The Great Wall

• Underround transport infrastructure (Proposed high-speed railway between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, with station at Guntiangou)
• Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation
• Interpretative and visitation facilities
• Materials and techniques used in restoration works undertaken in Suizhong County, Liaoning Province (issue resolved)
• Partial collapse of some platforms (issue resolved)

On 26 November 2018, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/438/documents/, which provides the following information:

• The legal system for protecting of the property has been improved through the revised Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics, the Regulation on the Protection of the Great Wall, and other documents. Revision of legal protection and management continues at the provincial level;
• The Master Plan of the Great Wall 2018-2035 was finalized in 2018, and has been approved by the State Council and circulated for implementation. Technical Regulations for Implementation of Repair Projects of the Great Wall of China have also been prepared;
• Requirements have been strengthened for Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs), archaeological surveys, landscape assessments and evaluation of the property’s spatial relationship with protected areas;
• An HIA for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Inter-City Railway concluded that the underground railway and station buildings would have no major impact on the Badaling section of the property and its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
• In response to the 2018 floods in China, safety risks have been evaluated in order to eliminate potential threats and avoid damage to the property. Involvement of local-level heritage conservation authorities in this process will increase their capacity;
• There has been further development of approaches to conservation by Chinese cultural heritage conservators, including articulation of a series of five guiding principles for conservation practices at the property;
• Research-oriented conservation and restoration projects, involving plans to explore of the use of artificial intelligence, drones and 3D modelling, were launched at the Ming-Dynasty Jiankou Pass and Xifengkou Pass sections of the Great Wall;
• A number of training and capacity-building activities occurred in 2016 and 2017, targeting conservators, site managers and officials;
• Public/private partnerships and fundraising initiatives are being encouraged for conservation activities, awareness raising and education outreach. The ‘Alliance for the Conservation of the Great Wall’, a coordination body placed under the guidance of the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA), has been established and public fundraising has provided assistance to local communities in Hebei Province;
• A cooperation agreement has been signed with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to share experience and knowledge between the Great Wall of China and Hadrian’s Wall, with a first symposium organized in Newcastle, United Kingdom, in 2018, and a second symposium to be held in China in 2019.

Improvements to the legal system and framework for the conservation and management of the Great Wall at the national and local levels are welcome and should continue. In particular, it is recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party to implement the Master Plan of the Great Wall 2018-2035 following approval by the State Council of China.

New regulations concerning impact assessments for projects that may affect the property, which are now to be submitted to NCHA for approval prior to their implementation, are also welcome. However, the 2015 assessment of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Inter-City Railway does not follow the ICOMOS Guidelines on HIAs, as requested by the Committee. The State Party should ensure that future HIAs follow this model. The implementation of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Inter-City rail line project occurred before feedback was obtained from the Committee and Advisory Bodies, and it is recommended that the Committee remind the State Party of the prescriptions of Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines and of the need to receive and respond to feedback for projects before any irreversible decision or action occurs.

The reported conservation actions, including the use of appropriate materials and techniques, in accordance with Decision 41 COM 7B.86, are welcome, as is the intention to use new technologies for conservation. Information on these processes and outcomes might be made available as good practice cases, through the World Heritage Centre website. The five guiding principles for conservation and restoration activities at the property (protection of the original state of the Great Wall; minimal intervention; preventive conservation; categorization of heritage; protection by grade according to the state of conservation) should extend to all conservation and training activities.

The training activities and opportunities for different stakeholders who are involved in the conservation and promotion of the Great Wall, including local communities, are to be encouraged. Similarly, programs to increase funding through public/private partnerships and the creation of the Alliance for the Conservation of the Great Wall are positive initiatives. It is recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party to share the overall guiding principles for the conservation and management of the property and user-friendly versions of the legal and management frameworks with stakeholders. The State Party’s efforts toward international cooperation, notably with the United Kingdom, are also welcome and, in due course, examples of such good practices might also be shared online.

The State Party has not provided information in response to the Committee’s request in Decision 41 COM 7B.86 concerning the need for sustainable tourism management. No information has been provided about how the construction of the new railway and station may influence visitor numbers, nor about any measures to address this issue. The 2015 HIA does not adequately address this important question for a property that already suffers from potential over-tourism, nor does it engage directly with concerns expressed in the Statement of OUV, that “the authenticity of the setting of the Great Wall is vulnerable to construction of inappropriate tourism facilities”. In view of the increased influx of tourists foreseen in coming years, it is recommended that the Committee urge the State Party to establish and implement a sustainable tourism management strategy for the property as soon as possible. The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies stand ready to support the State Party in this regard, if needed, notably through the Sustainable Tourism Programme.