BEIJING (AP) — President Xi Jinping must do more to maintain the country’s cultural treasures and herbaria and renew its glamour in the new era.
Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction on strengthening the protection, preservation and use of cultural heritage and herbalism.
This instruction follows the inscription of one cultural heritage and two herbal heritages of China on the World Heritage List through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in July 2024.
UNESCO announced the directory of the Beijing Central Axis: a collection of buildings showing the ideal order of China’s capital, the Badain Jaran Desert: sand towers, lakes and migratory bird sanctuaries along the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Gulf coast in China (Phase II) in its lists the 46th consultation of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in New Delhi, India.
The inclusion of such heritage items is important for building China’s modernization that is characterized by material, cultural and moral progress and harmony between mankind and nature, Xi said, noting that it also adds a new luster to global civilizations.
Xi called for efforts to seize UNESCO’s inclusion as an opportunity to expand the comprehensive and systematic coverage of cultural heritage and herbarium and make intelligent use of them to better meet the wishes of the people.
He also called for strengthening foreign exchanges and cooperation in this area, as well as efforts to make greater contributions to the practice of the Global Civilization Initiative and the construction of a network of destiny for humanity.
Currently, China is home to a total of 59 world heritage sites.