On September 9th, Cai Qi, member of political Bureau of CPC Central Committee and secretary of Beijing municipal party committee, met Li Qun, director of National Cultural Heritage Administration and vice minister of culture and tourism, and his team who came to research the declaration of the Central Axis of Beijing to be a world heritage. Cai Qi held a conference to express his gratitude for the cultural relics related work done by the National Cultural Heritage Administration, especially the help and support for the declaration. He hoped that Beijing could receive more support in terms of declaration for Central Axis of Beijing to be a world Heritage, the construction of the three cultural belt, the protection of archaeology and large-scale heritage site, the protection and exploitation of revolutionary cultural relics and other aspects.
Li Qun went to key sections of axis in the declaration, including Bell and Drum Tower, Altar of the God of Agriculture, Yongding Gate and other places; inspected the maintenance and the exploitation of cultural relics; found out were there any buildings influencing the viewing corridor of axis and listened to reports about the improvement of cultural relics’ surrounding environment. Li Qun stressed that the government needed to make full use of the joint conference mechanism of cities and ministers and to fully support Beijing to push forward the declaration of the central axis. Li Qun said that Beijing municipal government and party committee had been attaching great importance to the protection and inheritance of historical and cultural heritage to push a series of tasks and to solve difficulties. National Cultural Heritage Administration attached great importance to the declaration of Beijing’s central axis to be a world heritage. In 2012, the government listed “Beijing’s central axis” into “2012 Chinese World Cultural Heritage Tentative List” and established joint conference mechanism of cities and ministers to promote related work.
Li Qun stressed that the government needed to follow a series of instructions of the protection of cultural heritage given by the general secretary Xi Jinping as well as to have a clear notion of the declaration’s effect to carry out the plan for capital’s core district, to push forward the overall protection of Beijing’s ancient city and to the protection and improvement of city’s street culture. The next step for National Cultural Heritage Administration was to instruct Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage to perfect texts for declaration of world cultural heritage; to carry out the presentation of cultural heritage and environment improvement; to improve the management of heritage protection; to start international cooperation for the declaration of world heritage and to be sure that the declaration of “Beijing central axis” could move forward to the goal.
Attendees included Song Xinchao, deputy director of National Cultural Heritage Administration and heads of Beijing municipal government, including Zhang Jiaming, Mo Gaoyi and Yang Binshen.