Hubei Shennongjia

Located in Hubei Province, in central-eastern China, the site consists of two components: Shennongding/Badong to the west and Laojunshan to the east. It protects the largest primary forests remaining in Central China and provides habitat for many rare animal species, such as the Chinese Giant Salamander, the Golden or Sichuan Snub-nosed Monkey, the Clouded Leopard, Common Leopard and the Asian Black Bear. Hubei Shennongjia is one of three centres of biodiversity in China. The site features prominently in the history of botanical research and was the object of international plant collecting expeditions in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

 China

N31 28 11 E110 14 38

Date of Inscription: 2016

Criteria: (ix)(x)

Property : 73,318 ha

Buffer zone: 41,536 ha

Ref: 1509

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Mount Sanqingshan National Park

Mount Sanqingshan National Park, a 22,950 ha property located in the west of the Huyaiyu mountain range in the northeast of Jiangxi Province (in the east of central China) has been inscribed for its exceptional scenic quality, marked by the concentration of fantastically shaped pillars and peaks: 48 granite peaks and 89 granite pillars, many of which resemble human or animal silhouettes. The natural beauty of the 1,817 metre high Mount Huaiyu is further enhanced by the juxtaposition of granite features with the vegetation and particular meteorological conditions which make for an ever-changing and arresting landscape with bright halos on clouds and white rainbows. The area is subject to a combination of subtropical monsoonal and maritime influences and forms an island of temperate forest above the surrounding subtropical landscape. It also features forests and numerous waterfalls, some of them 60 metres in height, lakes and springs.

 China

N28 54 57 E118 3 52

Date of Inscription: 2008

Criteria: (vii)

Property : 22,950 ha

Buffer zone: 16,850 ha

Ref: 1292

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Chengjiang Fossil Site

A hilly 512 ha site in Yunnan province, Chengjiang’s fossils present the most complete record of an early Cambrian marine community with exceptionally preserved biota, displaying the anatomy of hard and soft tissues in a very wide variety of organisms, invertebrate and vertebrate. They record the early establishment of a complex marine ecosystem. The site documents at least sixteen phyla and a variety of enigmatic groups as well as about 196 species, presenting exceptional testimony to the rapid diversification of life on Earth 530 million years ago, when almost all of today’s major animal groups emerged. It opens a palaeobiological window of great significance to scholarship.

 China

N24 40 8 E102 58 38

Date of Inscription: 2012

Criteria: (viii)

Property : 512 ha

Buffer zone: 220 ha

Ref: 1388

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape

Located on the steep cliffs in the border regions of southwest China, these 38 sites of rock art illustrate the life and rituals of the Luoyue people. They date from the period around the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. In a surrounding landscape of karst, rivers and plateaux, they depict ceremonies that have been interpreted as portraying the bronze drum culture once prevalent across southern China. This cultural landscape is the only remains of this culture today.

 China

N22 15 20 E107 1 23

Date of Inscription: 2016

Criteria: (iii)(vi)

Property : 6,621.6 ha

Buffer zone: 12,149.01 ha

Ref: 1508

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement

Kulangsu is a tiny island located on the estuary of the Chiu-lung River, facing the city of Xiamen. With the opening of a commercial port at Xiamen in 1843, and the establishment of the island as an international settlement in 1903, this island off the southern coast of the Chinese empire suddenly became an important window for Sino-foreign exchanges. Kulangsu is an exceptional example of the cultural fusion that emerged from these exchanges, which remain legible in its urban fabric. There is a mixture of different architectural styles including Traditional Southern Fujian Style, Western Classical Revival Style and Veranda Colonial Style. The most exceptional testimony of the fusion of various stylistic influences is a new architectural movement, the Amoy Deco Style, which is a synthesis of the Modernist style of the early 20th century and Art Deco.

