HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS BRIEFS

RESTORATION PROJECT IN SHANHAIGUAN

Shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall meets the sea, was founded as a military garrison town in 1381. In December 2006, the Chinese government initiated a RMB 2.6 billion project to restore the section of the Great Wall including Shanhaiguan Pass. This project is scheduled for completion at the end of 2006.

At the end of March 2007, Hebei Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage announced that it has launched another restoration project intended to restore what remains of the ancient town of Shanhaiguan, much of which has been levelled in the process. The brief press report did not provide any details, but indicated that this project would also be completed by the end of this year.

TEN BEIJING MUSEUMS TO CLOSE

At the 20 March 2007 meeting on museum management of the Beijing Administration of Cultural Heritage, it was announced that ten museums in the capital would be closed because of a record of poor management. The official who made the announcement did not name the institutions in question.

ANCIENT BUILDING DESTROYED IN FIRE

Only towards the end of March 2007 did Xinhua News Agency report the razing in Tongchuan, Guizhou province, of Chuanzhu Palace, a rare example of Ming dynasty regional architecture. The timber building served as a social centre for merchants from Sichuan who worked in Guizhou. Little more than the façade of the building remains after the fire, which was believed to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring.

YELLOW EMPEROR CELEBRATIONS

In March 2007, it was announced that the 'sacrificial ceremony for the Yellow Emperor', or Huangdi, will be held this year in Xinzheng, Henan province, on 19 April, coinciding with the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, which traditionally marks Huangdi's birthday. Xinzheng, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Zhengzhou, has claimed the distinction of being the hometown of the Yellow Emperor. It is believed that 20,000 people, including delegations from Hong Kong and Macau, will attend this year's events. A three-day conference, titled the Yellow Emperor Culture Forum, will also be held in Xinzheng (17-19 April), as will other events promoting trade, investment and tourism.

SHENYANG TO STAGE HERITAGE EXPO

In March 2007, the deputy-mayor of Shenyang, Liaoning province, announced that his city would stage the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Expo for five months from June to October this year. The event is sponsored by UNESCO and more than 54 countries will participate. China joined UNESCO's Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985, and today China has 33 world heritage sites out of a total of 830 sites worldwide. In order to fulfill the requirements of the UNESCO World Heritage Treaty, the Chinese government passed a law in November 2006 designed to ensure better management of the sites.

NATIONAL MUSEUM EXPANSION

On 17 March 2007, work began on the expansion of the National Museum of China, located on the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The project will be completed in 2009.

QIN SHIHUANG EXHIBITION FOR BRITISH MUSEUM

It was announced in March 2007 that an exhibition celebrating the achievements of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang, will be staged at the British Museum towards the end of the year. One hundred exhibits from China will include 20 terracotta warriors, several terracotta figures and a bronze crane. The exhibition is being sponsored by Morgan Stanley.

MARITIME HERITAGE PROTECTION LAW PROPOSED

On 12 March, Ms. Gao Xiang, a deputy to the National People's Congress, proposed the enacting of a law to protect underwater cultural relics. China has 4.73 million square kilometers of coastal waters, and the plundering of offshore wrecks is being fueled by the high prices porcelain and other items fetch on the international market.

CALL FOR STARBUCKS TO MOVE OUT OF FORBIDDEN CITY

Ever since Starbucks opened an outlet in the Forbidden City in 2000, there has been opposition to its presence. As a result, the coffee shop compromised by not displaying its logo prominently, but opposition has continued. In March 2007, Jiang Hongbin, a delegate to the National People's Congress from Heilongjiang, proposed that Starbucks be forced to move 'immediately' from the Palace Museum. The museum authorities responded by announcing that 'they would come to an agreement with Starbucks' by June.

SHANGHAI NOSTALGIA

Archivists from Shanghai's Jing'an District announced in March that they were making a former proposal in April to 2007 to have Shanghai's unique popular songs of the 1930s that combined Western jazz and Chinese folk music included on the list of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage. These songs are said to have originated at the Broadway, located in Yuyuan Road in the Jing'an District, which was the first jazz venue in that city.

