As one of the first batch of scenic spots included in the "UNESCO World Natural Heritage List," the Zhangjiajie, Wulingyuan Scenic Area had been given a yellow card for warning by the Heritage Committee of the United Nations in 1998 because a number of poor quality artificial buildings were established there. The natural environment of Wulingyuan Scenic Area has become a besieged island and was restricted in the agriculture and tourism, the Heritage Committee of the United Nations said.

The world heritage sites should not be an island besieged by modern civilization and a yellow card did not prevent from the destruction in them.

In 2003, a fire broke out in the Yuzhengong Palace, one of the important parts of the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains of Hubei, which has 600 years of history and covers an area of 236 square meters. It was burned to the ground within less than three hours. The root cause for the fire was that the local heritage sector broke the rules and transferred the right of use to a private martial arts school.

It really is a sorrow that the ancient civilization was badly burned in the face of modern civilization. However, without fire, the world heritage sites will also be destructed in different ways.

On the foot of the magnificent Badaling Great Wall, various unrelated projects have been constructed, including a bear park, a waxwork museum and even a cemetery. Some real estate developers even want to build more than 300 villas of European and U.S. styles for "admiring the magnificence of the ancient Badaling Great Wall."

Our respect to world heritages was so little that six world heritages of the Imperial Palace, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ancient City of Lijiang, Potala Palace and Yunnan Nature Reserve of the Three Parallel Rivers received the "yellow card warning" in the World Heritage Conference of 2007.

These world heritages are being "ruined" by the modern civilization and "invaded" by the commerce. Does it mean that our ancient civilization has lost its refuge?

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