During its ongoing 10-day session, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will consider the inscription of another 48 sites, said Zhang Xinsheng, chairman of the committee’s 28th session and vice minister of education, at a press conference Monday afternoon. The committee will also consider the nomination of seven extensions of previously inscribed sites in five countries, including one in China.

Also present at the conference were Francesco Bandarin, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, and Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO’s assistant director-general for culture.

The sites under consideration were presented by 36 countries, which include Australia, North Korea, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Kazakhstan, Mexico and South Africa, in addition to China.

This is the first time that a session of the World Heritage Committee is being held in China, and second time in Asia. The Suzhou session has attracted a record number of participants, with about 550 coming from outside of China. It is also the longest session ever to be held, with 27 major topics of discussion on the agenda.

UNESCO adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972. Since then, it has selected 754 sites for inclusion on its list of protected sites: 582 cultural, 149 natural and 23 mixed sites, all considered to be of outstanding universal value. The sites are located in the countries of 129 of the 178 States Parties that have ratified the convention.

Zhang called for international cooperation to preserve the heritage of mankind and share experiences with other countries. He also proposed a “Four C’s” global strategy for heritage protection: credibility, conservation, capacity building and communication.

He revealed that China will soon set up a world heritage research and training center, but the location of the center was not disclosed.

Also announced was the launch of a Chinese-language edition of UNESCO’s World Heritage Review. The 80-page full-color magazine has been published quarterly by UNESCO since 1996 and is already available in English, French, Spanish and Russian. The Chinese edition is a cooperative effort of China’s World Affairs Publishing House, UNESCO and Ediciones San Marcos of Spain.

The circulation of the English, French and Spanish editions is about 10,000, with an estimated readership of 40,000. The Russian edition, published since 2002, also sells thousands of copies. Sales of the Chinese edition, which follows the established format, are expected to run in the several thousands.

Zhang stated it is hoped that the launch of the World Heritage Chinese edition will stimulate public interest in the importance of preserving the world’s precious natural and cultural heritage.

Articles in the first, and special, issue of the magazine include imperial gardens, ancient towns and cities, famous mountains, religious ruins and grottoes, as well as China’s natural heritage sites, the Great Wall and the country’s heritage legislation.

UNESCO officials offered congratulations on the launch of the magazine, hoping it will contribute to better protection of Chinese cultural and natural heritage.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Li Jinhui, June 29, 2004)