Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains
Factors affecting the property in 2021*
- Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation
- Management activities
- Management systems/ management plan
Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports
- Management activities (Project to raise up the Yuzhen Palace at the property)
- Management systems / Management Plan (Requirement for a living heritage management approach)
- Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation (Tourism development has begun to reach a critical mass)
- Others (Lack of clarity regarding components and buffer zone of the property)
International Assistance: requests for the property until 2021
Total amount approved : 0 USD
Missions to the property until 2021**
March 2014: Joint World Heritage Center/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission
Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 2021
On 14 January 2020, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/705/documents/. An Outline Management Plan (2019-2035), an English Summary of the Master Plan for the Wudang Mountains Scenic Area (2011-2025) and an Evaluation Report on the Current Situation of Protection and Management of the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains (Evaluation Report) were submitted in 2020.
The reconstruction carried out as part of the lift-up project of Yuzhen Palace was completed in July 2019. The project was managed by the government with the establishment of a special working team consisting of multidisciplinary experts. Next steps will include detailed landscape design and presentation of the site. Regarding the redesign of the shoreline, efforts have been made to weaken the visual impact of the artificially created peninsula and make the boundary of the platform appear more natural.
The maximum number of tourists allowed at the property during peak visitation has been limited to 25,000, with each individual component part having a specific carrying capacity. The most sensitive component, the golden summit area, has a maximum capacity of 8,000 visitors, enforced through live monitoring. A detailed visitor management system has also been implemented.
The State Party Evaluation Report indicates that the total number of component parts is 49 rather than the 62 buildings referred to in the retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (rSOUV) adopted by the Committee in 2012. A map submitted by the State Party shows property areas covering 67.1 ha, with each individual component part having a separate buffer zone.
ICOMOS undertook a Technical Review of the Evaluation Report and the conclusions were shared with the State Party. In relation to the buffer zone, and noting confusion since the time of inscription, ICOMOS concluded that the small separate buffer zones proposed by the State Party do not adequately protect the way that the component sites relate to each other and to the mountains, which was the rationale for their development, and that the components are all part of a single site, as acknowledged in the name of the property.
In April 2021, in response to the request by the Committee and to the World Heritage Centre’s letter of October 2020 on this topic, the State Party submitted a boundary clarification request for the property, including maps of the component sites and their buffer zones, which is currently under review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies and shall be examined at a subsequent session of the Committee.
Analysis and Conclusion by World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies in 2021
The progress made on the lift-up process for the Yuzhen Palace and the work done to reshape the shoreline to a more natural line is noted. The next step will be the reinstallation of the planting materials. As recalled in the report of the 2014 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission, during this phase, it will be important to ensure the re-establishment of the relationship between the ancient building complex and the surrounding landscape setting, which has been disturbed by the lift-up process. As the final work is completed, it would be appropriate for the State Party to provide a final report of the whole lift-up project, including the process of the lift-up of the palace itself, the reintegration of the archaeological remains, and the resulting relationship to the surrounding landscape.
The submission of the Outline Management Plan and Summary of the Master Plan for the Wudang Mountains Scenic Area is acknowledged, in particular the work done on visitor management. The full Management Plan should be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, and further information should be provided about the basis used to determine the visitor carrying capacity of the property and its individual components, along with guidelines for the protection from negative impacts on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) arising from tourism.
The submission of new maps of the property by the State Party for boundary clarification is welcomed, and it is recommended that the State Party continue engaging with the World Heritage Centre to clarify pending issues concerning the component parts and the buffer zones of the property, as per the Committee’s previous decisions.
The definition of the buffer zone remains a source of significant concern: as indicated by the 2014 Reactive Monitoring mission report, the meaning and value of the component parts and their buildings is underpinned by the mountain landscape and context, whose sacred nature provides the rationale for their existence. For this reason, the 2014 mission recommended that the State Party ensure that the buffer zone of the property corresponds to the Wudang Mountains National Scenic Area, as was acknowledged at the time of inscription. This conclusion is supported by the ICOMOS Technical Review of the Evaluation Report, which also noted that the Master Plan for the Wudang Mountains Scenic Area, which encompasses cultural as well as ecological landscapes, and the existing management structures, can protect the landscape that binds the component parts of the property together. Only an enlarged buffer zone that takes into account the full mountain landscape will be able to fully protect the OUV found in the ensemble of its component parts.Summary of the interventions
Decisions adopted by the Committee in 2021
44 COM 7B.19
Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains (China) (C 705)
The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B.Add,
- Recalling Decision 42 COM 7B.1, adopted at its 42nd session (Manama, 2018),
- Takes note with appreciation of the efforts made by the State Party to accomplish the lift-up project of Yuzhen Palace, and requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, upon completion of the project, a final report of the lift-up project, including the process of the lift-up of the palace itself, the reintegration of the archaeological remains and the relationship of the palace to the surrounding landscape;
- Appreciates the development of the Management Plan and the implementation of the Visitor Management Plan for the property, and also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, a full version of the Management Plan and details of the basis used to determine the visitor carrying capacity of the property and its individual components, along with guidelines for the protection from negative impacts on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value arising from tourism;
- Acknowledges the submission of a boundary clarification request for the property in April 2021, which is currently under review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, and shall be examined at a subsequent session of the Committee, and further requests the State Party to continue engaging with the World Heritage Centre to clarify pending issues concerning the component parts and the buffer zones of the property, in line with previous decisions;
- Requests furthermore the State Party to ensure, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, that the revised buffer zone for the property incorporates the entirety of the Wudang Mountains National Scenic Area, so as to protect the entire property and its wider setting, and to review the application and implementation of the Master Plan for the Wudang Mountains Scenic Area to ensure that it protects the landscape that binds together the component parts of the property;
- Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2022 an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.
Draft Decision: 44 COM 7B.19
The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B.Add,
- Recalling Decision 42 COM 7B.1, adopted at its 42nd session (Manama, 2018),
- Takes note with appreciation of the efforts made by the State Party to accomplish the lift-up project of Yuzhen Palace, and requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, upon completion of the project, a final report of the lift-up project, including the process of the lift-up of the palace itself, the reintegration of the archaeological remains and the relationship of the palace to the surrounding landscape;
- Appreciates the development of the Management Plan and the implementation of the Visitor Management Plan for the property, and also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, a full version of the Management Plan and details of the basis used to determine the visitor carrying capacity of the property and its individual components, along with guidelines for the protection from negative impacts on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value arising from tourism;
- Acknowledges the submission of a boundary clarification request for the property in April 2021, which is currently under review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, and shall be examined at a subsequent session of the Committee, and further requests the State Party to continue engaging with the World Heritage Centre to clarify pending issues concerning the component parts and the buffer zones of the property, in line with previous decisions;
- Requests furthermore the State Party to ensure, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, that the revised buffer zone for the property incorporates the entirety of the Wudang Mountains National Scenic Area, so as to protect the entire property and its wider setting, and to review the application and implementation of the Master Plan for the Wudang Mountains Scenic Area to ensure that it protects the landscape that binds together the component parts of the property;
- Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2022 an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session in 2023.
ChinaExports
* :
The threats indicated are listed in alphabetical order; their order does not constitute a classification according to the importance of their impact on the property.
Furthermore, they are presented irrespective of the type of threat faced by the property, i.e. with specific and proven imminent danger (“ascertained danger”) or with threats which could have deleterious effects on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (“potential danger”).
** : All mission reports are not always available electronically.
