China to survey relic sites in countryside

    Only 17.5 percent of China's 400,000 discovered relic sites have been listed under government's compulsive protection, and the rest may disappear any time due to damages by nature and human activities, said a senior Chinese cultural official.

    The relic sites, mostly unmovable earth buildings scattered in countryside, are historical and cultural heritage left through China's 7,000 years long agricultural civilization, said Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

    He said this on a recent inspection tour on rural relic sites in east China's Zhejiang Province, which boasts one of the earliest civilizations found in China.

    China plans to carry out its nationwide survey of cultural relics, which has been included in the country's 11th five-year plan for national economic and social development from 2006-2010.

    Shan said that many of the discovered relic sites are not included in the country's heritage protection work, because they were not enrolled in the previous two national survey of cultural relics conducted in 1956 and 1981, respectively.

    Unlisted ancient earthworks are vulnerable to fall victims to the country's new construction wave, since they are neither guarded by laws and regulations, nor official protection efforts, said Shan, who has continued his inspection to other provinces in preparations for the upcoming national survey.

    Shan said that this round of national survey will underscore the importance of rural relic sites. The drafting of protection measures will take considerations of the surrounding environment and intangible cultural heritages carried with the relic sites.

    On his inspection in Zhejiang, Shan solicited local officials on policies, land property rights and funding channels in support of the relic protection.