Beijing to build park near ancient Zhou Dynasty site

A park is to be built near China's largest and most extensively excavated Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century–771 BC) site, the Liulihe site in Beijing's Fangshan district, a senior local official said on Friday.

Lei Huan, director of the district's publicity department, said at a news conference that the project follows the city's launch of a World Heritage application for the site earlier this year. An expert panel reviewed the park's overall design in November, she said.

Lei also highlighted an exhibition held at the Capital Library of China from August to November, which brought together 180 sets of artifacts unearthed at Liulihe. She described it as the most comprehensive public display of archaeological finds from the site since its discovery 80 years ago.

"The year 2025 marks the 3,070th anniversary of Beijing's founding, and the Liulihe site provides verifiable historical evidence for this," Lei said.

She added that archaeological work in 2024 led to the first discovery of a dual city-wall structure at the ancient capital. Major finds within the inner city, including large rammed-earth building foundations, wells, and drainage systems, represent a breakthrough in understanding the earliest urban layout of Beijing.

"These discoveries clearly show what the earliest form of Beijing looked like and irrefutably establish Liulihe in Fangshan as the 'origin of the city'," she said.

In addition, the Beijing Cultural Heritage Bureau announced on Friday that the city will begin developing a World Cultural Heritage Monitoring and Early Warning Platform to advance heritage monitoring across the capital, marking a step towards more digitalized and precise protection efforts.

As of 2025, Beijing is home to eight World Cultural Heritage sites: the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Ming Tombs, the Grand Canal, and the Beijing Central Axis — the highest number of any city worldwide.

Statistics from the bureau indicate that between 2021 and 2024, Beijing invested about 9.4 billion yuan ($1.33 billion) in the protection and management of its World Cultural Heritage sites, with a large average annual increase. In 2024, the funding increased by 29.7 percent compared to 2023. The number of full-time heritage protection staff expanded to 6,344 members, a 41 percent increase from 2023.

Monitoring indicates that the condition of the heritage sites is steadily improving, and the management system is operating effectively.

All eight sites are open to the public and together received 365 million visits between 2018 and 2024, data shows.