Op-Ed Contributors

Heritage for the future

By Bai Gengsheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-26 07:31

Culturally rich provinces have to strike the right balance between preserving sites and relics and making money

China may have the second highest entry on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list, but it is still in the primary stages of protecting its cultural heritage sites and relics and faces many problems in preserving them.

For example, the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, home to the Naxi ethnic group and their unique culture, is on the World Cultural Heritage list. But the Naxi culture seems to be dwindling. The influx of outsiders into Lijiang may be partly to blame for that. Many Naxi people have rented their houses (in many cases to non-Naxi people and foreigners) and moved out of the town, dealing a blow to their traditional culture.

Several months ago, I visited the Hani Terraces, a cultural heritage site also in Yunnan, and was shocked to see the sorry state of what should have been an esoteric but wonderful culture. The local government pumped huge funds and resources into the site in a failed bid to win the World Cultural Heritage status in 2008. And that seems to have caused the maximum damage to culture and traditions mainly of the Hani and Yi ethnic groups, who are primarily responsible for the terraces.

It's still not too late to save Lijiang and Hani Terraces and their distinct cultures. But for that the local governments have to focus on cultural protection instead of profits.

China is a signatory to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and is expected to do everything in its power to protect cultural heritage within its borders, for cultural rights are an indispensable part of human rights. The central and local governments should realize that cultural heritage means much more than booming tourism and profits. Cultural heritage is the inner soul of a nation.

That does not mean cultural heritage should not be used to boost tourism. But there has to be a limit to its exploitation. The most important thing for the governments to do is to strike a healthy balance between protection and exploitation of the sites. This will help preserve culture and make life better for the people.

There are two kinds of cultural heritage - one has economic potential, the other does not. The first kind can be used to make profits, but only after strict protection measures are taken. Only if cultural heritage is well protected can it bring about long-term economic and social benefits. The second kind has to be preserved in various forms, such as texts, videos and audios. Since we have inherited thousands of texts and relics from our ancestors, it is our duty to pass them down to later generations.