China has nearly 400,000 known unmovable cultural relics above
ground and underground. So far, the State Council has listed 1,271
cultural sites under state protection and by 2015, the number may
rise to 1,800. There are over 7,000 cultural sites under
provincial-level protection and more than 60,000 under municipal
and county-level protection. The national database for cultural
relics information will be completed by 2015.
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In the 1990s China made significant investment in protecting and
rescuing cultural relics. Special subsidies by the Central
Government for the protection of cultural relics reached some 700
million yuan for a thousand projects. As a result, a large number
of cultural relics have been saved from destruction. In 2004, the
government of Tibet Autonomous Region allocated 70 million yuan for
the preservation and maintenance of the Potala Palace and the
Norbuglinka and Sakya lamaseries. Major renovation of the
1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple in Henan Province began in February
2004. According to a program launched in 2005, 250 million yuan a
year will go from state finance every year to the protection of key
relics nationwide.
In recent years, cultural relics have come under increasing legal
protection.China has signed four international treaties on relic
preservation. The Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics was
revised in October 2002 to institute for the first time regulations
on the transfer and exchange of cultural relics. In 2003, the
government promulgated Implementation Regulations for the Law on
the Protection of Cultural Relics, the Provisional Regulations on
the Administration of Relic Auction, and the Measures of Beijing
Municipality on the Protection of the Great Wall?-- the first
special regulation on the protection of the Great Wall.
So far the Chinese government has listed 101 famous historical
and cultural cities under key national protection and 80-odd under
provincial-level protection. From 2001 to 2005, 15 million yuan a
year was allocated for their protection. The protection of these
cities includes both the protection of the ancient buildings and
historical sectors and the preservation of the layout,
architectural styles and traditional cultures. A special law on the
protection of historical and cultural cities is being drafted.
As a large traditional agricultural country, China has a large
distribution of ancient villages, a rare phenomenon in the world.
The natural environment, as well as folk customs and handicrafts of
these villages are well preserved. The cultural relics authority is
planning a major ancient village protection project; by the end of
2005, the names of 44 towns and 36 villages under special
protection had been released.