(Question from East to West) Wang Guoping: Why is TA, the only lake world heritage in China?

  China News Service, Hangzhou, November 28. Title: Why is the only lake world heritage in China a TA?

  ——Interview with Wang Guoping, Chairman of Hangzhou Urban Science Research Council

  Author Chai Yanfei Wang Yifei Zhang Yuhuan

  In 2011, the "Hangzhou West Lake Cultural Landscape" was included in the "World Heritage List", which is China's first World Heritage Site successfully declared as a cultural landscape.

In the past 20 years, the West Lake, where many romantic legends have spread, has been regarded by many as a model for the protection and utilization of China's world cultural heritage, and has become an important window for showing the "Chinese-style romance" of world heritage protection to the outside world.

  Wang Guoping, who had governed Hangzhou for ten years and was the leader of the West Lake Heritage Application Group in Hangzhou, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions" to introduce the story of West Lake's application for cultural heritage and tell how West Lake promoted the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations between the East and the West.

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The "World Heritage" stele of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Gang

The summary of the interview record is as follows:

China News Agency reporter: Among the 56 World Heritage Sites included in the "World Heritage List" in China, the cultural landscape of West Lake in Hangzhou is the only lake-like heritage.

It is also one of the few lake cultural heritages in the "List".

Why is West Lake?

Wang Guoping:

As one of the few lakes in the world, the cultural landscape of West Lake has a distinct personality.

It fills in the lake heritage gap in the world heritage with prominent "cultural lake" as the main value feature, is an important supplement to the type of world heritage, and has a positive impact on enhancing the status of Chinese culture in the world.

  The West Lake is a natural lake, but also a humanistic lake. It has maintained the authenticity, uniqueness and uniqueness of history for more than a thousand years.

In layman's terms, West Lake has the most human landscapes compared with lakes in the world known for its natural landscapes; West Lake has the most beautiful natural landscapes compared with lakes in the world known for its human landscapes.

Its basic elements and symbols always have distinct national characteristics and characteristics of the times, and embody the core values ​​of traditional Chinese culture.

  From an essential point of view, West Lake relies on the material world such as mountains and rivers, with traditional Chinese culture as the core and Hangzhou regional culture as its characteristics. It is an evolving living cultural form.

  Since the Tang Dynasty, the West Lake has become the core image of the Chinese nation's landscape aesthetics, carrying the life and artistic taste of traditional Chinese scholars.

According to incomplete statistics, only before the Republic of China, there are more than 20 million words of literary works about West Lake that can be tested in historical data.

West Lake also has a glorious celebrity culture. It is the hometown of celebrities such as Shen Kuo and Bi Sheng. It retains the old residences of Hu Xueyan and Pan Tianshou. There are also many precious remains of ancient Chinese emperors such as Yue Fei and Yu Qian. Architectural modeling, lines, colors and landscapes contrast and echo together with the connotation beauty endowed by literati, making it a museum that showcases oriental traditional culture.

Hangzhou's tea culture and food culture are also closely related to West Lake.

  From the perspective of external influence, West Lake has had an important influence on the literature and art of other countries.

In the 9th century, the beauty of West Lake spread to Japan through Bai Juyi's works, which had an impact on his literary creation and painting art.

In the middle of the 14th century, the West Lake landscape also had a continuous influence on Japanese gardening art and became an important subject of Japanese landscape painting.

Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam is still called "West Lake", and many pavilions are very similar to Hangzhou West Lake.

In March 2021, the pink and willow greens of Hangzhou West Lake are full of spring.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Gang

China News Agency reporter: The West also has many cultural heritages that are famous for their cultural charm, such as the Italian city of Verona where the love story of Romeo and Juliet was born.

What are the commonalities and characteristics of West Lake in the comparison between China and the West?

Wang Guoping:

Hangzhou once gave birth to "Blessings of the Lovers" eternal swan song, deduced the wonderful legend of "Xu Xian and the White Snake", leaving traces of Su Xiaoxiao's love and soul with Yanliu...Although these stories are only legends, they have left precious things for people. Spiritual resources reflect people's recognition of the value of Hangzhou's landscape.

  From the point of view of the commonality of protection and inheritance, West Lake and some western heritages have the unique charm of perfect combination of natural landscape and cultural landscape. Both pay attention to the relationship between protection and utilization, pay attention to the protection of cultural heritage under the background of rapid urbanization, and protect themselves. With a long history, beautiful legends, etc., this is the most attractive place.

At the same time, we also insist on protection first and ecology first; insist on only where, not everything; insist on overall planning and step-by-step implementation.

  Compared with many cultural heritages, we have put more effort into comprehensive protection of the West Lake on a people-oriented basis.

For example, in order to protect the extremely rich natural and cultural landscapes of West Lake, Hangzhou will protect and repair 180 natural and cultural landscapes in accordance with the principles of authenticity, completeness, and identifiability advocated by the "Venice Charter"; in order to collect "life information" of West Lake, Hangzhou established the West Lake Research Institute and West Lake Research Association, collected West Lake literature from around the world, and formed a 31 million-word "West Lake Complete Book", which laid a solid foundation for expounding the human value of the West Lake cultural landscape.

