【Ｓａｖｉｎｇ　Ｈｉｓｔｏｒｙ】History M

　　Improved protection given to cultural heritage sites as China’s grand water diversion project continues
　　For 48 years it has lain submerged in a reservoir. Now, completely reconstructed, Jingle Palace, the most magnificent of the nine Taoist palaces in UNESCO’s world heritage site of the Wudangshan Mountains, was opened to tourists in late March 2006.
　　The birthplace of Emperor Zhenwu, the supreme god in Taoism, Jingle Palace was originally built in ancient Junzhou City near today’s Danjiangkou in 1418. The original complex, which was modeled on official compounds of the time, included four major palaces and hundreds of corridors, pavilions, cabinets and other buildings, covering an area of 120,000 square meters. Built roughly at the same time as the Forbidden City in Beijing, it is known as the “minor Forbidden City” for its royal splendor.
　　In 1958, a reservoir was built in Danjiangkou as part of the first phase of a south-to-north water diversion project designed to relieve water shortages in northern China, drowning Jingle Palace, along with the ancient city of Junzhou. In order to preserve the important facets of the structure, two giant bixi―a legendary creature believed to be the son of the dragon―tablets, as well as 800 exquisite stone carvings were rescued and taken to the suburbs of Danjiangkou.
　　The reconstruction of Jingle Palace began in its new location several years ago with the support of the government. The project is aimed at helping maintain the integrity of the world heritage site and carrying forward China’s Taoist cultural traditions.
　　
　　Seeing the light again
　　
　　Before Jingle Palace was demolished, hundreds of workers moved the two bixi tablets, each weighing 102 tons, out of the palace on wooden logs with crowbars. The 800 stone carvings were also transported in this clumsy way.
　　When the Cultural Revolution broke out in 1966, these historical relics were subjected to severe damage and theft. The situation did not take a turn for the better until 1984 when People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, published a letter from several deputies to the country’s top legislature―the National People’s Congress, titled “Where Have the Relics in Jingle Palace Gone―Are They Lost Under Fields, Buried Under Walls and Covered by Compost Heaps?”
　　“Invaluable national treasures were dumped like trash,” the letter said. “Are the fine traditions of the Chinese nation lost?”
　　Later, the official Xinhua News Agency and other media also released reports on the mounting urgency to rescue Jingle Palace relics. Thanks to these appeals, several hundred stone carvings were retrieved from rubbish dumps, compost heaps and pigsties, and were cleaned, numbered and recorded.
　　By the end of August 2000, the Central-South Architectural Design Institute had drawn up a draft plan for rebuilding Jingle Palace. The Danjiangkou Government set about putting up Lingxing Gate, a spectacular stone archway, in March 2001. The next year, Beijing Zhenhai Real Estate Development Co. got involved, pumping 70 million yuan into the project. The construction of the new Jingle Palace, 63,000 square meters in floor area, was largely completed in 2005.
　　“Most of the buildings in the Jingle Palace complex were rebuilt according to the original design, and it also houses many original relics such as the stone archway and the bixi tablets,” said Zhu Jianhua, a researcher with the Hubei Bureau of Cultural Heritage. “The designers went to Wudang Mountains to study Taoist architecture in an effort to make the palace as close as possible to its original style. While deciding the location of the new palace, consideration was given to the Taoist ideal of the unity between man and nature and the overall layout of the ancient buildings in the Wudang Mountains region.”
　　
　　Heritage rescue
　　
　　The areas drowned by Danjiangkou Reservoir were historically densely populated regions with numerous important structures. By the time the reservoir was dug, cultural heritage protection agencies had been able to unearth 23 cultural heritage sites and some 200 ancient tombs in 15 different locations, relocate 11 on-the-ground sites and collect data of another 100 such sites that could not be relocated. However, due to a lack of funds, the protection was far from enough. Consequently, apart from Jingle Palace, 173 ancient architectural complexes such as Ying’en Palace and Zhoufu Nunnery as well as tens of thousands of ancient tombs were submerged and lost forever.