BRITISH HISTORY IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

The Palace Museum and the British Museum co-curated the exhibition Britain Meets the World which runs from 9 March to 10 June. Although the three-month exhibition ostensibly showcases 'Britain's engagement with the world in the Georgian period,' it presents more than one hundred masterpieces from the collection of the British Museum, including paintings by da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

TOMB RAIDERS THWARTED

At the beginning of 2007, farmers in Liucunbao village outside Xi'an, Shaanxi province, discovered a number of Han dynasty tile-ends (wadang) at the site believed to be the original location of the ancient capital Chang'an. The discovery that collectors would pay up to RMB 500 yuan for the tile-ends, the equivalent of a month's salary for local farmers, was enough to spark off a spree of illegal digging. The tile-ends are believed to have come from the remains of Jianzhang Palace, constructed in 204 BCE. On 25 February 2007, local police were alerted to the treasure hunt by officials from the Xi'an Administration of Cultural Heritage and two farmers were arrested.

TRADITIONAL HOLIDAYS MAY BE INTRODUCED IN 2008

On 2 March 2007, Xinhua News Agency reported that a number of traditional holidays may become public holidays in 2008. The news came in an interview with Zhai Zhenwu, a sociology professor from Chinese Renmin (People's) University, Beijing, who is part of a government advisory group engaged in examining this question. Zhai was quoted as saying that the National Development and Reform Commission is in the process of drafting the policy. He suggested that the Mid-Autumn Festival and Qingming Festival will become public holidays and the current 'golden week' national holidays will be shortened. Effectively, the number of public holidays will remain the same.

SUZHOU GARDENS BECOME NATIONAL PARKS

On 27 February 2007, the Ministry of Construction announced China's first batch of 20 national parks. The list includes nine of Suzhou's ancient gardens which are in fact already jointly listed as UNESCO world heritage sites.

RESTORATION OF KORAN COMPLETED

In late February 2007, conservators from the Nanjing Museum announced that they had completed restoration work on the 700-year old Koran from the Jiezi Mosque in Xunhua county, Qinghai province. This precious copy of the Koran in two volumes is said to have been brought from Samarkand to China by Salar people about 700 years ago.

DESCENDANT OF GENGHIS KHAN COMES TO LIGHT

On 25 February 2007, Chongqing Morning Post reported that a genealogy in Mongolian and Manchu discovered by Bao Wenguang, a local resident, in the courtyard of his ancestral home in 2002, demonstrates that Bao is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. The genealogy of the Bao clan is 6 meters long and 1.45 meters wide.

MONASTERY RESTORATION

It was announced by the Qinghai Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau in mid-February that Ta'er Si monastery, better known in English as Kumbum (sKum-bum), will undergo extensive repairs and restoration this year. At the monastery, on which construction commenced in 1560, three major halls and an exhibition hall will be restored this year at a cost of RMB10 million. Large-scale restoration work was previously carried out in 1992-1996 and in 2001.

MORE INTANGIBLES

China's deputy-minister of culture, Zhou Heping, told a national conference of cultural departments on 6 February 2007 that China is currently reviewing more items for the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The Chinese government will make a final selection and present its recommendations to UNESCO from a preliminary group of cultural properties to be compiled this year.

Since 2001, Chinese items proclaimed by UNESCO as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity include: Kunqu, one of the oldest forms of opera in the country; Guqin, a solo musical instrument dating back 3,000 years; Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam, a blend of song, dance, and folk and classical music; and, Long Song, a type of Mongolian lyrical chant.

CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL IN GUANGZHOU RESTORED

In January 2007, Guangzhou's Sacred Heart Cathedral re-opened after two years of restoration work that cost RMB20 million yuan. The cathedral was founded in 1863 and is located in Yide Road in the heart of the city.

RELICS TURN UP AT OLYMPIC SITES

On 26 January 2007, Kong Fanzhi, director of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, told a press conference that his organisation would work to protect the remains of two temples uncovered in the course of construction work for the 2008 Olympics. A 500-year old temple 'dedicated to the goddess of childbirth' was discovered at the site of the National Aquatics Centre, better known as the Water Cube, and as a result the swimming venue was moved 100 metres to avoid damaging the ancient structure. Another temple, discovered on the site of the Olympic Village, is being relocated to a new site.

TCM GETS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

In a move to appease supporters of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), recently under attack as 'pseudo-science' by a number of detractors in the Chinese media and on the Internet, Vice-Premier Wu Yi told a press conference on 11 January 2007 that 'the central government will continue to firmly support the development of traditional Chinese medicine. She pledged that the government will push for the listing of TCM as world intangible cultural heritage and that information about TCM would be included in school textbooks.