 China

N24 26 51 E118 3 43

Date of Inscription: 2017

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 316.2 ha

Buffer zone: 886 ha

Ref: 1541

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Qinghai Hoh Xil

Qinghai Hoh Xil, located in the northeastern extremity of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, is the largest and highest plateau in the world. This extensive area of alpine mountains and steppe systems is situated more than 4,500 m above sea level, where sub-zero average temperatures prevail all year-round. The site’s geographical and climatic conditions have nurtured a unique biodiversity. More than one third of the plant species, and all the herbivorous mammals are endemic to the plateau. The property secures the complete migratory route of the Tibetan antelope, one of the endangered large mammals that are endemic to the plateau.

 China

N35 22 49 E92 26 21

Date of Inscription: 2017

Criteria: (vii)(x)

Property : 3,735,632 ha

Buffer zone: 2,290,904 ha

Ref: 1540

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Mount Wutai

Mount Wutai

With its five flat peaks, Mount Wutai is a sacred Buddhist mountain. The cultural landscape is home to forty-one monasteries and includes the East Main Hall of Foguang Temple, the highest surviving timber building of the Tang dynasty, with life-size clay sculptures. It also features the Ming dynasty Shuxiang Temple with a huge complex of 500 statues representing Buddhist stories woven into three-dimensional pictures of mountains and water. Overall, the buildings on the site catalogue the way in which Buddhist architecture developed and influenced palace building in China for over a millennium. Mount Wutai, literally, 'the five terrace mountain', is the highest in Northern China and is remarkable for its morphology of precipitous slopes with five open treeless peaks. Temples have been built on this site from the 1st century AD to the early 20th century.

 China

N39 1 50 E113 33 48

Date of Inscription: 2009

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 18,415 ha

Buffer zone: 42,312 ha

Ref: 1279

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom

The Tomb of the General within the site

The site includes archaeological remains of three cities and 40 tombs: Wunu Mountain City, Guonei City and Wandu Mountain City, 14 tombs are imperial, 26 of nobles. All belong to the Koguryo culture, named after the dynasty that ruled over parts of northern China and the northern half of the Korean Peninsula from 277 BC to AD 668. Wunu Mountain City is only partly excavated. Guonei City, within the modern city of Ji’an, played the role of a ‘supporting capital’ after the main Koguryo capital moved to Pyongyang. Wandu Mountain City, one of the capitals of the Koguryo Kingdom, contains many vestiges including a large palace and 37 tombs. Some of the tombs show great ingenuity in their elaborate ceilings, designed to roof wide spaces without columns and carry the heavy load of a stone or earth tumulus (mound), which was placed above them.

 China

Huanren County, Liaoning Province and Ji’an, Jilin Province

N41 9 25 E126 11 14

Date of Inscription: 2004

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)

Property : 4,165 ha 

Buffer zone: 14,142 ha

Ref: 1135

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Tusi Sites

Site of Tangya Tusi Domain

Located in the mountainous areas of south-west China, this property encompasses remains of several tribal domains whose chiefs were appointed by the central government as ‘Tusi’, hereditary rulers from the 13th to the early 20thcentury. The Tusi system arose from the ethnic minorities’ dynastic systems of government dating back to the 3rd century BCE. Its purpose was to unify national administration, while allowing ethnic minorities to retain their customs and way of life. The sites of Laosicheng, Tangya and Hailongtun Fortress that make up the site bear exceptional testimony to this form of governance, which derived from the Chinese civilization of the Yuan and Ming periods.

