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China has 57 World Heritage Sites, one of the countries with the largest number of natural heritage sites in the world, and as one of the world's four ancient civilizations, China has performed very well.
But what many people don't know is that in distant Europe, Italy, with an area of only about 300,000 square kilometers, has one more World Heritage Site than China, with 58 World Heritage Sites, making it the country with the largest number of World Heritage Sites.
Why is it that China is 30 times the size of Italy in terms of area and has a long history, but the total number is not as large as that of Italy?
(Italian Cultural Heritage)
First, the time gap gives Italy a head start
In order to save the precious monuments of the Nile Valley, in 1960 the United Nations launched a campaign to relocate the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae in Egypt.
Since then, the United Nations has begun to draft an agreement on the protection of the cultural heritage of humanity, and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was established in 1972.
To be honest, it's not that easy to get selected, so the countries that join do have cultural self-confidence. Italy joined the Convention in 1978, and in 1979 Italy's Vinca-Monica Valley petroglyphs were designated as a World Heritage Site, which is a group of carvings that have been symbolically recorded in agriculture, navigation, and warfare for 8,000 years.
(Van Kar Monica Valley petroglyphs)
In 1980, Italy again had two sites selected as World Heritage sites, one in 1982 and two in 1987. At this time, there were already six World Heritage sites in Italy. And what about China?
For some reason, China did not formally accede to the Convention until 1985 and became a signatory to it.
In 1986, the mainland officially declared the World Heritage Project, and in 1987, the Badaling Great Wall Site, Shanhaiguan Heritage Area, and Jiayuguan Heritage Area were officially selected as World Cultural Heritage. The Great Wall is the greatest process in the history of human civilization, from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the later Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, which is a real world heritage.
(Badaling Great Wall)
As we can see, Italy is seven years longer than China has acceded to the Convention, but in 1987 a total of five sites on the mainland were designated as World Heritage Sites.
The Great Wall, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, the Forbidden City in Beijing and Shenyang, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, and the Peking Man Ruins in Zhoukoudian have played a huge role in promoting Chinese and even world culture.
At this time, Italy only had one more heritage than us, but at that time, the number of countries was not outstanding, and everyone was competing for the first place in the number. But soon at the 21st World Cultural Heritage Conference in 1997, Italy was about to become the number one in the world!
(Italy)
2. Italy's black-box operation?
Although China entered the Convention very late, in fact, China's cultural relics are more representative, and Spain and India at that time were the latecomers, and they also successfully applied for many world cultural heritage. However, in 1997, at the 21st World Cultural Heritage Conference, Italy, as the host, successfully applied for 10 World Cultural Heritage sites.
In 1997, Italy was selected as one of the 10 World Heritage Sites, and it was immediately placed on the throne of the first place. These include the 18th-century Garden Royal Palace in Caserta, the Van Vetri Aqueduct and the Saint-Leussi complex, the archaeological area of Crigento, and more.
(10 sites in Italy)
Italy applied for 10 world cultural heritage sites on its own territory, and only 3 of China's applications were successfully selected in the same year, namely our Pingyao Ancient Town, Lijiang Ancient Town, and Suzhou Classical Garden. Obviously, Italy's actions have benefited itself, and it is no wonder that Italy will be the number one in the world after that.
The attitude of the Italian side towards this has obviously not relented, because Italy is the center of ancient Rome, which has experienced the rule of many dynasties, and has forged many splendid cultures in Italy and left many precious legacies. Therefore, Italy still wanted to apply for multiple cultural heritage sites in one go, and in 1998, two more world cultural heritage sites were approved.
(Aquila Monuments and Bagular)
Italy had the advantage of being able to apply so much in one go. But it was precisely in order to prevent a similar situation in Italy from happening again that the United Nations soon developed an agreement – the Keynes Resolution, which was taken at the 24th Congress on Cultural Heritage in 2000.
The core expression of the resolution is that it is necessary to limit the nominations of countries with a large number of world cultural heritages, and some countries can only make one nomination in the same year.
Special support could be given to States Parties that did not have cultural heritage. In 2004, the Keynes Resolution was amended to establish that a country could only nominate a maximum of two World Heritage sites.
(Egyptian Pyramids)
In this regard, Chinese experts believe that in fact, this method cannot effectively solve the representativeness and balance brought by the world heritage, and many important heritage sites in developing countries are not registered, which is not conducive to the protection of world heritage.
But at least it was able to control Italy's 10 applications in one go, and since then, the number of entries has decreased significantly. However, the 10 that were successfully selected before have opened up the gap with other countries. In fact, just imagine, if China can also learn from Italy and apply for 10 in one go, then we will definitely be the first in the world.
(Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes)
After 2004, the data were more evenly distributed across countries, almost always one or two. Therefore, China is currently ranked second in the world, and Italy is still firmly on the first throne.
3. Protection of World Cultural Heritage in China and Italy
Both mainland China and Italy are ancient civilizations and world cultural heritage countries. On October 26, 2023, the China-Italy World Cultural Heritage Site Friendship Forum was held in Hangzhou. During the visit, the Italian ambassador to China said that the two countries have an immeasurable cultural heritage, which is a treasure trove of knowledge shared by the two countries as human knowledge, and should be protected together.
(Friendship Forum)
The relationship between the mainland and Italy has a long history, and Marco Polo came to China in the 13th century, bringing everything that the eastern power had to Europe. Matteo Ricci was also an Italian, and when he came to the Ming Dynasty, he wrote down the phrase "there is heaven and there is Suzhou and Hangzhou", which let Westerners understand the prosperity of China at that time.
In modern times, China and Italy have been engaged in cultural heritage exchanges and cooperation for more than 40 years. In 1983, Venice hosted the "Ancient Chinese Civilization Exhibition", which was the first time that Chinese cultural relics were exhibited in Italy, and it was also the beginning of cultural exchanges between China and Italy.
(Matteo Ricci)
Returning to the essence of the world cultural heritage declaration, in fact, more and less are just a number.
Whether Italy is the largest cultural heritage in the world or China is the first, it will not affect the cultural exchanges and development of the two countries. The Italian ambassador to China said that they would also use the West Lake World Heritage as an example to learn from each other. What is really important is that we have the confidence and confidence to protect our domestic cultural heritage.
Resources
List of World Heritage Sites in China. UNESCO
List of Italian World Heritage Sites. UNESCO
What are the common languages of the Sino-Italian Cultural Heritage Dialogue?.chinanews.2023-10-26