China to celebrate its 'root and soul'

Thousands of celebrators are expected at events nationwide, including exhibitions, symposiums and public education programs, that have been scheduled to immerse the country in an atmosphere of cultural heritage and history to welcome China's annual Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which falls on Saturday.

The arrangements for observing the day are a strong testament to China's commitment to preserving and sharing the beauty and essence of its time-tested legacies with the outside world.

This year's celebration holds even greater significance than usual, as it marks the 20th anniversary of the country's first designation of this special day, which, before 2017, was known as Cultural Heritage Day.

The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented boom in the heritage sector throughout the country. In 2006, museums nationwide attracted a total of around 150 million visits, a number that by 2025 had increased to 1.56 billion. China initially had 24 entries on the UNESCO World Heritage List, but the number has now risen to 60.

President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has consistently prioritized heritage protection in recent years. In a guideline statement released in 2016, for example, he described cultural relics as "a valuable legacy from our ancestors", emphasizing that conservation will benefit future generations.

He then pointed out that the relics are tangible manifestations of the fine traditional culture, or "the root and soul", of the Chinese nation.

Such resolution has its roots in eastern Zhejiang province 20 years ago. The saplings planted then have now grown into flourishing trees, and they set an example for the rest of the country and beyond.

In Yuhang district of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, are located the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City. Dating back 4,300 to 5,300 years, this vast prehistoric site was the hub of a regional state that worshipped jade and grew rice with highly-developed water conservation systems.

The site is considered to mark the dawn of Chinese civilization.

Nowadays, it offers a living, evolving testament to how a grand plan for preserving the past is implemented at the grassroots level.

The Regulations of Hangzhou on the Protection and Management of the Liangzhu Ancient City World Cultural Heritage were officially rolled out in June. They establish a comprehensive legal framework that aims to integrate this cradle of Chinese civilization more deeply into the fabric of contemporary life.

Sun Haibo, director of the Cultural Relics and Heritage Administration Bureau of the Hangzhou Liangzhu Archaeological Site Administrative District, said that the regulations could provide a model for the management of large-scale archaeological sites nationwide.

The legislation, comprising six chapters and 37 articles, marks a decisive shift from decades of protection-first focus to a more ambitious vision of making heritage a driver of coordinated regional development.

"This has been an iterative journey spanning more than 20 years," said Sun. "At each stage, we faced different challenges."

In the early 2000s, Liangzhu's northern mountains, which were rich in high-quality stone, were being carved up by quarries and thus served as one of the main drivers of the local economy.

Upon learning about the situation in July 2003, Xi, then Party secretary of Zhejiang, visited the site and promptly ordered the closure of the mines. It was not an uncommon occurrence at a time when archaeological protection was often compromised for the need of economic development.

However, Xi emphasized that economic growth should not be at odds with cultural preservation.

He also said that the Liangzhu site is a sacred place that provides evidence of China's 5,000-year-old civilization, and is an invaluable treasure that must be protected.

The path of Liangzhu protection thus turned into a promising lane. In 2019, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Xi's dedication to Liangzhu has lasted throughout the subsequent decades. In 2023, he proposed holding the Liangzhu Forum, by which the ancient culture could offer inspiration to the world in a modern context.

In the congratulatory message to the inaugural Liangzhu Forum in December 2023, Xi called for efforts to promote a view of civilization that features equality, mutual learning, dialogue and mutual accommodation, thus helping different civilizations to live in harmony and reinforce one another.

The forum has been held annually in Hangzhou for the past three years.

Following the grand plan to ensure the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City's sustainable development, economic benefits are being reaped. For example, last year, the site welcomed 1.46 million visits, establishing the ruins on the northwestern outskirts of Hangzhou as a popular tourist destination.

After Liangzhu, the next focus in exploring the origins of Chinese civilization in Zhejiang is the Shangshan culture.

Named after the Shangshan site in Pujiang county of Jinhua, Zhejiang, this Neolithic culture dates back 8,500 to 11,000 years and is the oldest Neolithic culture ever found in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and China's southeastern coastal region. However, it was once overlooked in academic studies.

Sheng Danping, former head of the Pujiang Museum, still vividly remembers receiving an instruction from Xi in late November 2006 to strengthen research and publicity regarding the Shangshan culture.

At a symposium earlier that month, the culture had been formally named, Sheng told Zhejiang Daily, adding that he was amazed by the attention. The directive put things into high gear. Within months, a 500-square-meter exhibition hall was built and opened to the public. Within three years, the pottery pieces that had been unearthed were sorted.

Despite the mountainous terrain of Pujiang leaving relatively little space for land resources, local protectors like Sheng still left nearly 90 hectares of "fine land" for the excavation and research of Shangshan.

"Shangshan is thus a key for people to improve their cultural confidence," Sheng said.

In November 2020, top-tier scholars gathered again in Pujiang for another symposium on Shangshan studies. With in-depth field research and abundant findings, they concluded that the place was a key origin of the world's rice cultivation.

Yang Jianwu, former director of the Zhejiang Administration of Cultural Relics, said the surge in scholarly attention has cemented a series of landmark conclusions that fundamentally rewrite the story of human civilization in East Asia.

Around 20 years ago, Xi's guidance on heritage protection benefited more projects in Zhejiang, ranging from the world-famous West Lake and the Grand Canal to a number of intangible cultural heritage items, such as folk operas. He also made a key instruction on the restoration of the historic Wenlange library, a crucial trove of ancient books, and encouraged the wide participation of different sectors in the preservation of traditional villages.

"During Xi's work in Zhejiang, he stressed on many occasions that we must attach great importance to cultural heritage protection and embrace the notion that protecting cultural relics is also a kind of political achievement," Yang said.

He also said that over the past 20 years, the rapid development of Zhejiang's cultural relics protection efforts has shown that local governments at all levels have steadily deepened this understanding.