News

Leaders meet to preserve culture

By Yang Yijun (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-22 07:24

NANJING - Mayors and representatives of 44 cities from 16 countries gathered on Thursday at a forum held in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, to share their experiences in preserving cultural heritages.

The forum is part of the five-day 2010 World Historical and Cultural Cities Expo, which opened in the city on Wednesday.

In his speech, Wang Hongsheng, vice-mayor of Jiangsu province's Suzhou, named by the State Council as one of the country's historical and cultural cities, said buildings in the city's old town cannot be higher than 24 meters, and at the same time, large-scale demolitions and constructions in the area are banned.

"Buildings in poor condition have been redesigned and renovated in traditional Suzhou style," Wang said.

The move not only protects the cultural relics, but also improves the living environment for the people, he added.

Zhang Aijun, vice-mayor of Yangzhou, another historical city in Jiangsu province, said his city aims to establish 100 museums by the end of 2020 to display the city's culture.

Zhang Jianfei, mayor of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, spoke of his experience in reconstructing Juzizhou, an islet with a number of cultural heritages.

"Since the islet is flooded every year due to its low terrain, we started to reconstruct the islet and renovate the buildings with historical value since 2004," Zhang said.

"Now we have built the islet into a 1 million-square-meter park," he added.

Wolfgang Meyer, mayor of Goettingen, Germany, believes preserving cultural heritages is a compulsory and permanent task.

"Just as we guarantee the social protection of our citizens or the supply of energy, we want to and shall meet their cultural demands," he said.

"We should not only be the trustee of the cultural heritage, instead we need to enhance it for the future generations," he added.

A declaration was also signed at the forum, which not only called for better preservation and development of cultural heritages, but also emphasized the importance of public participation.

"Citizens should be encouraged to take part in the preservation of a city's culture. So they, too, can enjoy the achievements of cultural development," the declaration said.