This is a list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. China has 56, ranking second in the world just below Italy (58). China ratified The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage on 12 December 1985. These sites comprise some of the most essential part of China's valuable and rich tourism resources.

Overview

Since joining the International Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985, China has 56 World Heritage Sites to date; of these 38 are cultural heritage sites, 14 are natural heritage sites, and 4 are cultural and natural (mixed) sites, ranking second in the world. In addition, there are also several Chinese documents inscribed in UNESCO's list Memory of the World, which registers the world's documentary heritage. Furthermore, China has a rich non-material cultural heritage, with several of them inscribed on UNESCO's list of

Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and t ...

Map

Following is a map of the World Heritage Sites in China. Numbered sites around Beijing: 1. Great Wall; 2. Forbidden City; 3. Zhoukoudian; 4. Summer Palace; 5. Temple of Heaven; 6.

Ming tombs The Ming tombs are a collection of mausoleums built by the emperors of the Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led ...

; 7.

Eastern Qing Tombs The Eastern Qing tombs (; ) are an imperial mausoleum complex of the Qing dynasty located in Zunhua, northeast of Beijing. They are the largest, most complete, and best preserved extant mausoleum complex in China. Altogether, five emperors (Shun ...

; 8. Western Qing Tombs Legend: Red pog

Cultural Heritage site; Green pog

Natural Heritage site; Yellow pog

Mixed site

World Heritage Sites

:* = World Cultural Heritage Site :† = World Natural Heritage Site :*† = World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site (Mixed)

Tentative list

There are the sites China has submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list. * Dongzhai Port Nature Reserve (1996) * The Alligator Sinensis Nature Reserve (1996) * Poyang Nature Reserve (1996) * The

Lijiang River The Li River or Li Jiang () is the name for the upper reaches of the Gui River in northwestern Guangxi, China. It is part of the Xijiang River system in the Pearl River Basin. The river flows from Xing'an County to Pingle County, where the kars ...

Scenic Zone at Guilin (1996) * Yalong, Tibet (2001) *

Yangtze Gorges The Three Gorges () are three adjacent gorges along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, in the hinterland of the People's Republic of China. With a subtropical monsoon climate, they are known for their scenery. The "Three Gorges Scenic ...

Scenic Spot (2001) * Jinfushan Scenic Spot (2001) * Heaven Pit and Ground Seam Scenic Spot (2001) *

Hua Shan Mount Hua () is a mountain located near the city of Huayin in Shaanxi Province, about east of Xi'an. It is the "Western Mountain" of the Five Great Mountains of China and has a long history of religious significance. Originally classified as ...

Scenic Area (2001) * Yandang Mountains (2001) * Nanxi River (2001) * Maijishan Scenic Spots (2001) *

Wudalianchi Wudalianchi (), formerly Dedu County (), is a county-level city in Heilongjiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Heihe. It contains a volcanic field. The city's name means "five joint ponds" and refers ...

Scenic Spots (2001) * Haitan Scenic Spots (2001) * Dali Cangshan Mountain and

Erhai Lake Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times. Etymology The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ear (耳). During the Han to Tang ...

Scenic Spot (2001) * Sites for Liquor Making in China (2008) * Ancient Residences in

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

and Shaanxi Provinces (2008) *

City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

(2008) * Slender West Lake and Historic Urban Area in Yangzhou (2008) * Ancient Water Towns South of the Yangtze River ( Zhouzhuang,

Luzhi Luzhi Town () is a famous historic old town located in the Wuzhong District, 18 km east of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. Etymology It was also known as Puli (),() has two pronunciations, 'fu' and 'pu'. () is pronounced as Pu-li, not Fu ...

, Wuzhen, and Xitang) (2008) * Fenghuang Ancient City (2008) * Sites of the Southern Yue State (2008) *

Baiheliang Baiheliang () is a rock outcrop in Fuling District, Chongqing, People's Republic of China, that parallels the flow of the Yangtze River. In the past, Baiheliang served as an ancient device for measuring water levels of the Yangtze in China, ...

