The site of capital cities and tombs of the ancient Koguryo Kingdom of China has been inscribed into the World Heritage List, sources close to the ongoing 28th session of the World Heritage Committee said on Thursday.

Although the committee has not issued any official statement, reliable sources confirmed that the new heritage consisted of Wunu Mountain City, Guonei City, Wandu Mountain City, Haotaiwang Stele and 38 tombs for either Koguryo Kings or noble people.

So far, China has 30 heritage sites with natural, cultural and mixed properties included, written into the World Heritage List.

The Koguryo was a regime established by ethnic groups in northeastern China in 37 B.C. and that lasted through 668 A.D. As one of the several influential regimes established by ethnic groups in northeastern China at that time, the Koguryo regime played a very important role in the development history of the northeastern Asian region.

The Wunu Mountain City located in Huanren County of northeast China's Liaoning Province was the first mountain capital of the Koguryo Kingdom for defense and it moved its capital to Guonei City in 3 A.D.. In 427 A.D., the kingdom again moved its capital to Pyongyang.

Huanren and Ji'an, which were the power center of the Kuguryo Kingdom for an accumulated 465 years, are concentrated with the cultural heritage of the kingdom.

Since the 1990s, Chinese archaeologists have unearthed the site of capital cities and tombs of noble people, and renovated imperial mausoleums damaged by natural power.

UNESCO officials said the cultural heritage of the Koguryo Kingdom in China can provide a kind of unique, at least special, testimony for a vanished civilization or cultural tradition.

The Chinese government kicked off a plan to protect the capital cities, imperial tombs and the tombs of noble people of the Koguryo Kingdom in 2002. The protection plan covers 43 protection areas including two capital cities of Guonei and Wandushan, 12 imperial mausoleums and Haotaiwang Stele, and 27 tombs of noble people.

Distribution of these historical and cultural heritage almost covers one-third of Ji'an city's land inhabited by local people or used for production purposes. Thus, Ji'an, a county-level city with rare arable land, faces a tough task to seek coordinated development between protection of cultural heritage and development of economy.

Local officials said to protect the integrity of the cultural heritage of the Koguryo Kingdom has become an important foundation for the economic and social development of Ji'an City.

They said if all the cultural sites of the Koguryo Kingdom were fenced up for protection, the traditional lifestyle and production patterns would be changed fundamentally in this ancient city.

Actually, great changes have already taken place in the protection areas totaling 140 sq km and among close to 230,000 local people.

As of August of last year, the city government of Ji'an had taken over 74.06 hectares of land for protecting the Koguryo heritage sites, and 1,200 households, factories and schools were moved out of the protection zone. The city government has built roads totaling 36 kilometers in length in the protection areas.

Sun Haiqin, a villager of the Maxian Village, and his family has moved to a residential area from his former home in the "Qianqiu Tombs" protection area. Sun said "I never thought these 'stones' Ji'an people had lived with for generations are treasures."

Including Sun's family, all of the 46 households of the Maxian village have moved out of the "Qianqiu Tomb" protection area, which is now turned into pastoral land. Sun now is a professional pasture guard.

Chen Tongbin, chief designer of the Koguryo heritage protection zone, said that all the designs for the protection zone must be made strictly in accordance with archaeological discoveries and historical documents.

As for the ruins of the Guonei City, capital of the Koguryo Kingdom, which was originally located in the urban area, efforts have been made to clear up environment around the capital city and fences are built to protect the original site of Guonei City.

Surrounded by cold-resistant grass and with the ancient Tonggou River flowing by, the site of Guonei City has become a symbolic architecture in Ji'an City.

Ji'an city has also used modern technologies to protect the historical sites. A video digital system is used to display murals inside tombs, cold light lamps are installed inside tombs and far-infrared ray is used to monitor temperature changes inside tombs.

After visiting Ji'an, a Japanese expert of world heritage said the Chinese government has done an admirable job in the protection of the heritage of the Koguryo Kingdom.

"The significance of the great efforts we have made to design and reform Ji'an city is that we want local government and people, old or young, to recognize that the cultural heritage of the Koguryo Kingdom is the greateat resource of their hometown, and they should well treat it," said Chen, the designer of the Koguryo Kingdom heritage protection zone in Ji'an.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2004)