ACTION NEEDED TO PRESERVE THE PAST

More dynamic approach urged for heritage protection

The northern province of Shanxi has many ancient architectural wonders. It is home to more than 53,000 registered cultural heritage sites, with 452 of them under national-level key protection - almost 10 percent of the total number in China.

For Li Qiang, who founded a provincewide volunteers' association for cultural heritage and museums in 2012, it is not solely the government's duty to protect these relics left by ancestors.