Study On "Principles For The Conservation Of Heritage Sites In China"

In 1982, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection ofCultural Relics and other related regulations were released to nail down themanagements of heritage sites and conservation interventions. However, therehas been a need for the interpretation of these laws and regulations as they areapplied in practice, as well as corresponding guidelines for heritageconservation.In October 2000,China/ICOMOS adopted the Principles for theConservation of Heritage Sites in China (shortened as the Principles below)in Chengde. This document was enacted according to previous internationalcharters such as the Venice Charter and was based on the understanding ofChinese conservation professionals on these principles. Moreover, thePrinciples summarized national wealth of experience from 1950s to 1990s,established the guidelines for future work on conservation and management ofcultural heritage sites in China, and were a milestone in the development ofthis field.The document consists of three parts: the main text including 38 items;the Commentary on the Principles that discusses the conservation conceptsand processes;the file that will be named as Examples of conservation ofcultural heritage sites in China to illustrate successful instances in this field,and to further explain how to follow the Principles in practice.After the release of the Principles, its applications in a lot ofconservation projects demonstrated its value. Regretfully, the Principleshasn't been generalized and is not well known by professionals in the field ofconservation for some reasons.It has been eight years since the proposal of writing the Principles.Research work in this thesis is based upon wide collection of materialsincluding related documents and academic publications, as well as interviewswith experts in relevant fields. In this article, the backgrounds of drafting thePrinciples, the difficult process of compiling the Principles are introduced,the important items are analyzed, the relationships of this document withVenice Charter, the Burra Charter, the Law on the Protection of CulturalRelics are explained, and expressed the feelings of making the Principlespopular in the last five years. We hope it will be helpful for understandingcurrent situation of the heritage sites conservation in China, and recognitionof the values of the Principles.