Spotlight shines on Beijing's Central Axis

Legislative protection

Over the years, the Beijing municipal government has implemented enhanced protection measures to preserve cultural relics along the Central Axis, with the aim of better conveying their historical and cultural value.

Since 2011, the municipal government has strengthened efforts to protect the axis.

On May 25 last year, the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress passed a regulation on safeguarding cultural heritage along the route.

Ling Ming, deputy director of the Beijing municipal cultural heritage bureau, said the regulation defines protected heritage locations on the axis, and plans to conserve them. It proposes promoting the inheritance and use of cultural heritage along the axis by giving priority to protection efforts.

Using the regulation to organize and guide activities related to the protection, inheritance and use of cultural heritage on the axis can address the problems of safeguarding this heritage, Ling added.

Qin Hongling, a legislator and professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, said work to protect cultural heritage on the Central Axis still faces many challenges. For example, the inheritance and use of such heritage need to be taken full advantage of, but there is still no solid coordination mechanism for this protection.

The protection rules provide strong legal guarantees for safeguarding and inheriting historical and cultural heritage along the axis, Qin added. Even in the ancient city of Beijing, which boasted significant historical structures, urban management facilities and public buildings, crowds of tourists — particularly during holidays — while enjoying the beauty of this ancient architecture, seldom paid attention to the need to protect it.

A website managed by the Beijing municipal bureau of culture and tourism reports that in the first six months of last year, nine tourists were added to a blacklist of inappropriate behavior, including one who climbed over fences to damage flowers and trees at Jingshan Park.

Regulations state that such breaches are unforgivable, and that any damage to immovable cultural relics, and ancient buildings and trees in the protected area of the Beijing Central Axis should be punished.

Behavior causing loss of public or private property in violation of the regulations should be punished with a fine, and the offender held responsible, the regulations state.

Qin said protection of the Central Axis is covered by local legislation approved by the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, while the Great Wall, the Peking Man heritage site at Zhoukoudian, and the 13 Ming imperial tombs in the capital are protected by municipal government regulations. Local legislation is generally believed to be more effective than local government rules in China.

In addition, the need to protect intangible cultural heritage on the Central Axis, as stated in the regulation passed in May last year, means that traditional folk customs not only embody the collective memory of the axis among Beijing citizens, but also reflect the folk culture of the capital's natives and traditional Chinese architectural techniques, Qin added.

The regulation also encourages residents living within the protected area of the axis to take part in cultural activities to preserve their memories of Beijing's historical culture and promote the integration of such culture with modern life.

Qin said the regulation is aimed at improving public participation in the use and inheritance of cultural resources. The term "public participation", which features prominently in a chapter title of the central axis protection regulation, has rarely been seen in previous legislation related to conserving heritage, she added.