In June 2018, by the West Lake in Hangzhou, the lotus under Leifeng Pagoda opened for the first time.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Gang

Reporter from China News Service: It has been 12 years since Hangzhou started its West Lake World Heritage application in 1999 to its successful application in 2011.

In your opinion, what reference value does West Lake have for the promotion of global cultural heritage protection and research work?

Wang Guoping:

West Lake is an important member of global cultural heritage protection, inheritance and utilization practices.

In this context, Hangzhou has been implementing the West Lake Comprehensive Protection Project since 2001, and some experience has also been formed from the current point of view.

  The first is to adhere to the "six no" promises.

After the successful application of the West Lake, Hangzhou made the "six no" promises, namely, the goal will not change, the entrance fee will not increase, the museum will not charge, the land will not be transferred, the cultural relics will not be destroyed, and the public resources will not be embezzled.

  The second is to insist on "returning the lake to the people, returning the mountains to the people, and returning the scenery to the people".

West Lake is a public resource.

In 2002, Hangzhou adhered to the concept of "returning the lake to the people" to "open the West Lake for free".

At present, there are more than 130 free park attractions around West Lake, and it is the only 5A-level scenic spot in China that does not charge tickets so far.

The West Lake in the era of World Heritage continues to provide free "value-added services", truly becoming the West Lake for the common people, the West Lake for the Chinese people, and the West Lake for tourists from all over the world.

  Since the beginning of the new century, Hangzhou has established the West Lake Studies Research Association, built the West Lake Museum, and compiled "The Complete Book of West Lake". It has integrated all aspects of society and played an important role in the protection, summary and promotion of West Lake culture.

In December 2020, the West Lake scenic area in Hangzhou is full of forests.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Gang

China News Agency reporter: In the era when General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed "promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind", Chinese and foreign cultures and Eastern and Western civilizations need to exchange and learn from each other.

How do you think West Lake will contribute in this regard?

Wang Guoping:

In the era of a community with a

shared future

for mankind, West Lake looks forward to and is expected to become a model of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign cultures and Eastern and Western civilizations.

  In the protection of cultural civilization, the West Lake protection model can continue to provide a practical reference for world heritage protection.

As a symbiotic heritage site that is fully open and has a large number of indigenous people, the difficulty of West Lake protection is obvious.

In the past ten years, West Lake has handed over to the world a new model of world heritage conservation management featuring mutual benefit of "protection and development", progress of "management and service", and win-win of "government and people", and invited internationally renowned expert teams in the process. Join the team to guard the West Lake.

Many protection modes of West Lake have attracted more than 200 delegations, including UNESCO and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to investigate and exchange.

West Lake has also represented China in 16 international high-level conferences.

  In terms of the expansion of communication channels, the utilization model of West Lake can also promote exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations.

For example, the West Lake Expo, which was born in 1929, is now held once a year. While providing new opportunities, new advantages and new impetus for Hangzhou to promote the internationalization of the city, it has become an important platform for strengthening Sino-foreign exchanges.

From the past to the future, West Lake has always been willing to work with institutions around the world to conduct research on cultural and natural heritage protection, strengthen international cooperation, and build a platform for regional exchanges and cooperation.

Aerial photography of Yanggongdi after snow in West Lake, Hangzhou, January 2018.

(Drone photo) Photo by China News Agency reporter Xu Yue

Reporter from China News Service: When you successfully applied for the heritage of West Lake, you once stated that one of the purposes of the application was to "let West Lake live another 2,000 years."

In order for West Lake to always "live" and "live well", in what areas should we continue to work hard?

Wang Guoping:

First, we must do a better job of protecting the West Lake.

In the future management of West Lake, we must continue to "change" while insisting on "active protection", that is, practicing the development concept of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", realizing real protection through appropriate use, and continuing the historical landscape of the city. , So that West Lake finds an optimal balance point and the greatest common divisor between protection and utilization.

  Second, it is necessary to further improve the scientific management articles.

We must continue to create a "domestic-leading, world-class" management system, and "look back" on the projects that have been rectified. There must be no damage to a road slab and no loess in the open air.

In the future management of West Lake, the focus of work should be on "diverting tourists" rather than "restricting tourists."

The height of the building must also be strictly controlled.

In April 2018, 20 teachers and students from a university in the United States learned Taijiquan by the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and felt Chinese Kungfu.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Gang

  Third, we must further develop articles that continue the context.

Not only should we pay attention to the restoration of natural ecology, but also the restoration of human ecology.

Under the premise of insisting on social benefit first, fully explore the commercial value of cultural products.

Encourage more individuals, enterprises, and social organizations to set up relevant cultural operation enterprises permitted by national policies to enhance the creative vitality of cultural resources.

(over)

About the interviewee:

Wang Guoping, chairman of the Hangzhou Urban Science Research Council.

Photo courtesy of me

  Wang Guoping, former member of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee; currently the chairman of the Hangzhou Urban Science Research Council, the director and chief expert of the Zhejiang Provincial Urban Governance Research Center, the first batch of new key professional think tanks in Zhejiang Province, and the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal in Zhejiang Province Director of Expert Advisory Committee for Utilization and Construction of National Cultural Park, etc.