Xi'an, a city with a history of more than 1,000 years and host to the ongoing ICOMOS 15th General Assembly, is working to ensure its culture remains preserved for another millennium.

"The local government will try its best to protect the city's special appearance and features, making Xi'an a 'museum city,' preserving, continuing and developing Chinese traditional culture," said Sun Qingyun, mayor of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Two projects are being planned for next year to protect and better preserve cultural relics in and around the ancient city, Sun said.

Xi'an, in ancient times known as Chang'an (peace forever), is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Beginning in the 11th century BC the city served as capital for 13 dynasties over some 1,100 years.

The end of the old Silk Road and the first city in the world to have a population of one million, for centuries Xi'an has been a symbol of oriental civilization.

"Its prominent place in history has bequeathed Xi'an a great number of monuments, buildings, sites and ruins, many of which are the remains of imperial palaces. The tomb of Qin Shihuang, the site of the terracotta army, is inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List," said Zheng Yulin, director of the Xi'an Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Michael Petzet, chairman of International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has said he believes tombs from the Tang Dynasty, located to the north of Xi'an, should also be on the list of World Heritage.

The mausoleums, known as "the 18 tombs on the Guanzhong Plain," are the burial site of the Tang Dynasty emperors and empresses.

Petzet said Xi'an should draw up an application and submit it to ICOMOS' China Council.

The mayor of Xi'an said his government will further improve the legal system to better protect ancient remains following on from the October 1st Protection Regulations for Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum, the first local law brought in for a single cultural heritage site.

Rapid economic development and urbanization is a great challenge to the protection of ancient sites, said Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

"We should have a basic policy for urbanization protecting heritage and at the same time finding new districts for economic development," Shan said.

(China Daily October 19, 2005)