites inscribed in the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), including the Great Wall and the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries.

And in Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited an exhibition of intangible cultural heritage in Beijing on Saturday, China's second "Cultural Heritage Day".

During his visit, Wen was particularly interested in live performances -- paper-cutting, shadow play and the making of Chinese new year paintings -- all by masters of these folk arts.

"The reason why such legacies have passed on for hundreds or even thousands of years is that they carry the spirit of the Chinese nation," Wen said at the exhibition, held in the China Millennium Monument.

"We should not only preserve such cultural legacy, but also pass them on and make innovations so that they can last," Wen said, adding we should also learn from cultures of other nations.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also visited the exhibition on Saturday.

China's "Cultural Heritage Day" falls on the second Saturday of June every year. It was established last year by the Chinese government to step up protection of fine traditional Chinese culture.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2007)