TWO Ming Dynasty imperial tombs have been included in the World Heritage List (WHL) during a Unesco committee meeting on Thursday.
The group of mausoleums near Beijing where 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were buried and therefore called “Ming's Thirteen Tombs” in Chinese, were added to the WHL during the 27th session of Unesco's World Heritage Committee.
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SPECTACULAR SCENERY: A photograph showing the natural view of Kawagebo Mountain in Yunnan where the three rivers -- Lancang, Nujiang and Jinsha -- lie side by side.--APpic. |
The Ming imperial tomb in Nanjing, China's eastern province of Jiangsu, where Zhu Yuanzhang – the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty was buried, was also put on to the list. The two groups of tombs are seen as a showcase of the funeral architecture and culture centuries ago in China.
Together with three other Ming and Qing mausoleums, the World Heritage Committee now counts five Chinese imperial tombs on its list, established in the 1970s to better protect the world's cultural and natural heritage.
The committee, under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), on Wednesday also put the area of the confluence of three major rivers in China's south-western province of Yunnan on its list of natural heritage.
The area, where the Nujiang River, Lancang River and Jinsha River join, covers about 41,000sq km in Yunnan Province, to the south of the Qinghai-Tibet Highlands.
The region features the magnificent view of the three giant rivers, as well as the cultural interests of various ethnic groups in the area and rich biodiversity. The Sanjiang Region boasts rare high mountain landforms and outstanding biodiversity.
For example, the number of animal species in it accounts for more than 25% of the country's total. It is also a place where 16 ethnic groups are located. And although the region has less than 0.4% of the total territory of China, it has more than 20% of all kinds of advanced plants. – People's Daily
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