China Focus: A year after Silk Road UNESCO inscription, preservation work continues

Some of the heritage sites along the ancient Silk Road in China will offer free or discounted tickets to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the route's inclusion on the UNESCO world heritage list.

China has 22 of the Silk Road's 33 UNESCO heritage sites. The rest eight are in Kazakhstan and three in Kyrgyzstan. The route, which starts in Xi'an, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, was once the main corridor for trade and cultural exchange between Asia and Europe.

As Saturday is China's 10th Cultural Heritage Day, which this year carries the theme "preservation for the benefit of the public", conservation efforts following the inscription have been a hot topic.

Nizam Nujuri used to live at the Jiaohe Ruins, an ancient city in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, until his family were relocated so the site could be better protected.

Nizam no longer has to work the field, instead he earns a healthy wage thanks to the booming tourist industry. He said the move changed his life for the better, so to give something back he signed up to supervise tourists.

"Every one should contribute to the preservation work," he said.

The Turpan cultural relics department has expedited work on the 2,300-year-old Jiaohe site, making bricks from local earth to prevent it from collapsing.

"Besides reinforcing the walls, new viewing points have also been set up in the ancient city to manage the increasing number of tourists," said Wang Xiaofei, director of the cultural relics bureau in Turpan.

Home to six world cultural heritage sites, Xinjiang is developing a heritage protection system that puts more focus on preemptive measures. It is integrating monitoring networks to gain a detailed overview of weather and environment data; real-time patrol feedback; and tourist monitoring, the regional cultural relics protection department said.

Xi'an has also made great efforts to celebrate the past glory of the Silk Road.

Xi'an Museum is closely monitoring the famous 1,300-year-old Xiaoyan Pagoda, one of the oldest Buddhist sites in China, as requested by the world cultural heritage management plan.

To prevent exploitation or destruction of the site, the museum is not just protecting the pagoda itself, but also portable relics and even the surrounding trees. Third-party agencies have also been recruited to assist restoration, research and environmental greening efforts.

About 300-kilometers southwest of Xi'an, a cultural park is being built around the tomb of Zhang Qian, a diplomat of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). Zhang acted as a political envoy to the Western Regions, or today's central and west Asia, travelling along the Silk Road.

"Preservation should be driven by the desire to study our valuable cultural heritage," said Wang Lei, deputy director of Xi'an Museum. Endi