Ancient Hydrological Inscription (2008) *

Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

Nationality Villages in Southeast Guizhou Province: The villages of Miao Nationality at the Foot of Leigong Mountain in Miao Ling Mountains (2008) * Karez Wells (2008) * Expansion Project of Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties: King Lujian’s Tombs (2008) * The Four Sacred Mountains as an extension of Mt. Taishan (2008) * Taklimakan Desert– Populus euphratica Forests (2010) * China Altay (2010) * Karakorum– Pamir (2010) * The Central Axis of Beijing (including Beihai) (2013) * Wooden Structures of Liao Dynasty – Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County, Main Hall of Fengguo Monastery of Yixian County (2013) * Sites of the Hongshan Culture: Niuheliang,

Hongshanhou The Hongshan culture () was a Neolithic culture in the West Liao river basin in northeast China. Hongshan sites have been found in an area stretching from Inner Mongolia to Liaoning, and dated from about 4700 to 2900 BC. The culture is named aft ...

, and Weijiawopu (2013) * Ancient Porcelain Kiln Site in China (2013) *

Sanfang Qixiang Sanfang Qixiang (; Foochow Romanized: '), literally Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, is a historic and cultural area in the city of Fuzhou. Its name is derived from the three lanes of Yijin (), Wenru (), and Guanglu () and the seven alleys of Yangqia ...

(2013) * Ancient Tea Plantations of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er (2013) * Western Xia Imperial Tombs (2013) * Dong Villages (2013) *

Lingqu The Lingqu () is a canal in Xing'an County, near Guilin, in the northwestern corner of Guangxi, China. It connects the Xiang River (which flows north into the Yangtze) with the Li River (which flows south into the Gui River and Xijiang), and ...

Canal (2013) * Diaolou Buildings and Villages for

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

and Qiang Ethnic Groups (2013) * Archaeological Sites of the Ancient Shu State: Jinsha site and Joint Tombs of Boat-shaped Coffins in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, Sichuan; Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, 29th – 5th century BC (2013) * Xinjiang

Yardang A yardang is a streamlined protuberance carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semiconsolidated material by the dual action of wind abrasion by dust and sand and deflation (the removal of loose material by wind turbulence.) Yardangs become e ...

(2015) *

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major ...

Yardangs (2015) * Tianzhushan (2015) * Jinggangshan–North Wuyishan (extension of Mount Wuyi) (2015) * Shudao (2015) * Tulin–

Guge Guge (; ) was an ancient dynastic kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. At various points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast ...

Scenic and Historic Interest Areas (2015) * (2016) * The Chinese Section of the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

s (2016) * Guancen Mountain – Luya Mountain (2017) *

Hulun Buir Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir ( mn, , ''Kölün buyir'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Хөлөнбуйр, ''Khölönbuir''; zh, s=呼伦贝尔, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr'') is a region that is governed as a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. ...

Landscape and Birthplace of Ancient Minority (2017) * Qinghai Lake (2017) * Scenic and historic area of Sacred Mountains and Lakes ( Gang Rinpoche, Naimona'nyi, Lake Manasarovar and Lhanag-tso) (2017) *

Taihang The Taihang Mountains () are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces. The range extends over from north to south and has an average elevation of . The principal peak is M ...

Mountain (2017) * Vertical Vegetation Landscape and Volcanic Landscape in Changbai Mountain (2017) * Badain Jaran Desert—Towers of Sand and Lakes (2019) * Guizhou Triassic Fossil Sites (2019) * Huangguoshu Scenic Area (2019)

Performance of China in UNESCO

References

External links

Official centre websiteOfficial sites websiteOfficial UNESCO World Heritage Centre website
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World Heritage Sites Cultural heritage of China Historic sites in China Protected areas of China World Heritage Sites