Pictured above are villages built next to the Great Wall site in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The region is touted as the "Museum of the Great Wall," but human activity has damaged this important heritage area.

 

I have been engaged in natural heritage protection most of my life. I feel pleased by the achievements China has made in this field, but also feel concerned about the great challenges looming in the future. The work that must be done during these coming two decades will be critical to the survival of cultural heritage.

Cultural heritage items are non-renewable resources, and once damaged, nothing can restore these items to their original condition. Every individual in China should have this awareness, shoulder due responsibility for protecting cultural heritage, and make every effort in this respect.

Currently, there are two major threats to cultural heritage. One threat is from damage caused by construction. In some places urban construction has become the priority, and cultural relics are made to give way to construction projects. Many precious cultural relics are simply pulled down even before scientific evaluation and rational planning can take place.

Another threat is excessive exploitation, namely utilizing cultural sites as resources for tourism and commercial programs in a manner beyond what these sites can sustain. This involves the application of a business mindset in using cultural heritage.
 

Both threats are derived from people seeking illegitimate benefits. Cultural heritage items belong to all of the public. No pursuit of private interests should be allowed. Protecting cultural heritage is in the public interest; commercial ways of thinking should not be applied to it.

Cultural heritage protection should properly handle two relationships: protection and exploitation, and social benefits and economic gains.
 

Based on historical experience, the right choice is to utilize cultural heritage on the basis of protection, and to strive for a balance between social benefits and economic gains while maintaining the social benefit as the highest priority.

International experience shows that exploitation can only be based on proper protection, as manifested by countries like France and Spain which are major tourist destinations with well-preserved relics. This demonstrates that the blind pursuit of immediate interests not only goes against social interests, but ultimately will damage economic dividends in the long run.

We must be conscious that the crucial value of cultural relics is their cultural, historical and scientific value, rather than the economic value. They play a role in public education and provide spiritual power and intellectual support for society. For a nation, cultural heritage is like a tree of culture deeply rooted in the nation’s civilization. It is neither a dead tree, nor is it a “money tree” at everyone’s disposal.
 

To protect cultural heritage, we should respect natural laws and listen to experts’ opinions to find out which kind of relics can be exploited in what way and which should be left intact. Social forces should be motivated to supervise this work, to increase the transparency of this cause.

 

Xie Chensheng is a notable expert in cultural heritage preservation.