　　The second phase of the south-to-north water diversion project was started at the end of 2005. As the embankments are raised, the designed water level in Danjiangkou Reservoir is projected to rise from 157 meters to 172 meters. According to Yin Jin, Director of Danjiangkou Bureau of Cultural Heritage, all areas below the 172-meter line will be flooded. It is his belief that the second phase will pose even graver challenges to heritage protection than the first phase. However, he also believes it presents a valuable opportunity to compensate for past regrets.
　　Yin said the new round of the cultural heritage protection campaign should also involve the relics already drowned. In dry season, the water level in the reservoir drops below 157 meters, with the historical low at 146 meters, enabling cultural heritage protection agencies to rescue some of the cultural relics. In recent years, cultural heritage protection authorities have made it a priority to save the relics in the reservoir.
　　In addition, the funding problem is being addressed. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Water Resources, the State Council South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Commission Office and the National Administration of Cultural Heritage jointly issued a memo, indicating that funds will be earmarked to cover the expenses of rescuing the relics that were not properly protected during the first phase of the water diversion project.
　　“Today we have a higher awareness of cultural heritage protection and more and better ways of protecting relics,” said Niu Xinqiang, President of Wuhan-based Changjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design and Research, an institution engaged in the south-to-north water diversion project. “So we can take this opportunity to make up for the regrets in the first phase,” he said. compared with the first phase, more historical sites will be put under protection in the current second phase. Some will be moved elsewhere in their entirety, while others will be rebuilt in new locations according to their original designs.
　　Niu added that how to balance cultural heritage protection and infrastructure construction to arrive at win-win results is an important but difficult issue. According to experts from Niu’s company, during the second phase of the water diversion project, relics that need not be relocated will be reinforced. Areas with buried relics will be kept off limits to people displaced by the project. Relics that have to be relocated will be moved intact. Those to be drowned as the water level in Danjiangkou Reservoir rises will also be rescued and properly protected and managed.
　　Niu disclosed that designers of the water diversion route had seen to it that the route would not run through cultural heritage sites under national and provincial protection and other important cultural heritage sites identified by scholars. According to him, if valuable relics are found during construction, designers will try their best to revise the blueprint. So far, a number of precious cultural heritage sites such as the Yin Ruins, Ruins of Zheng and Han States, Fucheng Ruins, Luwang Tomb, Ancient Handan City of Zhao State, Imperial Mausoleum of Zhao State, Beipinggao Ruins, Shanyangcheng Ruins and Jiangwucheng Ruins have been freed from harm.
　　
　　Public participation
　　
　　Earlier this year, the State Council, China’s cabinet, designated the second Saturday of June as Cultural Heritage Day to boost public awareness of cultural heritage protection in China.
　　Shan Jixiang, Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, commented that the designation underscored the importance of cultural heritage protection to the national economy and social development. According to him, in recent years the government has increased its investment in cultural heritage protection, while the public has shown deeper interest in this endeavor. However, damage to cultural heritage sites is still commonplace. Cultural Heritage Day aims to imbue society as a whole with a sense of cultural heritage protection, encourage the public to take an active part in the program and help shape a new cultural heritage protection mechanism that emphasizes protection and calls for the participation of all walks of life, said the official.
　　Shan added that the government would play a leading role in organizing the Cultural Heritage Day events, and the public is also welcome to participate. He indicated that governments at all levels would carry out programs such as honoring cultural heritage protection efforts, publicizing major damage to cultural heritage sites, classifying such sites and naming “historically and culturally renowned cities.” He also suggested symposiums, seminars, lectures and knowledge contests be held to educate the public, especially young people, about cultural heritage protection. Meanwhile, he said efforts should be made to encourage the public to “develop intimacy” with cultural heritage and take part in its protection.
　　However, Wang Xueli, a well-known archeologist in Shaanxi Province, called on the government to redouble its efforts to crack down on the theft, illegal trafficking and damage of historical relics and at the same time reward cultural heritage protection efforts more generously.

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