• 1474-001 - Site of Laosicheng Tusi Domain
• 1474-002 - Site of Tangya Tusi Domain
• 1474-003 - Site of Hailongtun Tusi Fortress

 China

N28 59 55 E109 58 1

Date of Inscription: 2015

Criteria: (ii)(iii)

Property : 781 ha 

Buffer zone: 3,125 ha

Ref: 1474

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Site of Xanadu

North of the Great Wall, the Site of Xanadu encompasses the remains of Kublai Khan’s legendary capital city, designed by the Mongol ruler’s Chinese advisor Liu Bingzhdong in 1256. Over a surface area of 25,000 ha, the site was a unique attempt to assimilate the nomadic Mongolian and Han Chinese cultures. From this base, Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty that ruled China over a century, extending its boundaries across Asia. The religious debate that took place here resulted in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism over north-east Asia, a cultural and religious tradition still practised in many areas today. The site was planned according to traditional Chinese feng shui in relation to the nearby mountains and river. It features the remains of the city, including temples, palaces, tombs, nomadic encampments and the Tiefan’gang Canal, along with other waterworks.

 China

N42 21 28.8 E116 11 6.46

Date of Inscription: 2012

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 25,131 ha 

Buffer zone: 150,722 ha

Ref: 1389

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde

 Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde

The Mountain Resort (the Qing dynasty's summer palace), in Hebei Province, was built between 1703 and 1792. It is a vast complex of palaces and administrative and ceremonial buildings. Temples of various architectural styles and imperial gardens blend harmoniously into a landscape of lakes, pastureland and forests. In addition to its aesthetic interest, the Mountain Resort is a rare historic vestige of the final development of feudal society in China.

China

Chengde City, Hebei Province

N40 59 12.984 E117 56 17.988

Date of Inscription: 1994

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Ref: 703

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou

 

West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou

The West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, comprising the West Lake and the hills surrounding its three sides, has inspired famous poets, scholars and artists since the 9th century. It comprises numerous temples, pagodas, pavilions, gardens and ornamental trees, as well as causeways and artificial islands.
These additions have been made to improve the landscape west of the city of Hangzhou to the south of the Yangtze river.

The West Lake has influenced garden design in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the centuries and bears an exceptional testimony to the cultural tradition of improving landscapes to create a series of vistas reflecting an idealised fusion between humans and nature.

China

N30 14 15 E120 8 27

Date of Inscription: 2011

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(vi)

Property : 3,323 ha

Buffer zone: 7,270 ha

Ref: 1334

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Yin Xu

The archaeological site of Yin Xu, close to Anyang City, some 500 km south of Beijing, is an ancient capital city of the late Shang Dynasty (1300 - 1046 BC). It testifies to the golden age of early Chinese culture, crafts and sciences, a time of great prosperity of the Chinese Bronze Age. A number of royal tombs and palaces, prototypes of later Chinese architecture, have been unearthed on the site, including the Palace and Royal Ancestral Shrines Area, with more than 80 house foundations, and the only tomb of a member of the royal family of the Shang Dynasty to have remained intact, the Tomb of Fu Hao. The large number and superb craftsmanship of the burial accessories found there bear testimony to the advanced level of Shang crafts industry. Inscriptions on oracle bones found in Yin Xu bear invaluable testimony to the development of one of the world’s oldest writing systems, ancient beliefs and social systems.

China

Henan Province

N36 7 36 E114 18 50

Date of Inscription: 2006

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 414 ha

Buffer zone: 720 ha

Ref: 1114

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor

This property is a 5,000 km section of the extensive Silk Roads network, stretching from Chang’an/Luoyang, the central capital of China in the Han and Tang dynasties, to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia. It took shape between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD and remained in use until the 16th century, linking multiple civilizations and facilitating far-reaching exchanges of activities in trade, religious beliefs, scientific knowledge, technological innovation, cultural practices and the arts. The thirty-three components included in the routes network include capital cities and palace complexes of various empires and Khan kingdoms, trading settlements, Buddhist cave temples, ancient paths, posthouses, passes, beacon towers, sections of The Great Wall, fortifications, tombs and religious buildings.

