"Overall, the
buildings on the site present a catalogue of the way Buddhist
architecture developed and influenced palace building in China over
more than a millennium," it said.
"The success is a
new burden that will spur us to better protect the mountain. I feel
the pressure," said Liang Yousheng, director of the Mt. Wutai
Administration Bureau. Liang said he was delighted to hear the news
of the UNESCO decision.
Buddhist temples
on the mountain were built between the 1st century AD and the early
20th century.
Numerous Buddhist
constructions, including 68 temples, 150 towers, 146,000 sculptures
and many frescoes and tablet inscriptions, were preserved during
thousands of years on Mt. Wutai, which witnessed the development of
Buddhism in China, Liang told Xinhua.
The mountain, the
highest in northern China, had been entwined with Buddhism for more
than 1,600 years and appeared in many Buddhist books, Liang said.
"Mount Wutai has
been harmoniously combined with Buddhism culture, reflecting the
ancient Chinese philosophy of the harmony between people and
nature," said Han Jianggen, deputy secretary-general of the Wutai
Mountain Buddhism Association.
Religious
activities are held in most of the temples, banned inonly a few of
them for better protection, said Mater Changqing, abbot of Wuye
Temple, one of the most famed temple on the mountain. His temple
receives more than 3,000 people a day.
Experts had
blamed the mountain for being "too commercialized, too urbanized and
too artificial," which prompted the Mount Wutai administration to
improve its protection work, he said.
The increasing
population around the mountain in Taihuai Town had undermined the
landscape and the religious atmosphere, said Han Ruijie, director of
the world heritage office of Wutai Mountain.
It had 6,300
people in 1986. The number increased to 7,700 in 2002 but later
decreased to 6,400 in 2007 thanks to the government's efforts, Han
said.
Since 2006, the
government pulled down many inharmonious constructions to protect
the "Buddhism atmosphere," Han said.
"The mountain has
became more serene after the 'pulling down', which is good for
religious practice," said Jamyang Molam, director of administration
of the Pusading Lamasery.
Mt. Wutai
receives more than 3 million tourists annually, and the UN
designation is expected to push that number higher.
The mountain
had applied to be both cultural and natural heritage but only
approved to be cultural landscape, said Tang Wei, director of world
heritage bureau, department of cultural heritage protection and
archaeology, State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
The UNESCO said
Wutai Mountain was not qualified to be a world natural landscape,
Tang told Xinhua Via phone, giving no more details about the
rejection.
Another famed
mountain in China, Mount Songshan, also applied to become a world
heritage site, but the result has not been released yet. The Shaolin
Temple, which is the birthplace of Shaolin kungfu, is located on
this mountain in central China's Henan Province.
As of 2008, China
had listed 38 world heritage sites, including27 cultural heritage
sites, seven natural heritage sites and four cultural and natural
heritage sites.
