TOURISM BOOM: As more and more visitors pour into Lijiang, Yunnan Province, the ancient town in southwest China has drawn attention of the world because of how it balances the relationship between economic development and heritage protection (XINHUA)

The city's situation is not a single case in China. A lot of new construction aimed at promoting regional economic development has caused overheated commercialization of some of China's world heritage sites. New buildings or facilities—such as hotels, restaurants and cable cars—close to the sites, have severely damaged the integrity of the heritage.

What is heartening is China has now established a monitoring system featuring a three-level structure—state, provincial and local. The SACH in particular has put increasing efforts in carrying out active and reactive monitoring work.

The monitoring work on the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province, inscribed to be a world heritage site in 2001, is an example.

As the heritage site had been suffering from air pollution, acid rain, coal dust and the pouring of tourists for long time, the local government took some measures to improve the environment near the site.

In 2009, the government of Datong spent 560 million yuan ($82.4 million) on a comprehensive renovation and reconstruction of the site's surrounding areas. But the artificial lake, the ancient-style streets, roads and the square in front of the Grottoes along with other projects were within the preservation range of the site and construction control zone, which is prohibited to have new constructions by the Central Government. These new constructions caused great harm to the authenticity of the heritage.

Noticing this, the SACH has sent several investigative missions to Datong and consulted experts on historical relics about preservation, and finally solved the problem.

"More than half of China's world heritage sites are located in scenic spots. Tourist development is inevitable. In the past, economic interest has been the most direct and most obvious change brought by the success of world heritage applications. But now the success of applications has become a restriction, and the idea of sustainable development is the priority, replacing quick, profit-oriented development," said Zheng Bingxiu, Deputy Director of Wutai Mountain Scenic Area Administration Bureau.

The Wutai Mountain was listed as a world heritage in June 2009. In line with an overall preservation plan, reconstruction was carried out at the outer ring of the core area. Meanwhile the administration bureau also established a monitoring system in the core area of the site in accordance with relevant requirements, proceeding with monitoring of indexes such as tourist capacity and atmospheric pollution.

"Now a world heritage listing has become more of a responsibility than purely glorious," said Zheng.