60% of the public think World Heritage listing is costly and unworthy: survey
- Source: Global Times
- [17:53 August 24 2010]
- Comments
A survey conducted by the China Youth Daily on the World Heritage capital investment acceptance by the public with assistance from minyi.net.cn and sina.com.cn showed that 50 percent of the surveyed think that throwing millions on applying for a position on the Word Heritage List is not worthwhile, the China Youth Online reported Tuesday.
The survey showed that more than half of the 1,784 participants said they do not have great intentions of going to the newly nominated landmarks in the country.
The Danxia landscapes, a series of hilly areas in southern China, which became the country's 40th entry on the UN World Heritage List this month, took Hunan Province 400 million yuan ($58.8 million) in preparation and organization procedures.
In addition, the recent demolition of the 40-billion-yuan ($5.89 billion) Xi'an Daming Palace draw much criticism as the reason given by an official was that to better meet world cultural heritage demands the demolition was a necessary step.
On the other hand, participants in the survey also expressed their belief that the sites would be better preserved and tourism in the areas boom upon listing.
According to statistics, the tourism incomes of Pingyao and Lijiang have increased dramatically since the two ancient cities were added on the world heritage list.
A report said Libo County in Guizhou Province run into debts of more than 200 million ($29.4 million) for the sake of the listing.
Wang Yansong, professor with Wuhan University however, believes that applying for the World Heritage is worthwhile because the value of these historical and cultural sites is immeasurable.
74 percent of people said that they hope more money could be spent on the preservation of landmarks, while 68.2 percent believe that being listed as World Heritage is not a must for protecting the landmarks; and only 9.1 percent support the application.
