Chinese heritage experts and officials have selected an initial
list of 48 sites along the country's sections of the ancient Silk
Road for its joint application with five central Asian countries
for world cultural heritage status.
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The sites include graveyards, temples, remains of ancient cities
and grottoes in six provinces or regions along the route. They were
selected at a two-day meeting which ended on Monday in
Xinjiang.
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The preliminary list still needs further discussion by experts and
final approval from the State Cultural Heritage Administration,
before being submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Center,
according to Lu Qiong, an official with the administration.
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The 2,000-year-old Silk Road, mainly a trade route linking Asia and
Europe, began from Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi
Province, and ended in Europe via southern and central Asia
countries. More than half of the 7,000-km-long route was in
China.
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Along this road, gunpowder, papermaking and printing technologies,
three of the four great ancient Chinese inventions, were
transported to the West, while western mathematics and medicine
came to China.
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Last August, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan
and Turkmenistan made a blueprint to apply to include historical
sites along the Silk Road on the world cultural heritage
list.
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The five central Asian nations have set a preliminary list of 54
sites for the joint application, which is expected to be submitted
to the UNESCO World Heritage Center in early 2009.
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(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2007)