China

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

N34 18 16 E108 51 26

Date of Inscription: 2014

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(v)(vi)

Property : 42,668 ha

Buffer zone: 189,963 ha

Ref: 1442

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

China Danxia

China Danxia is the name given in China to landscapes developed on continental red terrigenous sedimentary beds influenced by endogenous forces (including uplift) and exogenous forces (including weathering and erosion). The inscribed site comprises six areas found in the sub-tropical zone of south-west China. They are characterized by spectacular red cliffs and a range of erosional landforms, including dramatic natural pillars, towers, ravines, valleys and waterfalls. These rugged landscapes have helped to conserve sub-tropical broad-leaved evergreen forests, and host many species of flora and fauna, about 400 of which are considered rare or threatened.

China

N28 25 19 E106 2 33

Date of Inscription: 2010

Criteria: (vii)(viii)

Property : 82,151 ha

Buffer zone: 218,357 ha

Ref: 1335

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. Constructed in sections from the 5thcentury B.C. onwards, it was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire for the first time in the 7th century A.D (Sui Dynasty). This led to a series of gigantic worksites, creating the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution. It formed the backbone of the Empire’s inland communication system, transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population. By the 13th century it consisted of more than 2,000 kilometres of artificial waterways, linking five of China’s most important river basins. It has played an important role in ensuring the country’s economic prosperity and stability and continues today as a major means of internal communication.

 China

N34 41 38 E112 28 06

Date of Inscription: 2014

Criteria: (i)(iii)(iv)(vi)

Ref: 1443

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area

Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area

Situated in the north-west of Sichaun Province, the Huanglong valley is made up of snow-capped peaks and the easternmost of all the Chinese glaciers. In addition to its mountain landscape, diverse forest ecosystems can be found, as well as spectacular limestone formations, waterfalls and hot springs. The area also has a population of endangered animals, including the giant panda and the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey.

 China

Songpan County, Sichuan Province

N32 45 15.012 E103 49 19.992

Date of Inscription: 1992

Criteria: (vii)

Property : 60,000 ha 

Ref: 638

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Kaiping Diaolou and Villages

Kaiping Diaolou and Villages feature the Diaolou, multi-storeyed defensive village houses in Kaiping, which display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of émigré Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are four groups of Diaolou and twenty of the most symbolic ones are inscribed on the List. These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge, residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences, and watch towers. Built of stone, pise , brick or concrete, these buildings represent a complex and confident fusion between Chinese and Western architectural styles. Retaining a harmonious relationship with the surrounding landscape, the Diaolou testify to the final flowering of local building traditions that started in the Ming period in response to local banditry.

China

Guangdong Province

N22 17 7.87 E112 33 57.1

Date of Inscription: 2007

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)

Property : 372 ha

Buffer zone: 2,738 ha

Ref: 1112

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in “The Centre of Heaven and Earth”

Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in “The Centre of Heaven and Earth”

Mount Songshang is considered to be the central sacred mountain of China. At the foot of this 1500 metre high mountain, close to the city of Dengfeng in Henan province and spread over a 40 square-kilometre circle, stand eight clusters of buildings and sites, including three Han Que gates - remains of the oldest religious edifices in China -, temples, the Zhougong Sundial Platform and the Dengfeng Observatory. Constructed over the course of nine dynasties, these buildings are reflections of different ways of perceiving the centre of heaven and earth and the power of the mountain as a centre for religious devotion. The historical monuments of Dengfeng include some of the best examples of ancient Chinese buildings devoted to ritual, science, technology and education.

 China

N34 27 31.49 E113 4 3.79

Date of Inscription: 2010

Criteria: (iii)(vi)

Property : 825 ha 

Buffer zone: 3,438 ha

Ref: 1305rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing

 

Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing

The Summer Palace in Beijing – first built in 1750, largely destroyed in the war of 1860 and restored on its original foundations in 1886 – is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value.

 China

10 km northwest of Beijing

N39 54 38 E116 8 28

Date of Inscription: 1998

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)

Property : 297 ha 

Buffer zone: 5,595 ha

Ref: 880

Source: http://whc.unesco.org