Protection efforts at the Beijing-based Peking Man Ruins, a World Heritage Site started yesterday.

The ruins, located at Zhoukoudian on Beijing's outskirts drew much attention recently after some spots at the site reportedly collapsed, even though Mu Huichong, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Sciences said "the collapse did not occur."

But he did say that if the site is not reinforced, it might be harmed by unexpected disasters such as earthquakes and rainstorms.

The first complete skull of the 500,000-year-old Peking Man was unearthed by Chinese archaeologists in 1929.

To date, fossils belonging to 40 Peking Men, and more than 100,000 stone implements, traces of fire use and large quantities of fossilized vertebrae have been unearthed.

The site was included by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the World Heritage list in 1987.

Now, however, bad weather conditions are posing a threat to the site.

Mu said 21 relic spots at the site are threatened by geological disasters.

Six of them are due to be reinforced.

"Small rocks have dropped in some places such as Gezitang, where Peking Man's skull, collarbone, and lower jawbone were discovered," he said.

Mu also said landslides have occurred on some unstable hills.

He said people are not to blame for the damage which was allegedly caused by wind, rain and sunshine.

Lu Qingyou, a survey engineer, said the consolidation project is expected to last for a little more than three months.

Lu works for an institute in northeast China's Liaoning Province responsible for the project.

Apart from Lu, there are another 30 veteran workers from Liaoning working on the project. They have worked in protection projects at other relics including the Buddhist Kizil grotto in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and a Buddha's niche in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

"It is our first time reinforcing a World Heritage Site," Lu said.

He described the project as "arduous, injurious and rigorous."

At the moment, excavators, mixers and several other machines are ready outside Gezitang.

UNESCO officials hailed the project.

Du Xiaofan, a member of UNESCO's Beijing Office, said reinforcing cultural relics is a common practice.

Some people think cultural relics should be preserved as they were because any human restoration may destroy their original look.

"The Forbidden City in Beijing, the Longmen Grotto in Central China's Henan Province and World Heritage sites in many other countries were once reinforced," said Du.

"It's true that sometimes China has different ideas from other countries on relics protection," he said.

But a document, called principles for the conservation of heritage sites in China, sets out policies that conform with the true state of the sites, he said.

A draft outline on how to better protect the Peking Man Site was also discussed yesterday.

The outline focuses on improving the site's surrounding environment and traffic, ecology and some other aspects.

Meanwhile, restoration was completed in another site: The Deling Tomb, one of the 13 tombs from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Located some 50 kilometers from downtown Beijing, the Ming Tombs are another World Heritage Site.

The Deling Tomb, under which the Ming Dynasty's 15th emperor and his queen were buried, had been facing threats from people and natural disasters.

Around 38 million yuan (US$4.6 million) has been injected into the project.

(China Daily July 23, 2004)