Chinese Imperial Tombs, Rivers Listed as World Heritage

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 04, 2003

Chinese Imperial Tombs, Rivers Listed as World Heritage

The natural scenes of the Sanjiang Region, also known as Three Parallel Rivers, in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the Ming Tombs in Beijing and the Mingxiaoling Mausoleum in East China's Nanjing were listed by UNESCO as World Heritage sites.

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Two Ming dynasty imperial tombs were included in the World Heritage List (WHL) on a UNESCO committee meeting held Thursday.

The group of mausoleums near Beijing where were buried 13 emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and therefore called "Ming's Thirteen Tombs" in Chinese, were added to the WHL during the 27th session of the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

The Ming imperial tomb in Nanjing, China's eastern province of Jiangsu, where was buried Zhu Yuanzhang -- first emperor of the Ming dynasty, was also put on to the list.

The two groups of tombs are seen as showcase of the funeral architecture and culture centuries ago in China.

Together with three other Ming and Qing mausoleums, the World Heritage Committee now counts five Chinese imperial tombs on its list, established in the 1970s to better protect world's cultural and natural heritage.

The Committee, organ depending on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on Wednesday also put the area of the confluence of three major rivers in China's southwestern province of Yunnan onto its list of natural heritage.

The area, where join Nuiang River, Lancang River and Jinsha River, covers about 41,000 square kilometers in Yunnan Province, to the south of the Qinghai-Tibet Highland.

The region features the magnificent view of the three giant rivers, as well as the cultural interests of various ethnic groups in the area and rich biodiversity.

The Sanjiang Region boasts rare high mountain landforms and outstanding biodiversity.For example, the number of animal species in it accounts for more than 25 per cent of the country's total.

Meanwhile, it is also a place where 16 ethnic groups are located and that pools many languages, religions, and ethnic habits and cultures.

And although the region only has less than 0.4 per cent of the total territory of China, it has more than 20 per cent kinds of advanced plants of the country's total.

As of today, on the WHL of more than 730 sites, 29 properties are in China, 21 of which are cultural, four natural and four mixed. The most famous ones are the Great Wall, Mount Taishan, Mogao Caves, Potala Palace, Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian in Beijing and others.

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